I decided to do some local birding today and ended up at Grove Ferry at about 10.30am in the hope of catching up on some spring migrants , rather overcast with a fresh wind but the sun was trying to break through.
At the car park there were the usual birds around the feeders , Great tit , Blue tit and so on , i met the guy who was there flogging " In Focus " gear and whilst chatting to him i caught sight of my first migrants in the shape of 3 Swallows , i took a picture not very good but if you click on it the dot does turn into a Swallow , honest !!!
Distant Swallow.
After this i headed for the " Ramp " and soon added Sedge Warbler to my year list and all the usual ducks were seen out on the flood although there seemed to be quite a high number of Gadwall , 3 more Swallows flew by and there was at least 2 Cettis warblers singing near by , i spent roughly 30 mins here and added Marsh Harrier and Sparrowhawk to my days total , i then headed of towards the Marsh hide and added 2 more Sedge Warblers and i was soon adding my third year tick of the day in the shape of a fine male Blackcap , there were several Marsh Harriers up in the air , i counted 4 males and 3 females and even managed some photos :
male Marsh Harrier
female Marsh Harrier
Female Marsh Harrier being harassed by a Lapwing.
After enjoying prolonged views of these superb birds of prey i then headed off towards an area called the Ox Bow in the search for Water pipit but after a long search and scan of the area i had no joy , although i did add my final year tick of the day in a fine colourful Yellow Wagtail , my main counts were : Cettis Warbler 10 heard , Chiffchaff 5 heard , Sedge Warbler 1 seen plus 2 more heard , Blackcap 1 male ,Swallow 6 , Yellow Wagtail 1 , Sparrowhawk 1 and Marsh Harrier 4 males and 3 females , i finally got back to my old banger at 1.30pm having seen 49 species plus 2 Peacock butterflies and hearing several Marsh Frogs .
