Better Than I Expected

Last day in April and I'm still wearing gloves but at least the forecast rain did not materialise so must not grumble. Usual Monday routine today with a trip over to Oundle and like last week I gave the river walk a miss and headed over to the A605 floods.

View of the A605 from the Nene.

Much quieter than last week with most of the wildfowl having left and no sign of any Egrets. A few Lapwings and a single Redshank were about the only things of note though a few Teal continue to linger. Walking along to the marina produced views of one of the Egyptian Geese and a courting pair of Great Crested Grebes but little else.

A bad day for worms but a good day for thrushes.

Barnwell CP had a good number of Swallows and House Martins feeding very low over the water as they often do in such cool conditions. A singing Garden Warbler actually showed rather well and I managed a photo, I also got my best ever picture of Blackcap. Both Song Thrushes and Blackbirds must be among the few birds enjoying this wet Spring, I saw several birds with beaks full of worms.

Garden Warbler and Blackcap.

The Lowlands hide had its usual selection of species with the Nuthatches once again showing well. Certainly the most colourful visitor here was a drake Mandarin that wandered up from the pond to feed on fallen seed. I didn't realise that these were rather an aggressive species but this one put three drake Mallards to flight. They may almost have become a run of the mill species around here but they are still very attractive.

Familiar faces but I liked the photos.

Several periods of pallid sunshine did nothing to stir any insects of note into action and so once I'd had my fill of Robins and tits I headed back into Oundle for the almost obligatory pint or two.

What can I say other than wow.