Birds of April

A male common scoter followed on from the female seen at the local reserve the month before.

 Above: common residents showing unusually well, a greenfinch and a treecreeper.

Below: commoner mid-spring arrivals, willow warbler and whitethroat.

The spring migration built up quickly in the first half of this month. It's been fascinating to follow some of the more southern bird observatories on Twitter, and then see the species they ringed appear in the local bird sightings a few days later. The usual suspects, and in the usual order - after the chiffchaffs started filtering in at the end of March came willow warblers, blackcaps, reed and grasshopper warblers, and a few less regular species that continued through northwards (such as ring ouzels and redstarts). Overhead a similar progression - sand martins, then swallows and house martins. A surge of warmth just after Easter brought out a mass of invertebrates - many butterflies, moths, bees, flies and hoverflies, ants and wasps. Aside from feeling summery, it's the main reason all those incoming birds are here.

 Above: redstart, pied flycatcher, and a feisty wood warbler - a trio of lovelies.

The weather has been much colder since then, but the birds kept coming. A rash of rarities in the local park boosted my list, and a couple of day trips to hotspots further afield brought some success. I couldn't possibly choose a bird of the month - while the pied-billed grebe is by far the rarest, it was totally unexpected, while garden warbler, redstart, raven etc. are birds I have been after for ages.

Above: a marsh harrier, one of Leighton Moss's specialities, and a much rarer (and exceptionally distant!) pied-billed grebe - the only one in the country.

April 2015
19 species (7 lifers) - year total 130
Blackcap
Garden warbler
Grasshopper warbler
Lesser whitethroat
Marsh harrier
Pied-billed grebe
Pied flycatcher
Raven
Redstart
Reed warbler
Ringed plover
Ruff
Sand martin
Swallow
Whimbrel
Whinchat
Whitethroat
Willow warbler
Wood warbler