Saturday (20/04) I just headed over to Boddington Reservoir in stunning sunny weather to see what was about during the morning, with the hope of seeing the Arctic Terns that had been around a couple of days. Driving past the water I could see a Tern flying past close in shore and, after parking up and getting the scope up, it became clear it was indeed an Arctic Tern, great start. The place was alive with birds (and fishermen) with plenty of Tree Sparrows in the hedges as well as my first Sedge Warbler singing away close to the road.
There were good numbers of Warblers around with several each of Whitethroat, Willow Warbler, Chiffchaff and Blackcap. Close to Byfield Pool I heard that classic scolding call of a nearby Willow Tit and it wasn't long before I was getting fabulous views of a male moving around singing it's head off and was probably the most showy one I've seen yet. The Arctic Tern was showing brilliantly at times around the dam end and was soon joined by a second bird. At times they would fly by no more than 15 feet away, with one of them even catching a small fish right in front of me. Brilliant!
A couple of single Yellow Wagtail headed north, a couple of very vocal Raven were over the dam end and a Grey Wagtail showed well displaing, also at the dam. Was all very spring-like!
I had very early start on Sunday (21/04) to go around 'my patch' of Earls Barton GPs for the RSPB Breeding Birds Survey. I did the first part last week but want to keep tabs on it to see what's what ready for my next survey in May. Before I headed down there I had a quick 25 mins around Summer Leys. It wasn't long before the Grasshopper Warbler showed well in the grassy area by the car park, reeling it's arse off. From Rotary Hide, a nice looking summ plum Black tailed Godwit was on Round Island and my first Reed Warbler of the year was really bursting out it's song right in front of the hide. With several Sedge Warblers rattling away too, along with gorgeous sunrise, it had a real Spring feel to it.
My patch was looking good with highlights being my first Lesser Whitethroat and Cuckoo of the year, a particularly well marked Green Sandpiper, a small flock of Redpoll sp. still about, several Common Terns, a possible Arctic Tern straight through, a Raven, good numbers of Sedge Warblers, Willow Warblers and Blackcap, 2 singing Cetti's Warbler, displaying Redshank and Oystercatcher, a Snipe.
I met up with Dave after he'd had a look around his nearby patch and we then went over to Chelveston Airfield to look for a Ring Ouzel seen there yesterday. It looked really great for migrants and we did see 5-10 Wheatear and several Yellow Wagtail overhead, however the Ring Ouzel failed to show and presumably had moved on.
After that we headed onto Polebrook Airfield to look for Nightingales. It could have been a little early for them, however with several reported around the country, it was definitely worth a go. After a good search around we drew a blank, however just when we thought of heading back to the car, there was the distinctive sound of a singing Nightingale in sub-song. It was amazing how stealthy they are. Several times we had the bird in the bush next to us no more than 5 feet away, but still you couldn't see it!
After a pint at the pub we finished up with a brief visit to Summer Leys. Here we eventually saw our first Greenshank of the year and there was also a White Wagtail on the grass to the left of the feeding station and more encouraging numbers of Common Terns with between 5-10 birds present.
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