There was a small movement of Kittiwake on 1st April and one was found by Adam Bassett on the east side of the gravel pit at Little Marlow. Two more were seen in Milton Keynes.
The species is an annual visitor to the county but sometimes only one or two sightings. However it is not annual at Little Marlow, so many of the local birders were keen to see this bird which stayed on site for a few hours.
There is a short video clip of this bird below.
This Blue-winged Teal was found by local birder David Bevan mid afternoon. I was the second person on the scene and soon followed by Adam Bassett. The bird was feeding on it's own in the smaller of the two pools that are part of the flood alleviation scheme. It stayed until dusk allowing many county birders to contact with it.
The species has never been recorded in the county before, so if accepted it will be a county first!
Green-winged Teal is a species that I have seen several times in the USA and Canada but not in the UK. So when one turned up at Wilstone Reservoir, it was too good an opportunity to miss. I couldn't get there for a couple of days but decided on a mid-afternoon visit. The bird was feeding reasonably close to the hide on Draycote Bank so I managed a short video and a few still photos.
This Iceland Gull was seen at Little Marlow GP and Springfield Quarry in November and December 2021, so it was a big surprise when local birder David Bevan found it again on 10th Mar! A number of other birders managed to see the bird before dusk and we thought that was it. But on 19th March it turned up again. It was not seen again despite several people trying for it.
In early December the number of Finches feeding in a set-a-side field at Flackwell Heath dramatically increased. The biggest flock was of Linnets with 500 or so frequently seen into mid-January and an estimated maximum of 1000 on 5th January. Also present were up to 400 Chaffinches and 250 Brambling during January. The latter species attracted quite a few birders from around the area an typically about 200 were present.
The Linnets would flock together and typically fly in a tight flock while the Chaffinches and Bramblings would often fly in and out of the crops in a long straggly line and they would freely mix together.
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| Brambling - A nice male |
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| Linnets - A small part of the flock waiting to go back to feed. |
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| Linnets - alarmed birds heading for the bushes. |
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| Bramblings and Chaffinches - A small part of the flock |
The evening roost at Little Marlow GP has gradually increased in size over recent weeks, although very variable from day to day. Apart from the five regular species of gulls, a few scarcer species have put in an appearance over recent days. A 1st Winter Yellow-legged Gull was rather distant and in dark conditions so no photos, but I did manage to video the other two scarce species below.
This was a morning visit to the site with Bourne End U3A. Most of the photos were taken from the new hide. There were three Great White Egrets at least spread around the lake plus several Little Egrets. The Red-crested Pochards were a surprise as was a flock of 150-200 Golden Plover that flew overheard at one point.
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| An interesting size comparison above and below between Great White and Little Egret. |
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| With a Ruffe (or Pope) catch. It caught three in about five minutes! |
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| Kingfisher - taken through trees along the path along the SW bank. |
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| The same or another Kingfisher sat on the bank for some time but flushed by a runner. |
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| Red-crested Pochard - A pair swam out from Draycot Bank. Not a common bird here. |
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| Green Sandpiper - taken from the hide. |
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| Buzzard - A rather dark individual |
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| Teal - Probably over a hundred around the lake. |
