Spring started

An early start on Friday to get a walk in (as I had to work) was rewarded with my first summer migrant and a decent one at that; a female Ring Ouzel lurking with a couple of Fieldfares just above the wood at Pegsdon. Not unexpected about now but good to get one in before the hordes descend on the site into April and potentially steal the “finds” from under my nose. Maybe I should get up there and monopolise so the other SFYL listers have to go elsewhere but that would bring nose and face to mind as I probably would not find very much else of note…

Adding to my successes in the pits early Saturday was a male RCP in Quest which I was fortunate to bag for the self-find list as I had not read or heard anything about Mr Blain finding it the night before as I sat at home watching films and scoffing down some nice red. Not much else about but I also checked out some potential wader habitat in an unsuccessful look for Wipit, though finally bagged Chiffchaff and a small group of Barnacles to add two more to the list. Surprised not to get an LRP or a Wheatear though but they will come to me in the next month no doubt.

Summer plumage

No, spring still hasn't arrived.  Still freezing out there.  I spent most of the day bimbling around looking at quite a few sites ready for when spring arrives properly.  Best bits were finding a nice newish gravel pit with some excellent wader potential, and importantly, well away from the well-watched Broom.  Watch this space!

Bird highlights were seven Scaup on Broggy, drake Red-crested Pochard on Quest, three Chiffchaffs at Marston Sewage Works, and best of all a sum plum Slav Grebe at the Stewartby Lake roost.  Ok, initially it was picked out as a 'small grebe' by Neil, but identifying it was a team effort as it was quite a long way off and nearly dark.  I added something else to the year list too today, but I can't remember what it was - must have been exciting!

It was a long way off.  And dark.

Still cold

It's not got any warmer, has it. Still two Curlews over Biggy Common this evening were nice.

Snowy plovers

Stayed in most of Saturday with the snow but figured that most others would have done so as well so leaving a week’s worth of arrivals to be found on Sunday. Had a few waders today around the brick pits: Redshank, Oystercatchers, a few Snipe, a couple of flocks of Golden Plover (one of 11 and a second one of 50ish was probably GP though could not be certain with the distance and gloom), two Ringed Plovers over MVCP and then two in Quest with two SFYL Dunlin.

Sleetear

More snow. Wonderful. Still it didn't stop me having a quick drive down to Gypsy Lane to see if I can find a Dunlin or something. As I neared the pools something shot across the road, then back again, before flashing a white bum and landing in a bush. It couldn't be. I quickly parked up and looked back up the road. Yup, it was a Wheatear!

After Roger's earlier in the day I didn't expect to find one myself a bit later. It bombed around on the muddy snow-free bits of the path and spent quite a while on the road edge before I left it alone trying to eek out a living in the harsh conditions.

Interestingly, food must be scarce out there at the moment as a couple of Robins were both pecking at some road kill Rat and Rabbit carcasses just along from the Wheatear. I hope she survives.

Winter Wheatear

It was cold this morning. Snow covered the ground and a cold wind blew out of the east bringing more snow with it. Normally, much of my regular walk around my local patch of Henlow Grange is in the lee of the trees alongside Poppy Hill fishing lakes but today there was no protection from the wind and the birds were sparse. Signs of spring noted earlier in the month were no longer in evidence: the Great Crested Grebe nest was a flooded mat of rotting vegetation and nothing was singing. It has been a month since I have added a species to my patch list (Pochard on 23 Feb) and  I was hoping for some different ducks, possibly a Brambling or,  even more unlikely, a passing Waxwing. But a flock of 40 Linnets in a cabbage crop were the only finches I could find. I paused long enough to count the nests in Poppy Hill rookery, now up to 59 (from 31 last weekend) and caught some movement out of the corner of my eye. A bird was foraging, out of view, in a snow-free plough rut by the track. I was expecting a Yellow Hammer or Corn Bunting, but not a harbinger of spring. The male Wheatear hopped out onto the track, hanging around long enough to allow me to extract the camera and get the above picture, before it flew off north across the fields. Can't help wondering what its fate will be, given the current cold snap is supposed to last for the rest of the week.

Gullible

After slipping away for a couple of weeks on a well earned break in Cyprus I thought I'd probably be safe from missing anything exciting back home. How wrong was I! Ring-billed Gull at Stewartby. Arse.

So, what did I do when I got back home? The gull roost of course! The weather wasn't quite what I'd been accustomed to during the last couple of weeks however.

Needless to say I didn't see a Ring-billed Gull, but I did have a sparkling adult Med Gull, and best of all, a Curlew over at 6pm.

It's not Cyprus!

Can you see the Med?