Buzzards displaying on Offham Hangar: they fly high then fold wings and plummet then fly up again. The male chased another pair away.
Four Mediterranean gull on islands near Sand Martin hide. Two had full breeding plumage with displaying going on, wing slightly up, puffed out chest walking around.
Monday
Sounds of spring – A cacophony rising on the reserve, the cries of black-headed gull mixed with the singing of robins, dunnocks, song thrush, Cetti’s warbler, great tits (teacher, teacher)
Spring behaviours: Goldfinches in hedgerows scouting nesting sites. Longtailed tits collecting spider webs at the building window to help construct their ball shaped nest giving them strength and flexibility.
At the hides Monday:
Ramsar Hide
Pintail pair
Pair of oystercatcher on wet grassland opposite Ramsar hide. 6 teal
Five Lapwings, males taking to the air for display flights
Many gulls passing through the reserve: black-headed, Mediterranean gull, common gull, herring gulls – some black-headed gulls will remain and breed on site.
Lapwing hide
On the way to the hide I spot a pair of pochard on channels of the reedbeds of Wetland Discovery
Greylag geese and Canada geese are now in pairs for the season.
Five lapwing – a pair to the left of the hide, a pair to the right, when another displaying male shows up for a few tumbling display flights. On Sunday spotted a lapwing beating on a snipe, lapwing don’t like other waders in their territory
Searching the edge of reed and sedge through binoculars I spot 3 snipe
On pond across from the hide 4 gadwall, 2 teal, a water rail
Sand Martin Hide
Black-headed gulls,
shelducks
lapwing displaying
Overhead 4 male pochard chasing a female flying round in circles finally landing on the water’s near the Scrape Hide
Med gull flying over
Scrape Hide
8 male pochard two female but males only chasing the one female.
4 tufted ducks
A pair of shoveler ducks
2 shelduck
10 gadwall
A little grebe
Reedbed hide
On long path to the Reedbed boardwalk a blue tit is perched on scrub singing territory, likely using a nest box on Wetland Secrets building or in a dormouse nest box.
Barely hear a reed bunting singing in all the cacophony of gulls and other song.
See a blue tit near nest box #7.
3 male & 1 female mandarin ducks on tussock – these tree nesters will likely to use the nearby owl box hidden on the back of the tree
Great tit singing in carr woodland section
Whirligig beetles rippling the surface of the water having emerged from hibernation last week
Ladysmock leaves and a few flower spikes visible.
Woodland Loop area
Dunnock and robin singing
A female and male great tit both emerge from the PGW nest box near the feeders
Great spotted woodpecker flees the feeders
Long tailed tit is on the peanut feeders with blue tits nearby.