One Swallow

A day of almost constant drizzle only relieved by occasional bursts of rain. However the weather kept the 110-120 Sand Martins low over Ibsley Water for most of the day although the Swallow that joined them for a time in the late afternoon was one bird that did not stay around to be seen by me, although it was seen by a good few others.

There was also another first for the year in the form of an adult Little Gull which flew south down the same lake at lunchtime, although this was another bird that I missed, I took lunch in the hide just to late. The number of Little Ringed Plovers has also increased with at least four in the area just to the east of the Tern hide.

There are still birds hanging on from the winter as well though and a count of 33 Goldeneye, mostly in displaying groups, at the end of the day was equal to the highest I have had this winter. There were 11 adult drakes and one sub-adult drake amongst them, the rest being redheads and mostly, if not all, ducks. There were also at least 3 Black-necked Grebe, two of which are now very close to being in breeding plumage. There are also still a good few wagtails including the 2 Grey Wagtails around the shores of the lake, although I could still not pick out any White ones. The valley's Bar-headed Goose payed a brief visit with 2 Greylag Geese in the early afternoon and other birds arriving from the valley floods included a couple of parties of Wigeon and about 50 Black-tailed Godwit.

Meanwhile around the feeders at the Centre and Woodland hide good numbers of Brambling, Lesser Redpoll and Siskin continue to please the visitors. It was also in this area that I saw my first Common Toad of the year as I was locking up, I usually see my first in February so this is very late by recent standards.