Late March

Not a lot of birding time at the minute as work ramps up for spring, but I've managed a few minutes here and there. Plenty of chiffchaffs around but not much else just yet spring-wise for me.

He official opening of Pod's Hide was a lovely moment this week, testament to Pete's popularity and the kind heartedness of locals who came together to make it happen, which was no mean feat. Nice to see an adult Med gull drop onto Neumann's whilst the ceremony was going on too.

Earlier in the week I called in at Blakemere where the gull colony was in full raucous swing despite the cold weather. I'm just a quick scan I picked up 10 Med gulls, surely more are present and there will be a similar number of breeding pairs this year. Remarkable stuff.

Good to see common birds in the spring spirit too - magpies building a nest in the garden, reed buntings in song at the mere and lapwings I display flight. Spring feels good!

Spring Sprung

After a mild week, it's hardly a surprise that migrants have started to arrive. Sand martins and chiffchaffs are on the patch, although I've not had time to go, and swallows, wheatears and little ringed plovers are about too. Waxwings are stil around locally, and lesser spots have been drumming. Change is in the air.

I heard my first chiffchaffs of the year this morning whilst clearing amphibians from a site in Winsford. An impressive 15 cresties, plus 1 smooth newt and 5 frogs. Intriguingly, two of the bucket lids were covered in frogspawn- something I haven't seen before.

Back from boarding

Fresh back from a great week of snowboarding with the usual crowd. Lots of snow and lots of fun. Some impressive (by my standards) boarding was had, with just a few ales too. Birds were even thinner on the ground than usual, perhaps I was going too fast!! Aside from the ubiquitous Alpine cough, a single snow finch was the only bird of note seen all week.

Whilst returning to work is always a bit of a chore, today was enlivened by a quick visit to Frodsham in glorious sunshine with new Avian team member Zac Hinchcliffe. We immediately hit our quarry - a fine great grey shrike - before returning to work within the hour. As ever a corker.

Frodsham great grey shrike