Is it spring yet?

I found myself asking this question yesterday as I put on my woolly hat and scarf before meeting the volunteers for the weekly work party. The main task was putting the finishing touches to the new kingfisher nesting bank at Spring Hide, the culmination of several month's work by Richard H and various vols. It looks brilliant, but will the kingfishers think so? It may be too late this year, although there is an outside chance of occupation - kingfishers can raise three broods in a season, and at least one has been seen on the reserve in the last week.

The birds must have been asking themselves the same question during yesterday's storm that had us running for cover from the 1cm diameter hailstones. Many species have arrived at Fowlmere later than usual, such as chiffchaff, swallow, blackcap and swift, but my impression is that individuals of several species are still arriving. Fowlmere has been one of the best places in Britain to see turtle doves in recent years, so we were getting worried about their non-appearance a week ago, but this week there have been at least two 'singing' in the scrub near Drewer Hide. There was also a cuckoo singing last weekend. On the debit side, we have not recorded a grasshopper warbler yet. Indeed, there were no records at all last year, which was a big disappointment after the three pairs in 2011. I hope we haven't lost them forever.

Other birds have been just getting on with it. There are several broods of mallards and greylag geese, and one of the latter has been patiently incubating in full view of the visitors in Spring Hide while ignoring the antics of the builders a few feet away. Someone even witnessed the spectacle of it scaring off an otter that approached too close to its nest. The mute swans hatched 7 cygnets on 14th May, an event we were actually able to witness from Reedbed Hide. The mother was clearly fascinated by what was happening in the nest, and every so often half an egg shell appeared at the margin and another little grey head was seen bobbing up and down beneath her. We also have a pair of lapwings again, incubating their eggs surrounded by fast-growing reeds. In that setting their chances of survival are high, at least to hatching, which I anticipate will be in the first week of June.

Let's be fair - the weather hasn't been all bad, and on the warmish sunny days the thrushes and warblers are delightful as they sing their hearts out, and 2 hobbies have been hunting over the reedbed. Furthermore, the barn owls can now be seen every day through the entrance of their nest box, where we assume they have eggs.

As ever, I shall try to post on the blog more frequently, but it all depends on how many other jobs come my way...