Sunday 12 April 2009

Dreary Easter

So far, the Easter holiday has been dull and damp, not exactly the conditions I like for photography. Also, there has not been much in the way of bird reports to justify traveling any distance, so I have stayed local
Yesterday I spent the entire day in the upper Lea valley, starting with a visit to RSPB Rye Marsh. As I arrived, the volunteer warden Christine was watching two Cuckoos fly away, but I never got on to them. The main scrape in front of Draper Hide had a lot of the commoner duck, including several pairs of Teal, and I am wondering if some will over summer in the valley. I also saw my first Green Sandpiper and Little Ringed Plover of the year. Plenty of warblers in now, with singing Chiffchaff, Willow Warblers and a lot of Sedge Warbler.
The afternoon was spent at Amwell, where only one of the regulars was present (the others off twitching a White Throated Sparrow in Winchester). My first Common Tern was showing well, and for once there were large flocks of hirundines present. There have been up to eight Redshank, but we only saw four of them, there were also the pair of Ringed Plover and a single little Ringed. A few Reed Warblers were singing alongside the Sedge Warblers, and a single Whitethroat was present.

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