With weekend visitors having departed and a pleasant sunny morning, there was time for a wander down the railway line and back through the fields.

Most of the wildfowl seems to have departed, but there were still about 50 Shoveler, roughly the same number of Teal, a handful of Wigeon and a pair of Tufted Ducks. Difficult to count the Little Egrets as they were moving around, but reckon at least 10, and half a dozen Grey Herons, with two of the nests having sitting tenants. Two White-fronted Geese were west of the heronry with some Greylags and Canada Geese, but then they suddenly shuffled off behind a hedge, so perhaps there were more? Two Oystercatchers were poking around in the wet fields and what is probably one of the Knepp Storks also parading around. Some Lapwings doing their display flights, both east and west of the railway line.

Chiffchaffs and Blackcaps heard along the railway line too, and two Cetti’s Warblers at same locations as previously.

Val Bentley, 2nd April 2024

Val