43
Before the 10.30 a.m. start, even, all
three British Woodpeckers had been
recorded within 100 metres of the car
park .
Nearly every willow seemed to be alive
with Warblers. One large Salix alone
boasted 1 male and 3 female Blackcaps,
with single Sedge, Garden and Willow
Warbler. The Sedge Warblers were
singing all around the gravel pits although
the Blackcaps were less vociferous. We
also saw or heard other returnees from
African wintering quarters, Chiff-chaff,
Cuckoo and Common Tern. The Tern would
possibly remain to breed on the recently
formed "Scrape" which when established
should become most attractive to passage
Waders, of which Snipe and Redshank are
already in the area and indeed we heard
a Greenshank flying over whilst we ate
our lunch. Further pretentions of Spring
were enhanced by a cloud of Swallows and
House Martins hawking over the Southern
end of the pits.
On the water, several pairs of Great
Crested Grebe were already nesting, as
were Coot, Tufted Duck, Mute Swan and
Canada Goose.
We recorded 48 species on our circuit,
whilst Judith and Tony Boniface explored
the Northern lagoons and saw several we
had missed. This total of 55 species
was fair for such a cold day - too cold for
the pair of Grasshopper Warblers to perform
for us as they had been doing all week.
The writer strongly urges a large turn out