Seven fellow birders and I visited Pego Marsh today, and were well-rewarded for our early start. We saw around 60 Lapwing and a similar number of Glossy Ibis, the latter put up by two Marsh Harrier passing over the ibis’s grassy feeding area. We saw several more Marsh Harrier during our visit. Cruising around the hills overlooking the marsh, we saw a group of 7 Booted Eagle, including one dark-phase bird, plus 2 Common Buzzard and a Common Kestrel in the same area. Typically for this marsh during the winter months, there were countless Chiffchaff, White Wagtail, Grey Heron, Little Egret and Cormorant all around the marsh. On one of the water-filled fields were 4 Shoveler, including a beautiful male, and 3 Little Grebe. We only had brief glimpses of a Hoopoe and 2 Green Sandpiper, and didn’t see, only heard Cetti’s Warbler, albeit in 5 locations. Of the smaller birds recorded were 50+ Chaffinch, a male Stonechat showing nicely in the winter sunshine, with Meadow Pipit common. We also saw several Water Pipit and at least 8 Bluethroat. However, it was nice to see a migrant species so early in the year – 4 Little Ringed Plover feeding on a muddy field. We finished our tour at 2.30pm and recorded 32 species altogether during our visit.
