On Easter Sunday, I received a text from recently retired Alan S that a male Goldeneye was on site. This was the first record of the year - another sign that the winter period was particularly slow this year. I had to wait until the evening, but the bird was still present, though distant, preening beyond the spit. I managed a record shot in fading light and was also pleased to get my first Swallow of the year that went over late on with 5 Sand Martins.
I had missed some good hirundine passage over the weekend, when 1200 Sand Martins, 300 Swallows and 50 House Martins were logged during the day on Saturday. All coming off the river and heading north over the pit, which they do when conditions are right. Still, I was pleased to see my first Swallow, but will have to wait for the House Martin, as the prevailing sunny conditions aren't conducive for seeing hirundines.
3 Little Egrets were also looking interested in the heronry, so fingers crossed for another breeding success and 3 Little Ringed Plovers were running about on the spit.
On Easter Monday, I made a morning visit and was serenaded by a male Blackcap along the concrete road as I arrived. Little else was seen though - Spring still seems very late this year - no Willow Warbler yet and still no Wheatears at Pump Lane, which are usually March birds.
Today, 8th, I made another early morning visit, but had to wait until 7:30am for the fog to lift! 2 Little Ringed Plovers on the spit were joined by a third bird which flew in high from the south. The 3 Little Egrets were making their presence known, flying around and making a bit of a racket and a single Swallow flew north. A further Swallow was seen flying south over Pump Lane vineyards, but that was it. So it was nice to get another text from pit stalwart Alan S saying that a Black-tailed Godwit had flown in at about 1pm. I was able to get down and grab a couple of record shots of this nice islandica bird in almost full summer plumage. It was feeding avidly and usually had its head under water, but I did get one showing the bill!
Hopefully this is a sign that things are picking up. I'm now on 91 for the year, which is pretty low for this time of year - last year I was on 97 by April 1st.
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