Friday 28th

While Ed was walking to work, having dropped his bike off at Priory Cycles, he spotted TWO OTTERS between the Aspects bridge and Aspects weir. This would be about 09:10 this morning. They were possibly coupled or playing together, one found something to eat while the other drifted off d/s, to be joined later by the second. Bet the Barbel loved it!! (LoL)

Thurs 27/03

Nice and sunny; too wet underfoot to go ringing (to get to where I wanted).
Quick look up the Spit - Teal m, Shoveler m, Gadwall pr, GC Grebe pr (male very noisy!), Tufted 2m, swans pr, Canadas - 4pr. The water level is too high for the latter to build a rudimentary nest, let alone lay a clutch, even though they seem in the mood to do so. Still, the Rangers thought they'd go and have a look anyway. Agitated Water Rail sounding off near bottom of the steps. Pair of Reed Bunts to-ing & fro-ing in reeds.
Stood at the edge of the New Meadow and watched a pair of Bullfinches delicately strip the buds (the female took the flowers, too) from a Blackthorn stem. When done, they then sun-bathed for c.10 mins before moving to another branch tip. Behind them were a pair of LTTs, the male following his bride backwards and forwards as she collected the raw materials for their nuptial home.
Behind me, towards the Rough gate, were another pair of Bullies in a Cherry tree. The Chaffinches were singing and moving around a lot. Then, a new song from down the Long Hedge, returned by a more forceful rendition from a rival just in front of me. Two Blackcaps! The local Wren joined in, and the nearest BC kept up his song until the other one moved off towards the Sedgewick seat or the Kramer willows.
Various tits were checking that nobody else was laying claim to their favoured box - or were these birds sneaking a crafty look at their neighbours real estate?
My next job is to get the Atlas cards out to everybody in my 10km square.
Might try ringing the Spit early on Sat - if it's not raining - so be aware.

And the madness finally pays off...

Another cold morning and after a bright start the cloud came in and down came the snow again. From the car park I headed down the main path towards Fingers. There were a large number of Blackbirds feeding on the meadow, around the Labyrinth, with about 7 Redwing mixed in.

Redwing

At Kramer hide it was very quiet although plenty of Chiffchaff activity with the usual bird singing over at the Long Hedge and at least one bird moving around the hide and across to the trees on the reed bed in front of the hide. DK dropped by and reported 42 Sand Martin roosting in the reeds on west Fingers. Shortly after a few were seen in front of the hide including one with no tail. Not sure what they were finding to eat but they seemed to be catching something very low over the water. Given the low temperature I doubt there were many flies about. As the snow started falling a Muntjac came into view on the right side and took a drink. It hung around for a while eating the leaves from the lower branches of the trees along the spit opposite the hide. At least 3 Little Grebe were present along with 3 Canada Geese, a Greylag Goose, a couple of male Mallards and 2 Heron.

I left the hide and decided to head back around to the Spit to see if the Sand Martins were still in the reeds. This proved to be a good move because as I reached east Fingers I noticed a movement out of the corner of my eye. I turned expecting to see a Little Grebe and was delighted to see an Otter swimming across to the scrub at the north end of the lake, just it's head above the water.

Otter

After the Otter disappeared a couple of Little Grebe appeared and moved through the reedbed to Kramer. Also on east Fingers was a male Tufted Duck and a Great Crested Grebe. A number of Sand Martins were flying about over the lake. Round at the Spit half a dozen Greenfinch were in the trees near the main path. A scan of the reeds in west Fingers didn't reveal any Sand Martins although a male and two female Reed Buntings were present. It seemed like all the Sand Martins had taken to the air, flying about over both west and east Fingers. Also on west Fingers was another Great Crested Grebe, 5 Teal (2 Pair), a single male Shoveler and several pairs of Canada Geese.

Continuing round Fingers I went down the steps where a Chiffchaff was singing. I noticed another Chiff low down by the water and possibly a third further along the path by the Dead Seat. By the time I reached the Dead Seat the 2 Great Crested Grebe were together and displaying. The feeders in the rough were quite busy with Great and Blue tits.

I continued round to the Sedgewick Seat where the usual Chiff was singing strongly. There was little else of note as I carried on round passed the Sheep Pen. I reached the back entrance to Fingers and a couple of male Bullfinch flew across to the plantation opposite, joining a female.

On the way back across the meadows I came across this Blackbird bathing. Rather him than me, brrrrrrr!