Whoop whoop!

A good day out in the field from 07.30 to 15.30. All my six WeBS sites covered and several satellite sites, all for the Great Duck Hunt. I'd finished Harrold-Odell CP and done Tustings when I looked over the flood meadows to see if there were any geese there. Thankfully there were so I stopped and raised my bins and got on nine flying swans. As they came closer I could see the were yellow bills. Hard to determine species but they had the good manners to fly over the lake and land. So I zoomed back to the park and there they were. So far, my only quality SFYT of 2013 and a species I didn't get in 2012.

They're avoiding me!

Out in the field and birding by 6am and three and a half solid birding at the prime sites of Harrold and Radwell.  You'd think I'd be rewarded with some migrant padders.  Well thanks a lot Bedfordshire...for the Sedge Warbler valiantly singing all by itself at Harrold.  Where were the Reed Warblers and Cuckoos?  Then some hedgerow wanderings and driving-with-the-windows-down failed to give me either whitethroat species.  And as for House Martin...

The much needed Garganeys, Whimbrels, Redstarts and Ring Ouzels didn't show either.

So now we have the (quite frankly shocking) situation of MJP jumping into second place, a mere nine scarce quality passage migrants behind SCB.  The sly Mr Grimsey is also doing well.

A Harrold scenic.  A local initiative to improve the view of the Cormorant colony.

Harrold early doors

Dawn at Harrold gave me one more SFYT with a singing Cetti's Warbler. Less exciting were the wildfowl.

A fine shot of two female Red-crested Pochards at Harrold. The second female being a SFYT for anyone other than me having found the other two. But it was me so counts for nothing.
Another quality shot of the Harrold Pink-foot with a dodgy wing. A bird from 2011 so not countable.