Back to mildness again with a windy westerly with scattered dribblings and cloudy outbursts!

With all the ice and snow miraculously gone, the duck have returned and good numbers of Wigeon and Teal are once again out grazing. Our leucistic female Pintail has returned with her male buddies and six Avocets were feeding in the bay with a couple of Curlew. Stonechat and Water Rail were seen along the trails and a Water Pipit showed very well from the Butts Hide.

Careful scanning of the Greylags and Canadas produced two Eurasian White-fronted Geese which we had been eagerly awaiting since their arrival in the Ingrebourne Valley in January!

This shot was taken by Shaun Harvey in the Ingrebourne Valley a couple of weeks ago of the same two birds

Peregrine, Melin, Sparrowhawk and Kestrels were all seen. The Kestrels were involved in some amazing co-operative hunting and managed to ambush a single Goldfinch in mid air! Have never seen Kestrels taking prey above ground level let alone helping each other in the hunt. One chased and as the Goldfinch dropped to escape the male bird swept in and nabbed it with an outstretched talon!  And all this was whilst we were having lunch in the building!