Sightings

Main sighting: Wheatear

Three first on the tumble for the year. Pair of Wheatears several Stonechat and a male red start.

Main sighting: Osprey

Osprey reported by anglers this morning – heading north up river.

Main sighting: Curlew call

Heard curlew calling

Main sighting: Pied Flycatcher

Pied Flycatcher and 2 Tree Pipits

Main sighting: Redstart

Redstart

Main sighting: Red Grouse

8 Grouse seen or heard from the “grouse walk” at dawn. Also 2 Stonechat and several Skylarks

Main sighting: Great White Egret

En-route to hides: robin, cettis calling, pheasants, pied wagtail, blue tits, 5 fly-by grey herons (one carrying a large twig), chaffinch, woodpigeons, crows, chiffchaffs, blackbird, blackcap and wren. Hide 1: skylarks, 3 ruff (one with a neat white head), 40 shelduck, Canada and greylag geese, 4 lapwing, mallards, lesser black-backed gulls, 15 redshanks and 18 teal. En-route to hide 2: magpies, herring gulls, goldfinches and a water vole. Hide 2: 715 black-tailed with 1 bar tailed godwit mixed in, 83 knot, 13 wigeon, shoveler, 2 spotted redshanks (getting darker), 16 swallows, 3 cormorants, 2 avocet, 2 oystercatchers, reed buntings, great white egret dropped in briefly then took off again, 1 snipe, linnets, meadow pipits, red kite being mobbed by shelduck, 1 dunlin, pair of mute swans, pair of gadwall and a fox on the bank outside of the fence area.. En-route to platform 15 passing sand martins. Snipe platform: coot and little grebes. Marsh platform: male stonechat. Hide 3: 2 ringed plovers, pink footed goose (water right of hide), 75 more shoveler, 4 more wigeon, 74 more avocet, 15 more gadwall and sparrowhawk. Back at the car park: green woodpecker calling and long tailed tits.

Main sighting: Short-Eared Owl

Visit began 30 mins before dawn. On Monks Lagoons huge flock of Black-Tailed Godwits ( 1000+). Reviewed my pics later and at least 6 Bar-Tailed Godwits. The Black-Tailed Godwits remained on Monks Lagoon all morning and put on some mega displays. The Godwit flock was joined by Knots ( 30 +) Ruff ( 3+), Spotted Redshank ( 2), Dunlins (10 +), Lapwings and Redshank.
A Short-Eared owl was quartering the reeds/grass between Monks and Becs early on and then flew all around the reserve.
Other highlights –
3 different Marsh Harriers seem – 2 x Female and 1 x Male. They are favouring Priors Lagoon.
Priors had 8x Mute Swans early on and the main highlight was the Pink Footed Goose – best observed from the seawall or the seawall hide. On the seawall, a Yellow Wagtail showed.
On Becs Lagoons was the main flock of Avocets 40 +, Oystercatchers (4) and a lot of Shelduck (50+). The highlight on Becs was a solitary male Garganey.

Main sighting: Yellow Wagtail

Chiffchaff, Goldfinch, Avocet, Black-Tailed Godwit, Redshank, Knot, Canada Goose, Greylag Goose, Pied Wagtail, 2 x Marsh Harriers, Shelduck, Gadwall, Cormorant, Lapwing, Wigeon, Teal, Mallard, Moorhen, Coot, Blackbird, Woodpigeon, Buzzard, Blue Tit, Cetti’s Warbler, Magpie, Meadow Pipit, Skylark, Starling, Reed Bunting, Shoveller, Mute Swan, Chaffinch, Crow – The star of the visit was a beauty of a Yellow Wagtail visible on the seawall. Thank you to the chap I met in hide 2 who alerted me to it.

Main sighting: Gargany

Gargany (single male); Pintail (pair); Pink Footed Goose; Black Tailed Godwit (>1000); Avocet (91); Knot (33); Lapwings; Oystercatchers; Ringed Plover (2); Gadwall (12); Grey Heron; Little Grebe; Little Egret; Mallard; Moorhen; Coots; Redshank (18); Ruff; Shelduck (36); Teal (52); Tufted Duck (2); Snipe (3); Mute Swan (3); Greylag Geese; Canada Geese; Little Egret: Curlew (31, beyond sea wall); Blackbird; Blackcap; BlueTit; Great Tit; Carrion Crows; Jackdaw (2); Cetti’s Warbler (3); Chiffchaffs (5); Dunnock; Goldfinch (7); House Sparrow; Robins; Herring Gulls; Lesser Black Backed Gull (3); Magpie; Meadow Pipit; Skylark; Pheasant (2); Reed Bunting; Starlings; Wrens; Marsh Harrier (2) Both females, causing chaos amongst the waders for over two hours.
50 Species in all. Plus Peacock Butterfly.

Main sighting: Bittern booming

Bittern booming; Snipe (6); Curlew flying over; Blackcap; Cetti’s Warbler; Chiffchaffs; Wrens; Robins; Great tit; Blue tit; Blackbird; Dunnock; Great Spotted Woodpecker; Goldfinch; Blackbird; Buzzard; Magpie; Canada Geese; Tufted duck; Little Grebe; Shelduck; Grey Heron; Mallard; Moorhen; Carrion Crow; Woodpigeon.

Main sighting: Sand Martin

Pair of Sand Martin at nest site.