I walked up the main track, enjoying the birdsong all around me. Sedge and reed warblers were, as usual, in full voice, although the latter less easy to see amongst the reeds. A cuckoo could be heard in the distance, but sadly no purring of the turtle dove.
Asking several people I met, they kept providing the same answer.. no, they hadn't seen or heard the turtle dove today.
On the scrapes, breeding has begun in earnest; there were at least three canada geese families and a couple of greylags, though doubtless there were more, hiding amongst the long grasses. I also saw a couple of young lapwing chicks. Other birds on the scrape included redshank and snipe. Snipe could also be heard drumming overhead.
The sun was intermittent and it began to get warmer, by now it was nearly 10.45 and I started to head back to the car park. Just as I approached the corner by the cattle pens, someone approached me and informed me that there was a turtle dove feeding on the ground the other side of the gate!! I managed to get a few photos before it flew up onto a nearby telegraph pole, then posed for a while before flying off again. It had appeared just in time and enabled me to put that tick firmly on my list!
common whitethroat
chiffchaff
greylags
canada geese
sedge warbler
reed warbler
reed bunting
snipe
two geese families
lapwing and chick
turtle dove
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