I wasn't expecting much from my brief lunchtime stroll today. For starters I only had time to walk to the start of the North Wall and back and wasn't planning to visit North Hide. It was also decidedly chilly with an easterly wind and low cover giving the air more of an autumnal feel than the second day of British Summer Time. I simply wanted to enjoy ten minutes of fresh air.
As is often the case, though, when expectations are low, results are high, and sure enough, that was to be the case. I lifted my binoculars to check yet another robin as it flitted into a hawthorn bush - at least the sixth robin within about 200 metres. It was then that I struck gold, or more correctly fire. A tiny bird with a very pale breast caught my eye, and as it turned to face me I noticed a broad white eyebrow, giving it quite a fierce impression for such a tiny sprite. A firecrest! I watched it for no more than 20 seconds before it disappeared from view, but even 20 seconds is a joy when it comes to watching firecrests.
Firecrest by Les Cator
Firecrests are typical March migrants. So too are black redstarts, so it was no surprise to hear that one lucky visitor spotted a female black redstart just off the entrance road this morning. There has, however, been no reports of the garganeys so far today - at least one pair was still present yesterday. Likewise, the jack snipe have not been reported since Saturday. The goosanders remain on Island mere though, with eight seen yesterday and three this afternoon, and the four smew were on the Chapel Pool this morning.
Numbers of avocets and Mediterranean gulls on the Scrape are still fluctuating, while other waders over the last day or two have included a few knots, dunlins, turnstones and black-tailed godwits, plus single grey plover and bar-tailed godwit. Gulls have included one or two yellow-legged and Caspian and several common gulls on the Scrape and half a dozen little gulls at Island Mere.
Other highlights at the moment include regular bitterns, great crested grebes, bearded tits and otters at Island Mere and Bittern Hide, blackcap and chiffchaffs singing in North Bushes, stoats almost anywhere and adders in the dunes, along the Adder Trail and at Whin Hill.
The forecast is set for some warmer weather later this week, so with luck there will be few more migrants and insects out and about.
There were indeed a few more migrants about today - 20 sand martins were prospecting the nesting bank, accompanied by the first swallow of the spring.
What a lovely sighting, Ian. Bet you went back to work with a big smile on your face!
Our herring gulls are red listed birds. Think about that the next time you hear some flaming idiot calling for a cull of them.