Last week of March

The winter is only just leaving us now, as I write on the 2nd of April. There has been some unseasonal heavy snow which carpeted the county at the end of march and due to freezing winds, wouldn't bloody melt. The cold 20mph gusts coming from the east have resulted in  a cold wintry landscape, making spring seem a long way off indeed. To back this up, spring migrants are very scarce. As i write, Chiffchaffs are a week or so late, their absence marked by a distinct lack of their disyllabic song, which should be everywhere by now. Sand martins are well over 2 weeks late, and I should be expecting the first sylvia warblers and cuckoos to be returning, but without some favourable conditions i think we're in for a wait.

Last week, between snowstorms and other things I managed to get out for a bit on thursday evening to Netherfield Lagoons. It was a nice sunny evening but cold winds made it very chilly. I was rather hoping to see barn owls but the biting wind was too much to stick around til dusk, so I missed out on that sadly. The site was reasonably quiet actually, with very few birds singing and not even a great deal on the water, but I still had a nice wander. Some Redwing were about on the ouse dyke path on the way into the site, as well as a Little Egret, seen catching fish in the dyke. Out on the wader scrape were 14 Gadwall and several Pied Wags, but none of the reported LRPs. A Snipe was flushed from the banks of the deep pit, my 90th species for the site, and a couple of Water Rail were heard from the reeds. Wandering back, a glance over to the gravel pits resulted in a Kestrel and around 10 Wigeon in the distance, and another look at the scrapes produced a single male Goldeneye, but still no LRPs. On the dyke on the way back, a Kingfisher was seen several times flying downstream.

The day after, I had planned a trip to the Allotment, but a look on twitter in the morning changed my decision, as a Cattle Egret had been reported at Hoveringham. Having not seen one in the UK before, i thought it was worth a look so I biked there instead. Despite searching, as well as the efforts of several other birders, the bird was not relocated. Perhaps someone misidentified a Little Egret, as one was on site when i visited. I hadn't been to Hoveringham for ages before this so was happy to have a wander round the railway pit and saw some nice birds while i was at it. 2 flocks of Wigeon, totalling 132 birds were notable, as well as about 10 Goldeneye. My first Oystercatchers of the year, a pair,  were on the islands near the woods, as well as several Greater Black Backed gulls, the first i've seen in ages! No bloody cattle egret though, and STILL no migrants!