Saturday 5 April 2008

Displaying LRP, willow warbler in and more geese...

Highlights from a good morning's trawl included the following:
5 singing chiffchaff in Freeman's Wood.
Little ringed plover in display flight over the gravel island at Freeman's Pools plus copulating oystercatchers there. The tufted duck pair were joined by a pair of goldeneye and a little grebe was also present.
The gadwall have moved onto the Wildfowlers' Pools and a pair of black-tailed godwit remain there - a further 3 were on the marsh.
A singing willow warbler was pretty much on cue by the pools.
3 linnets were in the stubble fields, where a number of lapwings seem to be on territory.
Single female wheatear on the marsh.
In small influx of pinkfeet boosted the numbers to 740, the Ross's (seemingly that last one left in the country of the 4 this winter) and barnacle were still amongst them though nothing else of note. As I was leaving (at around 11.40) all the geese got up and started to gather in skeins, circling wide and gaining height until they all flew off west. The Ross's was visible amongst the last large group to go - did I witness its departure or were they simply flushed elsewhere by jet skiers?

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