Arrivals, arrivals

A real day of arrivals, cold and wet but conditions that favoured birds coming in from the south. New in today was a Common Sandpiper and 2 Little Gulls, both of them first year birds one pictured (badly) below. It has moulted some of the tail feathers so there are only black ends showing on the outers.
Also new and really early for Blashford was a Common Tern, I got a bad picture of this too and I share it below.

At the start of the day there were perhaps 50 Sand Martins and 3 Swallows, by the end there were 300 or more Sand Martins and at least 100 Swallows. There was also a single House Martin and I often don't see one of those in March. There 3 Black-necked Grebe again, although the fourth might have actually gone as nobody saw more than three all day.

Around the Woodland and Centre some 20 Brambling, including some brilliant males,although I could only get a picture of a female.

There are also still lots of Greenfinches coming to the feeders, the side view of the head shows just how massive the bill is.

There were also at least 7 Blackcap today and a Willow Warbler, so the arrivals included nocturnal migrants as well.

The Little Ringed Plovers are getting settled, despite looking as though they will be close to the hide, the nest site may once again have a strategically placed twig, just for the photographers! We actually did do a lot of clearing and weeding and most of the area is clear, they obviously like to be close to a stick.