A Day Out In Spring Sunshine

With the promise of sunshine I was woken as normal this time of the year by the wakey wakey bird as my wife calls it. A blackbird seems to enjoy being in the tree next door and is the prime instigator of the dawn chorus with its prominent song. Sadly there is not a Song Thrush in the bird choir any more, I hope this is just  temporary. I started my day with a visit to Stodmarsh. I met Martin Wilson And Mark Chiddwick walking along the lane looking for spring arrivals, I then made my way to the village  where I was greeted with the welcome sound of Chiffchaff on arrival at the car park .It was not long before a male Blackcap was located along the track to the reed bed hide, he was singing his heart out, no doubt excited as he anticipates the arrival of the females shortly. Much of the norm in the alder wood, the Great Spotted Woodpeckers showed well along with a pair of Stock Doves and spring sound was superb with little wind in the wood, the highlight by far being two male Wrens in competion with each other. Further along the track I bumped into Steve Ashton, we chatted about spring arrivals in bird land and the local Marsh Harriers, we watched several along the Lampern wall either side but not coming in reach of the camera. My first Swallow of the year was next to greet me, by far a sign that spring has sprung. After an hour or so we decided a visit to Oare might be good as high tide was midday and we had just about exhausted what there was on show here. Of interest there seemed to be chiffchaffs every where lets hope its a good year for Warblers. Its a 40 min drive to Oare from Stodmarsh, parking by the east flood I was able to photograph a Black Tailed Godwit that was close to the fence, it did not seem  bothered by the sound of the camera shutter.We spent a good few hours here noting my first Yellow Wagtail, another Swallow, two Wheatear, a few Bearded Tits and on high tide lots of Godwits and Golden Plover in summer plume. The bright sunshine was nice but made photographing difficult however I managed a few shots through the day. Mike Gould arrived for the last hour, the sun slowly shifting behind us gave a warm glow across the east flood.