Sunday March 12

A cloudy start with a few spots of rain, but gradually improving by late morning. A very light south-westerly breeze. Dave joined me this morning and we headed on our usual circuit.

A couple of Lesser Redpolls were present in trees by where we parked, and the walk towards the pool was enlivened by several flocks of Starlings, totalling 145, heading north-east. The Little Grebe was still present on the pool.

In the flash field were six Lesser Black-backed Gulls and a Herring Gull along with four Black-headed Gulls. Closer inspection of the two flash pools revealed two Redshanks, three Green Sandpipers, a Wigeon, 48 Teal, and four Snipe.

With one year-tick in the bag a second announced its presence. A singing Chiffchaff is a true sign of spring here.

Chiffchaff

The journey back produced a tree containing 20 Fieldfares and one or two Redwings, and another pair of Redpolls. This winter has been boringly uncontroversial regarding Redpolls, mainly because there are hardly any here. To redress the balance, compare the (pretty rubbish) photograph of one of the first pair with three photos of one of the second.

Lesser Redpoll

Its interesting how much greyer the second bird looks. I just wish the rump had been paler. I suppose its just another example of variability within Lesser Redpolls.

Other than a female Stonechat, no more interesting birds were seen, but we did flush four Roe Deer.

Roe Deer