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.

Easter Break

We have just had a wonderful four days off work and I have been out and about for three of them.
Colin and I decided a long time ago that trying to do any long distance birding, or visiting coastal sites is never a good idea on Bank Holidays (as is venturing anywhere near the M25) unless there is something really worth going for, so we tend to stay local.
On Saturday we went out for the more or less traditional April Little Paxton and fens trip with as view to getting a few of the usual year ticks. This of course meant a fairly late departure. It was a bit worrying leaving Stevenage in fairly dense fog, but it cleared as we headed up the A1 and by the time we reached the Paxton car park we had lots of sunshine and blue skies. It was still a bit chilly though, with a bit of an easterly breeze.
I was surprised to see how low the water was in the Heron Lake, several feet lower than normal. Whether this was deliberate with a view to producing expanses of mud and islands for passage waders and breeding birds, or whether it was down to the lack of rainfall over the last year or so, I don't know. Over the course of the two hour circuit we managed to pick up all of the visiting warblers, apart from lesser Whitethroat, and, unfortunately only a single Nightingale, which does seem to be dealing here.
There were about a dozen Common Terns with a single Black Tern among them. Always distant, I couldn't get a decent image of it. There were, or had been, a couple of Little Gulls but one or two possible candidates turned out to be false alarms. Heard our first Cuckoo (possibly two present) and I had a flyover Yellow Wagtail. No hirundines at all.
Plenty of Orange Tips, Peacocks, Speckled Wood and Green Veined Whites.

We then went to Berry fen near Bluntisham where a Green Winged Teal had been present for a long time. It had warmed up considerably and it was quite nice walking along the Ouse bank to get to the fen, one of a series managed by the RSPB as part of the Ouse Fen project.
It proved to be a wasted exercise in that we failed to find the Teal, though there were many common Teals present, but trying to sort out distant sleeping ducks in the vegetation is never easy.
We finished the day with an afternoon at the Ouse Washes, and by now it had got even warmer and it was an exhausting trudge up to the hides. This was the only place with any hirundines-a few Swallows feeding over and around the pumping station. For once there were many Tree Sparrows feeding around the car park and picnic area.
We had hoped to pick up Garganey and Cranes here, but of course we failed again. There were still a lot of Wigeon, Teal and Pintail remaining from winter, along with several flocks of (presumed) breeding Black Tailed Godwits and Avocets but Ruff were absent. I was half expecting a Great White Egret as well but could only find Little, and there should have been one or two harriers as well.

Sunday morning I paid a visit to Amwell. The area in front of the view point is looking pretty good for a passing wader though there haven't been many as of yet. Two Little Ringed Plovers had been present first thing but had departed. Lots of Sedge Warblers in the reeds and as usual the thick bramble patch in the big reed bed had a reeling and invisible Grasshopper Warbler.
I walked up to Tumbling Bay with John Bartlett, Mick and William where there was at least one Garden Warbler singing. While there I managed o get a few snaps of one of a pair of Whitethroat.

Lots of Peacocks, Orange Tips and Green Veined Whites again, plus a single Brimstone.
I got home and was pleasantly surprised to hear a Willow Warbler singing in a neighbours tree-it was still present on the Monday, and is the second year in succession that we have had one.

Easter Monday wasn't all that good as I had one of those days that I occasionally where I woke up very tired and achey. I had intended to go for a walk around Aston End, but did not feel up to it, so following some news, drove down to Tyttenhanger and had  more gentle stroll.
Picked up two Lesser Whitethroats here and a Greenshank on the main pit. I missed single late Redwing and Fieldfare in the paddock but did hear two of the Tree Sparrows.
A long spell at the top of the cliff with Rupert et al didn't get much. A hoped for regular Yellow Legged Gull had departed, and a suspected Caspian Gull couldn't be conclusively identified.
I left after a couple  of hours as the rather severe hayfever that has been such a problem kicked in, but I did get nice singing Blackcap.

Yellow Wagtails

I haven't been having a good week, the cold winds over the last few days seem to have brought out a cold/chill, and following a conversation with Colin last night, decided not to go out today.
I took Mum out shopping this morning and felt reasonable so went up to the dung heaps at Ashwell. The productive one is just south of the village of Eyeworth, but it looks like it will be the last year and it will be replaced by a slurry pit.
I spent about half an hour there, and while it was nice and sunny, the cold wind wasn't very pleasant and I was glad to get back in the car and return home. While I was there, I recorded 7 Yellow Wagtails, 4 Pied Wagtails, 1 White Wagtail, 2 Wheatear (at least) plus several Meadow Pipits, Corn Buntings and a pair of Lapwing.
There is another fresh heap, closer to Ashwell but it had nothing on it.

Ring Ouzel

Paid a very quick visit to Norton Green this afternoon after work.
Bumped into Tony Hukin who had been on site for a while who seemed to think that up to three Ring Ouzels were present but very elusive and flighty.
We made our way to the north west corner, not far from the travellers camp. A movement caught his eye in a big thorn bush and he went to investigate. I heard a chakking call and found a male Ring Ouzel which suddenly flew out into a small Sallow and giving pretty good views. Another birder on the northern ridge came down to see it, but it soon flew east onto the ridge by the camp. Tony and I the located it feeding on the ground, but it suddenly flew off and returned to the original thorn bush and then disappeared.
Tony seemed to think that it wasn't as well marked as another male he had seen earlier as the breast crescent seemed to be a bit duller and off white. However, we couldn't find any others while I was there.
In recent years Ring Ouzels have been a bit thin on the ground here and this was my first for some time-all recent sightings have been over towards the Therfield and Coombe Road area. Interestingly we haven't had any Wheatear here yet, and very few were seen last year, so i wonder if Norton is losing it's appeal.

Saturday on Portland

Colin and I try to get down to Portland some time in spring at least once each year, though it doesn't always work out that way. Winter is good of course, with divers and grebes in the harbour, and things like Purple Sandpipers on the bill and we often went down for those, but in recent years its the spring migrants that have been a bigger draw.
An additional temptation has been the Large Tortoiseshells, of which several have been seen in recent weeks. There has been a rumour that they have been released by someone, though there have been a number seen elsewhere on the south coast, so i don't know if there is any truth in it or not.
We made our way down to Reap lane in Southwell, where the paddocks have had a Hoopoe and one or two Black Redstarts. Unfortunately the Hoopoe seemed to have departed that night and we never managed to find any Black Redstarts though we did a fairly extensive circuit of the fields and the buildings to the south. We did see at least four Wheatears, and Swallows and Sand Martins were moving north at regular intervals. Also on the move were Meadow Pipits, Pied wagtails and Linnets so it was quite interesting. We found many Chiffchaffs-a few Willow warblers had been seen elsewhere, and many Peacock and Green Veined White butterflies.
On top of the big building, we dismissed the crow on top of the building until an echoing honking made us realise it was actually a Raven.

We walked down to the top fields where earlier two Ring Ousels had been seen early morning, though they seemed to have gone, and the sea from the cliffs didn't have much on it apart from a few Fulmars and auks. We returned to the paddocks where the Wheatear were still showing well, but it seemed like the hirundine movement had dropped off significantly.
We then went to Radipole Lake to try and find the Ring Necked Duck which was supposed to be along the stretch of water by the tennis courts though we couldn't locate it. Apart from a few Cetti's Warblers, a flock of Black tailed Godwits and a few distant pings from a Bearded Tit and a brief Sedge Warbler it was rather disappointing.
It looked like Lodmoor would be the same, with only a few birds on the west scrape. However someone managed to locate the Lesser Yellowlegs tucked down on a bank until it was driven off by a Coot. However it did reappear a bit later and eventually showed fairly well. I managed to get a few photos but eventually had to leave as the Blackthorn flowers we were standing beside triggered off a really nasty bout of hay fever.

A Weekend of Surprises

I had a pretty productive weekend, without actually travelling all that far.
Colin wasn't available on Saturday, so I paid a visit to Rye Meads, as I hadn't been there since late last year. I was hoping to get one or two migrants, as well as a year tick or two-though one wasn't what i had expected.
I arrived at the visitor centre to be told that there was a Mediterranean Gull on the north lagoon from Gadwall Hide. They aren't all that regular in the valley, and I certainly had never seen one at Rye so I headed straight there. While there were a lot of Black headed Gulls present, and a lone Common Gull I couldn't find it. Eventually I came across the expected Green Sandpiper, and there were also several pairs of Lapwing and Teal, plus a lot of Shoveller. I had a quick look at the other lagoon, but there wasn't anything unusual so I returned to Gadwall. A large flock of unidentified finches flew past at close range (and out of focus) and while trying to relocate them, some 20 Fieldfare flew through. Shortly after this all the gulls went up, including the 1W Med Gull which had been out of view behind one of the reed beds and flew off to the south. Apparently it was ringed but I barely had time to  pick it up in the bins before I lost it and despite checking all the lagoons over the following hour or so never relocated it.
I carried up on to the Meads, and then returned to the Kingfisher hide where one was perched up on one of the posts before entering the nest hole. I found three Chiffchaffs, but the cool northerly breeze seemed to have put a stop to any migrants, though some Sand Martins were at Amwell. While in the Kingfisher hide, two Muntjac walked through and a Kite flew through putting everything up from the north Lagoon, including a huge flock of Shoveller estimated at over 80 birds.
Back in the car park I snapped the Kestrel in the nest box, but failed to note the vole it had just been given by it's partner.

Sunday was a very nice spring day. In another first for the year I went for a walk around Aston End and along the Beane, taking my sister Jane.
We had a nice time, with lots of Chiffchaff, Skylarks, a couple of Meadow Pipits and my first singing Blackcap of the year in the pumping station by the ford. Lots of Buzzards and Kites were taking advantage of the warm sunshine with birds soaring high overhead.
We also had butterflies. Unlike most, I had only seen one earlier in the warm spell we had- a Tortoiseshell in the garden briefly. We found another on the walk, plus a Comma, three Brimstone and a Speckled Wood.

On the way home, a Tom Spellar tweeted that he had found a Firecrest in Fairlands Valley, in the wood by the main car park. I had an early lunch, and got there at 1330 to find it still present and singing almost continuously. Most of the time it was in the treetops, and very active but on a couple of occasions was low down and giving excellent views.
On the way back, i cut through Ashtree Wood, finding a Treecreeper and a pair of Brambling both of which were nice bonuses.
To cap it all, not long after i got home, a very early male Orange Tip appeared in the garden.

Amwell

It's been nearly a month since my last post. The viral infection I acquired in early February has proved to be very hard to shake off and seems to flare up on a regular basis. I had assumed from the doctors diagnosis that what I assumed was a flu like infection would eventually go, and while things have been pretty good of late I still get a few bad days. One of the guys at work has been diagnosed with walking pneumonia which more or less fits what Ive had and if that's the case it could be months before it finally goes. Mind you I get all sorts  of problems like this throughout  the year, maybe its best to blame the company and the working environment. The really annoying thing is that there have been some weekends where I have been feeling pretty good, but the weather has been appalling with gale force winds, heavy rain etc and it just hasn't been worth going out at all.
This morning it was lovely and sunny, the gales of the previous days had finally gone, and I felt up for a few hours out, so I went to Amwell. Being a Sunday, the usual gathering was present and I had a long chat discussing my medical problems with John Bartlett  as we walked up to the viewpoint. Unfortunately we had missed the Sand Martins and the Swallow (probably the earliest ever for the site) and passage birds had pretty much dried up by 9am. The Oystercatcher pair were back on the island-these were the only waders present, even the resident Lapwings seemed to be missing. As expected with the sunny conditions and the northerly breeze, there were plenty of raptors up with at least four Kites, eight Buzzards and a pair of Sparrowhawks. Lots of Jackdaws and Carrion crows over the woods, but no sign of the Ravens today.
After everyone went off for the Sunday walkabout I went down to the south end with Dave Booth as Graham White had mentioned that the red-head Smew was still around, but unfortunately we couldnt find it, presumably it was hiding behind the island. In fact, apart from one Goldeneye and about seven   Teal, there weren't many winter duck remaining. Signs of spring included several nice patches of Coltsfoot, shoots of Dog Mercury and less welcome perhaps well over a 100 Black Headed Gulls (and only two rafts for them to nest on this year).
When I returned, I carried on to Hollycross, picking up three singing Chiffchaff, one Muntjac and one Stoat, and on my return through the picnic area a few lingering Siskin were still around. I assume that the Redpolls had already gone. By now, the sun had gone and there had been a few hail showers, so I decided to call it a day.