After a winter of lovely sights - bearded tits, bittern, lesser and mealy redpolls etc., spring has definitely sprung. We've had some lovely visits in recent days (mostly mornings).
Among the recent late March and early April highlights:
Passage migrants: Wheatear (almost daily, visible from the reserve if not technically in it), Redstart (likewise)
Warblers: at least three Sedge, two Cetti's Warblers showing well (some great views - I'll post a photo), Grasshopper (audible), lots of Blackcap, abundant Chiffchaff, a few Willow
Buntings: Reed, Corn, Yellowhammer
Corvids: Jays, Rook, Crow, Magpies of course
Finches: Bull, Gold, Green, Chaffinch, Green, Linnet (lots)
Hirundines: Swallows, House and Sand Martins
Others: Treecreepers, Meadow Pipit, Robin, Wren
Thrushes: Blackbird, Song, Mistle (Fieldfare and Redwing long gone)
Waders: Green Sandpiper (once), Lapwings displaying, Snipe, Curlew flying over
Water birds: Teal, Mallard, Mute Swan, Canada and Greylag Goose, Water Rail, Moorhen, Coot, Little Grebe, Kingfisher
Raptors and owls: Barn Owl, Tawny Owl, Buzzard, Kestrel, Red Kite, Peregrine Falcon (and an elusive Merlin not so long ago)
Really, it's not that hard to see them.
It's buzzing there at the moment, and the hope is that the soon-to-be grazing cattle will do their business(!) and end up attracting even more varieties than before. There are still numbers of warblers expected soon as well as occasional harriers and hobby.
It is certainly beautiful there at the moment. I see my first reed warbler of the year on saturday and loving the constant singing of the chiffchaff everywhere you go on the reserve! I've noticed a lot of blackcaps as well.
Beautiful to see and hear i'm finding it hard to stay away from the reserve lately and really looking forward to seeing more of the summer vissitors arriving!
J Tancock
It has been brilliant recently, especially the last few days. Yesterday I saw my first damselfly of the year, which turns out to be a common damselfly.
I've zoomed in (don't know how I got blue text, sorry!) digitally and cropped the photo so it's reasonably small for uploading. The beastie was on the other side of the Shep, so about 3m away when I took the photo. I used a hand-held Panasonic Lumix DMC-FZ38 on the maximum 18x optical zoom, and breathed thanks to Panasonic for image stabilisation that really works!