Stayed from 1.30 till 6pm. Spent 3 hours in the cuckoo hide. I know I keep on about it but the range of habitat available from here is much wider than from the Avocet hide. Admittedly the birds aren't as close but its certainly worth a session in here on route to the Avocet hide. It was was certainly worthwhile today. The stonechat was seen before we arrived, unfortunately not by Crofty and me. But we did see plenty of other stuff. 3 Chiffchaffs fed along the Hen Brook as did 3 little egrets, occasionally perching in the dead oak tree and hawthorns. A cetti's sang close by as did reed buntings and song thrush. For the last hour and a half I moved on to the Avocet hide. The gulls were gathering and the lapwing numbers hadn't dropped by much. At 5.35 the Barn owl finally showed appearing from the 3rd Flash area and then gave a good show for 5 minutes or more. Its hunted mostly over the southern meadow, until a buzzard attacked it without inflicting any harm. The curlew flock had grown by 1 and the increase in the coot flock is another harbinger of spring.
Species count FLASHES:
Little Egret 3, Teal 20+, gadwall 2 males, mallard 10, shelduck 3 (from Moors), Greylag 31 feeding on transmitter field, coot 10, moorhen 20, water rail, Buzzard 4, peregrine, Curlew 16, lapwing 640, snipe 3, Oystercatcher, Green Sand 4 roosted, BHG 450 roosted, LBBG 2 roosted, Raven 4, stock dove 6, green woodp 2, BARN OWL, fieldfare 5, redwing 5, song thrush 2, starling 30, cetti's warbler, goldcrest pr by bridge in pines, chiffchaff 3, grey wag, pied wag 2, bullfinch 2, reed bunting 2 singing,