Early april birding

I've been out birding every night after work this week, trying to squeeze in a few new birds before I disappear to Portugal for a week.

Monday I was down at Holme Pierrepont, where 3 LRP were noted, and a Redshank, that I had seen on Saturday, and was still knocking about. Otherwise, not much of interest, although a few more Willow Warblers were singing.

Tuesday, I popped down briefly to Clifton Grove to have a look for the Ring Ouzels that had been seen on Branshill, but as usual I couldn't locate any in the time I was there. I then went back to HP for another look round, the LRPs had increased to at least 4 birds, and were showing some territorial behaviour, and the Redshank was still about too. A Lapwing has begun nesting onsite too, lets hope they succeed in raising a brood, as they failed last year.

Yesterday, a Ring-necked Duck was reported at Kilvington, so I decided to have a look after work. The poor light and extremely windy conditions made for difficult viewing, but within a few minutes I had located what I thought to be the bird in question, but it was diving frequently and was hard to place as the choppy water kept obstructing my view. After a while though, it showed pretty well, and I was happy to get a new bird before I went away. Hopefully its the beginning of a productive spring in the county.