Early April round-up

I've done a fair bit of birding over the last week or so, however for all the birding I've done, lets just say my luck has been distinctly average.

Last Tuesday (02/04) I nipped into a very windy and cold Clifford Hill GP after work, finding a smart male Wheatear, around 30 Snipe and a solitary Dunlin. On Thursday (04/04) I headed for Summer Leys after work finding another male Wheatear in the field by Pete Wilde's lake and a Curlew opposite the feeding station, however very little else.

On Saturday, (06/04) I started at Trafford bridge near Culworth down by the River Welland. Nothing special found other than several Snipe and lots of Buzzards, however it was clear the weather was finally turning into something a tad more spring-like! Nipping into Boddington Reservoir and a quick stroll around Borough Hill failed to come up with much. Next Ecton SF held the drake Garganey, again showing well along the outflow channel, also there were around 10 Chiffchaff but I failed to track down the Sibe.

Sunday (07/04) began with an early start at a frosty Clifford Hill GP, yielding a smart summer plumaged Black Tailed Godwit, a few Snipe and Goosander. Summer Leys was a little better, with me finally catching up with the Great White Egret there. It was really active, constantly on the move around the main lake and was always pretty distant. Also there was a brief bit of song from a Willow Warbler, 3 Redshank, and a brief Ringed Plover. That afternoon after doing a couple of errands and heading home, I went over to Gallows Bridge Farm NR near Bicester on the off chance the Stone Curlew was still about however it appeared to have finally done a bunk...bugger!

Finally, yesterday (09/04) a singing male Firecrest turned up at the Eastern end of Ditchford GPS, near to the A6 bridge. I headed there after work, however frustratingly it clearly had decided to head to bed and failed to show to me or anyone else there until I left at 19:00pm. The lucks not exactly in at the moment but hey, shit happens! While there I did manage to locate the drake Green-Winged Teal on the Irthlingborough Floods, finding it almost straight away! Also there were around 6 fly-through Sand Martins, a couple of Redshank, 4 fly-over Goosander and several Snipe.