Saturday’s weather was a repeat of the previous day, very calm, overcast with occasional glimpses of weak sun and the thermometer slowly rising from about 8c when the North Gate opened, to about 13c by the time I left the visitor centre at 1.30pm.
As is usually the case, a huge number of wildfowl were present on the lagoons, dominated by Greater Flamingo and upwards of 300 Shelduck, with Mallard, Teal, Shoveler, Gadwall, Avocet and Black-winged Stilt plus a few Pintail I could just pick out distantly in the rather hazy light. Wigeon could be heard too but there were few waders about, possibly due to the high water level, apart from a couple of noisy Green Sandpiper. Kingfishers were equally vocal and I must have had half a dozen sightings during the morning. At least 6 Marsh Harrier were hunting, a dark phase Booted Eagle drifted over but the raptor I really wanted was Spotted Eagle. A juvenile was present and had been seen from the tower hide at the end of the track but was hidden in trees by the time I got there. I waited a while, during which time a Great White Egret or two moved around, before I moved on to the next screen where Penduline Tit had been reported. No luck there, and not much else on the water apart from a group of Red-crested Pochard, Shovelers and Black-necked Grebes. Going back to the tower hide I learned that the Spotted Eagle had again shown in the few minutes I had been away. Of course it had! It didn’t show up again though and I made my way gradually back to the car.
I arrived at the visitor centre just before several noisy family groups turned up, which wasn’t ideal but not unexpected. A fellow birder helped me finally locate a Bluethroat which intermittently popped up on the opposite side of the car park, along with a male Black Redstart and a couple of Stonechat. The visitor centre lakes held the usual waterfowl and no new birds from my previous visit, with Snipe, Dunlin and Little Ringed Plover still present. Large numbers of Chiffchaff were flitting about just over the water and the air was also full of even more Crag Martin. Whilst watching with my binoculars over a lake from one of the screens, the red rump of a Red-rumped Swallow took me by surprise! That must be either a very early migrant or an over-wintering bird. Although I only briefly sighted it a few seconds later and didn’t pick it up again, there was no mistaking the species as it’s colouration stood out against the dark background of the reeds.
Looking at CBBC’s Spring Migration comparisons, Red-rumped Swallow has not appeared previously until much later in the month and usually not until early spring. So, is this a new record or does the species occasionally over-winter? Note from Website admin. – my guess is it was a bird which has over-wintered.
Anyway with 52 species for the day, that tick neatly brought my trip total to 100 and with the weather deteriorating that will probably be where it will end. It has been a lovely festive break but some harsh winter weather awaits our return to the UK on Tuesday. Hopefully it won’t be another two years before we are back!
