Spring still on hold

Sunday March 10 was another cold grey day, this time with light snow flurries to add to the mix. Dave was able to join me this morning, and we quickly made our way to the Flashes. The initial signs were slightly promising, as a few large Gulls were heading north, and we then found 32 Black-headed Gulls on the flash.

However, although it was fairly full of birds, there were no new species on offer. A dozen Wigeon was quite a good total for March, and they were accompanied by 53 Teal, two Snipe, a handful of Canada and Greylag Geese, and a pair of Lapwings.

A drake Wigeon

We trudged back, seeing about 30 Linnets and a few Reed Buntings and Yellowhammers.

The main concern was actually the lack of certain species. The Shelducks seem to have gone, and my single Tree Sparrow sighting in February has not been followed up by more reports. In the week, Matt W had seen three Green Sandpipers and two Jack Snipes, although to be fair we chose not to kick through the marsh in pursuit of the latter.

I've had a few good garden sightings this week, with 11 Siskins near the garden followed by one which actually made it into our apple tree, a female Blackcap which just failed to hop over the neighbour's fence yesterday, and talking about hopping, a Common Frog was found on our front doorstep on Tuesday.