A real springlike day at Brandon Marsh today with lots of bird song including my first singing
Chiffchaff of the year near the bench at Horsetail Glade.
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| Song Thrush - At least 3 singing well on the reserve today. |
A
Redshank was heard across on Newlands as I passed by the 'Olive Bench' but I never quite managed to make contact. East Marsh Pool continues to reduce in level, albeit slowly thanks to the weekends deluge and a scan of the pool while having coffee in the Wright Hide produced of note: 2♂ + 3♀
Goldeneye, (3)
Pochard, (2)
Shelduck, (4)
Oystercatcher and a single
Great-crested Grebe still remains. After coffee a group of eleven
Lesser Redpoll were ground feeding near the memorial garden car park and at least one
Mealy was also among the group. Passing the Teal Pool Hide a
Green Sandpiper flew through to the pool but left almost immediately.
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| ♂Bullfinch today at Brandon. |
An extended visit to the Carlton Hide and screen area with John, Peter and Martin in search of the weekends
Stonechat drew a blank, although Derek Bennett one of the volunteers reported a brief sighting earlier in the morning. While at the hide a nice surprise when a
Kingfisher took a fish right in front of us and mid-morning a
Bittern flew left to right to the back of Newlands. Lost count of the amount of
Reed Buntings that were on show today and both
Water Rail and
Cetti's Warbler were also heard calling.
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| Little Grebe - West Marsh |
A couple of
Little Grebe were showing well on West Marsh Pool during a brief visit and a walk around the Farm Pool reed bed produced two
Buzzards and a couple of
Green Woodpeckers. Other notables were four
Skylark over, a
Sparrowhawk over East Marsh Pool and a pair of
Kestrel at Newlands. A species roundup can be found on Jeff's site
HERE.
