Sunny surprises

After the cold of yesterday I decided to leave my usual early morning patrol of the reserve until mid-morning today and as a result left home in warmer and sunnier conditions. Not quite the same on the reserve though, once again there was the strong and cold NE wind, which pushed me backwards at times. But the big difference over yesterday was the unbroken sunshine, it may not of been much warmer but it at least seemed it. Certainly on the odd occassion that I walked in the lea of a tall reed bed and was out of the wind, the temperature would immediately soar.

I decided to do a circular route round the reserve's grazing marsh today and was almost immediately rewarded with a fly-over Yellow Wagtail, just about audible against the wind. I then found the first Coot's nest of the year with eggs, with two other newly-built ones close by - things were looking up! and so was I a lot of the time and was rewarded with a second Yellow Wagtail.
Getting up onto the seawall and walking the length of that in the wind was certainly draughty round the neck but at long last I got the reward that I was after - from the reed beds came the loud and scratchy song of my first Sedge Warbler! I sat and listened to it for a while and also watched and heard two Bearded Tits and a Water Rail in the same reed bed. How such small things can impact on a day so immensley at times.

As well as the above birds I also recorded the following for my visit:
1 Little Egret - 2 Grey Herons - 58 Mute Swans - 6 White-fronted Geese - 20 Greylag Geese - 2 Canada Geese - 60 Shelduck - 50 Wigeon - 6 Gadwall - 70 Teal - 60 Shoveler - 18 Pochard - 6 Tufted Duck - 2 Kestrel - 40 Curlew - 10 Skylark - 4 Meadow Pipit - 1 Cettis Warbler - 8 Linnet - 14 Reed Bunting.

2 Hares, a couple of Peacock butterflies, loads of Bumblebees and along one ditch, fresh signs of recent Water Vole activity, completed the walk. Life felt good again.