Spring into spring... er... springness

Not a whole heap of surprises in the weeks since my last update. The usual spring suspects have trickled in... chiffchaffs in March, swallows, sand martins, willow warblers and house martins into April, and a smattering of other things... best of which was two (count em) mute swans on the lake.

Not one of the recent patch swans... one from the archives, because well, you've got to have pretty pictures on these things to keep 'em interesting!

A dearth of swannage can be a real problem on patch. Dipped mute swan last year, which may well have cost me the title (can't remember exactly but think there was only one species in it).

Anyway... the springflux of migrants (see what I did there... #skillz) puts me on 83.07% and, more importantly, back on top of the leaderboard. Nothing unexpected yet though... which  doesn't bode well for the end-of-year tally.

Still... onwards and upwards... allegedly.

Worth fighting for... err... allegedly!

It finally arrived last week -- only five months or so late -- and now sits in pride of place in a dark, little-noticed corner of the kitchen mantelpiece (Sybil flat-out refuses to have it on display in the living room... can't think why).

The venerated Golden Mallard -- finally home to roost

So, I thought now that it's here it might be an idea to go about trying to keep it a little bit longer. A few useful year ticks gleaned over recent weeks are bound to help. Spotted flys are back -- not the ones in / around the garden but one on the far side of the lake does the job nicely. Also picked up a singing reed warbler, which is a handy bonus, as it's more luck than judgement (my main birding strategy, truth be told) getting them on patch.

Then, walking around the north-east perimeter one evening I happened upon the elevated spot where I can see the only sliver of sea from patch. Conditions were perfect -- I could read the writing on the side of a passing container ship clearly with my bins -- unheard of. Then I spotted the tell-tale white flashes as gannets wheeled and dived. Score!

Not sure if I'm forgetting anything -- but gannet pushes me on to 81 species, which in real money converts to 95.29%.

Not bad... but I'm running out of tickable options fast!

Sandies' return

The abysmal weather finally relented earlier this week. It's still cold, but the sun has been shining, the wind dropping and temperatures slowly rising. At times, dare I say it, it even started to feel like spring.

And so I ventured out for a stroll to the lake on Wednesday evening, and there they were... three sand martins wheeling around overhead. There were a couple of chiffchaffs and a willow warbler foraging in the willows along the lakeshore too, and a small raft of tufted duck out on the water.

That little lot takes me to 63 for the year, putting me on 76.36%, and temporarily floating me back to the top of the leaderboard.