Getting warmer...

The first week and a half of March saw some much warmer weather with temperatures reaching a heady 18 degrees Celsius.  South-easterlies also felt promising but those elusive Spring migrants are still awaited.  New planting has begun (following and perhaps prompted by the recent hedge destruction) and hopefully new good habitat will grow up along the track bank in time.

​Despite the lack of Spring migrants a few highlights have headlined the period and are indicative of the changing season.  New for the year, a Shelduck appeared for one day on 2nd and another 2 on 11th.  Also new for the year, up to 3 Barn Owls have been present on site with one regularly hunting the back of the turnip field.

The real highlight came today, along with the 2 Shelduck, in the form of 2 Redshank feeding along the edge of the main pit.  Hopefully harbingers of more wader passage and certainly an expected arrival in early Spring.  Along with the Shelduck and Barn Owls, they take the site year total to 89.  The first White Wagtail of the year was also with the Pied Wagtail flock.

The Redshank feeding on 11th Mar

Otherwise, the usual parallel trends of growing flocks of winter birds feeding up before leaving and others pairing and courting with a view to breeding have been evident on site.  The Fieldfare flock enjoying the turnip field has stabilised around 200 birds while Common Gull numbers have diminished being replaced by increasing numbers of Black-headed Gulls.

A female-type Marsh Harrier was seen on 7th and on the same day at least 24 Common Snipe were flushed from the main weedy area along with at least 3 Jack Snipe.  In the same area a single Stonechat was last seen on 3rd and may be the last sighting until they return in late summer post breeding.

On the water, wildfowl numbers have generally fluctuated day-by-day but overall have increased.  Around 30 Teal, 5-10 Wigeon and up to 50 Shoveler remain on site along with up to 20 Gadwall and well over 30 Tufted Duck and just one Pochard.  Mandarin Duck number remain around 12 birds with a peak of 16 on 7th but mostly now paired up.  A Great Crested Grebe visited again on 3rd and a pair of Little Grebes are now exploring nesting sites around the deep pit.  Coot numbers have risen to at least 5 birds and their calls are now heard constantly as they begin courtship.

Great Crested Grebe on 3rd Mar