An unusual early fall

On arrival in the car park for the bird walk it was evident Chiffchaff had arrived, 2 each end of the car park, 1 more at the bottom, a further 2 on Sandford's North side and 1 by the old Oak near Teal Hide, so at least 6 in this area alone. Consulting the archives, this is very unusual as we do not usually expect spring falls until between the 15th and 21st March, last year it wasn't until 1st April! Had we, or someone walked the entire park, the total fall count might have been well into double figures?

Before my arrival a lone Shelduck flew over South.

The start of the bird walk was rewarded with a year tick for me in the form of a pair of Mandarin over low, heading just to the East of the car park field, no doubt looking for a breeding site. A pair of Mistle Thrush on the ground may well be nest site prospecting too.

The Little Owl didn't show for us, but several others did see it later.

At Bittern Hide we saw 7 Snipe, 3-4 Pochard and 3 Goldeneye over North, on to Sandford we saw 2 male Red Crested Pochard, 3 more Goldeneye, various other ducks and enjoyed the Chiffchaff nearby, only hearing Bullfinch.

These Red Crested Pochard are the longest staying ever, previous longest was 11 days in 1994, Oct 12th to 23rd, then 10 days in 2006, Jan 11th to 21st, then 8 days in 2007, Jan 30th to Feb 6th, plus a few 5-6 day stays in other years.

At LFGP another 2 Goldeneye, 4 species of gull, 2 Little Egret, 30+ Wigeon and a few Teal, but not much else. On the walk back we saw 1 Lesser Redpoll, others had seen 3-4 on the way to LFGP.

A bit late but here are my aweful record shots of Redshanks and Oystercatcher on 7th.