Fool's Errand?

 After a sunny start I found myself under grey skies for most of the morning as I took a stroll around some local sites. I'd hoped to catch up with some migrants on my travels but my attempt met with only modest success. A check on the plover site failed to produce any sightings though I did hear at least one bird. Willowbrook Industrial Estate played host to my first Willow Warbler of the spring but was for the most part rather quiet. Nearby at Priors Hall the Northern Gullet had two song flighting Meadow Pipits while the South Gullet had the usual Sand Martins as well as the pair of Great Crested Grebes. I returned home at about noon to find that blue skies and sunshine had taken over, perhaps I should have delayed my walk for a few hours.

Meadow Pipit, Sand Martins and Mallard duckling.

As an entertaining aside I've been trying out the Merlin birding app and while normally it's a fairly good if not infallible tool it really seemed to throw a wobbly today! While testing it in the village it informed me that it was unable to fix my location and consequently might not be able to provide a match for all species. One bird it did detect was a Western Wood Pewee which if I'd managed to find it would certainly have been a good start to proceedings! At Weldon Industrial Estate Merlin not only found a Short-toed Treecreeper but also a Carolina Chickadee, sadly I failed once again to see either. My dismal run continued on the return leg when I was unable to find either the Rock Sparrow or the Hermit Warbler that were apparently singing in the village, I sense I might struggle to convince the records committee to except any of these megas! I'm hoping the app might right itself even if it means that the entertainment value decreases a notch or two.