Spring creeps in!

Is it me or is spring a little slower coming this year? I thought I'd make use of the power of my Bird Journal to do a little comparison study of the more common migrants seen on my patches.

Species	Soham Lode Patch		Burwell and Barker’s Fen Patch
Whitethroat	02/05/2015	18/4/2016	14/04/2015	25/04/2016
Swallow	07/05/2015	17/04/2016	24/04/2015	15/04/2016
Sand Martin	None Recorded	None as yet	09/05/2015	15/04/2016
House Martin	None Recorded	22/04/2016	09/05/2016	15/04/2016
Swift	07/05/2015	5/05/2016	07/05/2015	25/04/2016
Cuckoo	3/05/2015	2/05/2016	26/05/2015	25/04/2016
Willow Warbler	02/05/2015	None as yet	06/05/2015	25/04/2016
Garden Warbler	02/05/2015	18/04/2016	01/05/2015	None as yet

The arrival of the Swallows, Sand and House Martin was particularly impressive on the 15th of this month. The day had started with rain and wind. Around 3pm there was a brief window of good weather and so we made for Burwell Fen. On arriving all seemed fairly quiet but after a while there was a noticeable build up of dark clouds and increasing wind from the south east and with it came the swallows etc. for 40 minutes or so they came through swooping over the reed beds and many resting of the reeds.

Good to find a pair of Garganey present on the 15th :

Also putting in an appearance were three Arctic Tern and a couple of Short Eared Owl for good measure!

18th April

Two pairs of Garganey present this afternoon and seven Marsh Harriers (4 female/Juv)

Santon Warren: 13th April

A really pleasant morning for a wonder around this brilliant location. The dogs and I went out for an hours walk and came back three hours later. Plenty of Tree Pipit, Woodlark, Willow Warbler and Chiffchaff around:

A walk along the river produced three Mandarin Duck, two males and a single female:

April already...... what have I been doing?

Two posts in January and that's it! What have I been doing! Well not only enjoying early retirement but plenty of jobs to be done around the house and so on! I have been out and about birding but with little to report. January passed without anything much exciting other than a Great Grey Shrike at Santon Warren on the 15th.

The fens remained quiet, this, I think, was due to us not having any real harsh weather. Numbers of ducks were generally smaller than last year and some species very scarce!

February passed quietly with little to show form a number of visits to Burwell and Baker's Fen. A Coal Tit  was a new species for the Sidings Patch on the 12th along with the only Chiffchaff seen this winter. A Mistle Thrush set up territory in the back garden which was a welcome addition to the garden tick list.

Workshop rebuilding seemed to dominate March but was able to get a number of visits to the Fens in. However not much improvement  in terms of numbers or unusual species.

End of March saw us off on a family trip to Donegal! At last something different to see and a different environment to bird in. Have been visiting this area for more years than I'd like to admit too and in all that time I've never seen another birdwatcher, so I always have the area to myself. A number of trips to Mullaghderg produced good numbers of Long Tailed Duck and Black Guillemot. Eider ducks were present as were Razorbill and Black and Red Throated Diver. Two Sandwich Tern but in a very brief appearance as did a couple of passing Raven.

Black Guillemot displaying

Carrackfinn produced a good number of Stonechat (7), Curlew(27) and Golden Plover (60) and three Red-breasted Merganser. Sand Martins were also present but as yet no Wheatear. Sadly, for the second year running no Chough to be found anywhere in the area and once again, despite numerous tales of sightings, no Golden Eagle to be found!

Back to the Fens and two rather tubby dogs after a week in kennels. Chiffchaff calling along the sidings with at least three different birds marking out their area. A trip this morining to Baker's Fen produce a very nice pair of Garganey on the flooded field behind Charlie's hide. Shelduck present as were Oystercatcher and Redshank.