A better day!

Decided that the best time to see these birds at Attenborough is probably in the morning, so i got back on my bike at 7.30am and got to attenborough about 8.30. I went straight to the tower hide and ended up spending about an hour and a half in there.

Just as i was getting to the hide, i heard the unmistakeable trill off a Grasshopper Warbler, so i cupped my ears trying to locate the bird, but as they are such good 'ventriloquists' it was difficult, but then i spotted a couple of blokes down the path with a scope and ventured over. I was rewarded with excellent (45x) views of the 'gropper' in full song, brilliant!

Back to the hide and i wanted to get some sights of some of the interesting birds which have been about. Going up the steps i saw an interesting gull on top of the dead tree in the middle of the tween pond scrape, so in the hide i got my scope out and laid eyes on my first UK sighting of a Yellow legged gull! One down!

the hide soon filled up and i was restricted to one side looking over the wheatear field, while everyone else was pointing out interesting birds that i couldn't get views of the other side! I bided my time though, and in the meantime got excellent views of a couple of kestrels, both females, perhaps juveniles. Also of note were loads of Lapwing (as is the norm at the moment!), several whitethroat still active amongst the brambles, and the gropper was still going crazy.

Once a space opened up the other side, i moved across and scanned the reedbed and clifton pond. There were a good number of Little Egrets to be seen, 6 being the most in view at one time. A female Sparrowhawk sped past the hide with prey in talons, spooking a few Lapwing. I also got a distant view of my first Green Sandpiper, and one came in closer later on. Another nicee surprise was a solitary Wigeon which was milling about near the main island, the first of the season! A common sandpiper was also seen.

Much better today then! I wish i could have stayed a bit longer as there was meant to be a weather system moving in which could have brought in a few migrants, but i guess i can go back any time really!