April round-up

Away from Northants, I spent a few days in Suffolk with the family (28/03 - 01/04) for Easter, a stones throw from Minsmere. It was pretty bloody cold for the most part, however a short spell of sun produced my first ever Black Adder at Minsmere, pointed out to us near to the Sand Martin bank. Not a lot of time for birding but did see a few Dartford Warblers, Bittern, a few Marsh Harriers, Bearded Tit, Med Gulls, Avocets, Barwit, Sandwich Tern, Barnacle & Brent Geese. So not too bad at all!

Locally, the second half of April produced a flurry of new birds for the year. As I do every spring, I spent a full day towards the back end of April my main local sites. This year it was 24/04, which proved to be a decent day with 81 species. Foxcote Res, near Buckingham produced the main highlights with a group of 6 Little Gull that were swiftly joined by 3 Black Tern, part of a good sweep of both species across the country. A Marsh Harrier quartering the reedbed at the west end was a bonus too. Elsewhere during the day produced Corn Bunting, Common Tern, Green Sand, Redpoll, Siskin, Grasshopper Warbler & Greenshank. The day was nicely closed out watching a busy flock of a further 12 Black Tern at Boddington Res, actively feeding backwards and forwards in the golden evening sun - magical!

It can be tricky to catch the usual spring wave of northbound Arctic Terns if you happy to be busy on the 1 or two days the bulk pass through. While I would ideally prefer to find my own, I managed to get across to Foxcote Res to enjoy a lovely flock of 5 birds on a very breezy, cold evening on 28/04.

Other local year ticks in the latter half of April included Redshank, Cuckoo, Grey Partridge, Swift, Tawny Owl and Garden Warbler. The garden prodcued a beautiful fresh male Emperor Moth on 25/04. A singing Whitethroat (27/04) was also a surprise garden visitor, while Peregrine sightings were regular.