Bright evening

Good light this evening following a warm spring day. There were 12 Wheatears (pic 1 and 2) on the mound (new birds), more Blackcaps, 2-3 Willow Warbler and influx of Shelduck (pic 5) to 9 birds. This male Gadwall (pic 3) was in a strange state of moult for the time of year (maybe got shot somewhere) and there are still 4-5 Green Sandpiper around (pic 4).

Nearby Canons Farm is on a roll at the moment with quality migrants, see here: http://devilbirder.blogspot.com/

Wheatear Evening Fall

There was only one female Wheatear this morning but when I checked the mound this evening there were eight. This diurnal arrival has been noticed several times at the farmlands. I remember first seeing this happening in late March 1987 when up to 27 Wheatears arrived through the day- peaking in the late afternoon. The highest count was 87 in spring 1955- unfortunately numbers have been in steady decline since.

Next In : LRPs, Wheatear and Swallow

Had my first Wheatear- a female (pic 2) and displaying Little Ringed Plovers today (pic 1). Yesterday afternoon there was a male Swallow flying over the obs with 12+ Sand Martin and we had another Swallow today. Also Water Pipit on the enclosed beds, more Blackcaps, the 5 Shelducks are still hanging around. The 200 daffs that I bought from Lidl for a fiver are still doing well at the obs (pic 4). Had our first Peacock butterfly and got this photo of an Orange Tip (pic 3).

Vagrancy theory link

http://peteralfreybirdingnotebook.blogspot.com/2011/03/vagrants-pioneers.html

Spring Birding Tour at Beddington Farmlands April 17th

I am leading a birding tour to the restricted area at Beddington farmlands on Sunday April 17th meeting at Hackbridge Train Station at 0915-0930. We will be looking for summer migrants. The tour will last approximately two hours.

All are welcome to this free tour but please book a place so we know how many people to expect. Please email me at littleoakgroup@btinternet.com.

Here's a couple of links from last year's tour: http://peteralfreybirdingnotebook.blogspot.com/2010/04/spring-migration-bird-tour-beddington.html

http://peteralfreybirdingnotebook.blogspot.com/2010/04/spring-migration-beddington-farmlands.html

Save the bridge- Public Meeting April 5th 7pm BedZed Pavilion

There is a public meeting at Bedzed Pavilion on Tuesday 5th April at 7pm to discuss the future of the irrigation bridge that gives access to Beddington Farmlands. All are welcome. If the visitors centre for Beddington Farmlands is located on the field north of Bedzed this bridge will form the main access point to the farm so it is very important to preserve this access point. At present there are plans to demolish the bridge so public support is needed in making a strong point of how important this bridge is to local residents and future nature reserve visitors.

Early spring birds and bugs

Greylag Geese (pic 1) seem to be a feature of early spring at the farm with a few appearing over the last couple of weeks. Most wildfowl numbers are reducing now but Tufted Duck (pic 2) are still present in good numbers (they breed much later than most wildlfowl). The Mute Swans have built a nest on the island.

5-6 Sand Martins around today, with singing Willow Warbler, Blackcaps and Chiffchaffs by the hide. The Tree Sparrows are utilising the new nest boxes by the hide and with a bit of sun and warmth today more bugs were emerging.

In addition to a few butterflies- Orange Tip, Red Admiral, Small Tortoiseshell, Brimstone, Holly Blue and Orange Tip I was shown some other bugs by Gripper and Frankie including Bee-fly (pic 3), Tawny Mining Bee (pic 4) and a colony of some kind of burrowing bee (pic 5) near the gate.