April 1 - Very Cold

A Song Thrush, Robin, Wren, Blackbird and Dunnock were all singing when we left home at 5.55 - after scraping ice off the windscreen. We usually manage 30+ by the time we reach Abbey Farm, including Tree Sparrow, to eat breakfast in the hide. Our first Blackcap of the year sang above the hide and a single Kingfisher flashed through. The record book spoke of a pair of the latter every day in the last week but no record of Little Owl at all.
Again, it was a very high tide at Snettisham with very few birds to be seen, apart from a scatter of Oystercatchers and Great Ringed Plover along the tideline.It was bitterly cold in the strengthening wind too.
100+ Curlew and 50 Avocets along the back of the Broadwater at Holme, a fly by male Peregrine causing absolute panic. We saw it again at Titchwell, from Fen Hide, the only time we ventured forth in the blustery wind as we both have painful sinuses already. We also had views of a single White Wagtail on the area where the soil was removed for the new seawall and heard our first Willow Warbler past the dipping pool.
The wintering Spotted Redshank, still in winter lumage, was visible at Morston where I was able to take some hasty shots before it moved away.




A 'might as well' drive out to Cley Coastguards rewarded us with our first Swallow, poor thing. To-day's total only 80 but, nearly all ticked from the warmth of the car.