Amwell on Sunday

The storm promised over the weekend turned out to be a bit of an anti climax around here. While we had a very windy Saturday, there was very little rain, which the garden desperately needs. It was a bit quieter on Sunday, though rather chilly with a cool north westerly.
I decided to go to Amwell for a few hours. Unfortunately the main road, the A602 was shut for resurfacing so everyone had to go through Watton at Stone and it was a rather slow journey, and I arrived later than usual. The Sunday crowd had just started their walkabout leaving Phil and Murray at the view point. Though the wind was against it, I had hoped that some overnight showers had brought a few birds in, but that hadn't happened.
There were a lot of hirundines at times though, with birds feeding at the south end of the lake and occasionally moving through. Often they would vanish and then all of a sudden a flock would appear overhead. Most were Swallows, with decent numbers of House Martins as well-last year was dreadful and I only saw a handful all year, so it was good to see so many.
There were a few waders around, a pair of Little Ringed Plovers lingered for an hour or so, they have been present on and off for a while now. Eventually a Common Sandpiper was found, and the Oystercatcher pair were also present. Two pairs of Teal were hanging on, plus a few Shoveller and there were around 10-12 Common Terns.
One Cuckoo was calling from the usual trees beside the White hide before being driven off south by a Magpie. Later it or another was heard more distantly. I assumed it was at Hollycross but it seems to be have been further up the Ash valley. I did eventually head over to Hollycross as it had just opened but it was far too cold for any dragonflies. There were a lot ofSedge and Reed Warblers singing, and several Whitethroats were also around. On my way back, I thought that I heard the Grasshopper Warbler briefly. It seemed to be in the same area as last week, though maybe further back into the reed bed.
Back at the view point Barnet Dave was the only one around and he had sensibly donned gloves-I was certainly feeling the cold. A quick scan failed to provide much that I hadn't seen earlier.
Getting home wasn't fun. I got caught up in the car boot queue which was at a complete standstill. Turning round I got into Ware which was also full of slow moving cars. Turned out that the south bound A10 was shut so everyone was trying to divert through the town, so as I didn't want to chance Watton at Stone I had to head north and come home through High End and Whempstead. A 13 mile journey took 45 minutes.