Friday 27th April

At last we seem to be getting some wader action! It's been a remarkably slow start on that front, despite having nice healthy looking floods there's been a real dearth of waders of any kind. In this rather late spring that we're having they seem to be running late this year by at least a couple of weeks. Finally this week things started to change when the first RINGED PLOVER of the year appeared on Wednesday. Then, whilst watching the plover I heard the distinctive bubbling call of a WHIMBREL which had touched down on the shore opposite me. Unfortunately, as is so often with this species on the Meadow, it didn't linger and within a few minutes it flew off again. A couple of days later we had a nice flock of 5 RINGED PLOVER and a single DUNLIN - these two species often travel together for some reason. Apart from that, there have been up to 7 OYSTERCATCHERS dotted around the shoreline this week and a peak count of 5 SHELDUCK. We've also had a BLACK-TAILED GODWIT with us for most of the week but that finally left today.

The long-staying Black-tailed Godwit finally left today

On the warbler front things are kicking off in Burgess Field. I went there mid week to take stock and found at least 6 WHITETHROATS in there all singing away from various corners of the reserve. What's more there was also a singing male LESSER WHITETHROAT as well - it's always nice to get this as a year tick. There are plenty of Blackcaps in residence in the reserve though no Willow Warblers as yet. As global warming is increasing, this species is tending to move further north so doesn't seem to linger in the county quite so much. Garden Warblers are starting to appear in the county now so they should arrive in Burgess Field any day now though there were none when I looked today.

Today there was a lovely flock of forty plus Swallows, House Martins and Sand Martins all hawking away low over the water in the dull conditions. I always love it when they're zipping around your head like this. Whilst SWIFTS aren't properly "in" yet, Mary MacDougall did spot some flying overhead mid week and they usually arrive at the start of May though they may be a week or two late this year.

Finally, Nicola Devine, who ensures that the Trap Grounds is always well watched, paid off when she found a lovely SPOTTED FLYCATCHER seeking shelter in the trees during a rather rainy period. This species is just about annual on the patch but it's always good to get it and there's rarely more than one record a year.

The Spotted Flycatcher, courtesy of Nicola Devine

There are still plenty of waders and a few warblers that we might expect as well as things like Cuckoo, Yellow Wagtail, Tree Pipit and Redstart. In fact I've got a hit list of 22 species that we could well still get. This next few weeks should be the peak of the spring wader passage so it's a very exciting time for the patch.