Virtually the first birds we saw on Tuesday am were also the best birds we had seen on a Tuesday for some time. Initially, there was a 'ping-ping' sound and then 8 small birds with long tails flew up vertically in a southerly direction, but then they turned and headed north over our heads & headed back deeper into cover in the reedbed. That may have been all on an other occasion, but only a few seconds later we heard some more pinging and then we found first a moustachioed male shinning up a reed to take a look at us, followed by a female. The wind was quite strong and they were being buffeted by the reeds, but everyone got good views of the pair.
Bearded Tit in Full Cry
There were quite a lot of birds in the air including a single Green Sandpiper, and a small flock of Ruff, but further off there were literally hundreds of Golden Plovers swirling around in tandem with some Lapwings. They may have been flushed by a single Marsh Harrier. The water levels were exceptionally high, so it must a been a very high tide. The Otter prints were under water, and because of the very cloudy water there was no sign of the Kingfisher.
Black-tailed Godwit
On the way back Chris spotted and identified a male Stonechat. This may have been the first we have seen all year, it was certainly the smartest male we had observed for a very long time.
Stonechat
Immature Peregrine
In the afternoon we were amazed by a dogfight between a Peregrine and a Sparrowhawk. Later we found an exhausted Peregrine perched in a dead tree. It was an immature bird, and it kept craning its neck to watch us, but it looked a bit thin & scraggy, so it may not be finding enough food to survive. In Ken's telescope we could see the white fringes to its feathers and some brown colouring, which showed it was a young individual. Another new bird in the afternoon was a Jay. The Stonechat was still present & allowed me to get fairly close.
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