And so it begins...

The best week of the year that is, Cheltenham week, oh and spring has arrived as well it appears. With the warm weather we are currently experiencing (the same week last year was bitterly cold with heavy overnight frosts and occassional snow) I decided it was about time to dust off the moth trap.  Unfortunately the bright moon countered my 50 watt actinic sufficiently to restrict the nights catch to 2 Common Quaker and a single Double-striped Pug.  Still at least we are off the mark for the year.

Out on the levels then in glorious early morning sunshine in the hope of an early migrant or two. No luck on that front, however the levels rarely disappoint and so it was this morning with a good selection of resident on show.  At least 10 Little Egret were scattered around including 8 on Down Level.  These are one of my favourite birds - it is difficult to believe that when I started birding they were a BBRC bird, and I remember my first at Titchfield Haven vividly as it involved a 2 hour wait!

Moving on to White Dyke a flock of 6 Reed Bunting flew over along with 5 Meadow Pipit and 2 alba wags. Duck continue to be scarce with 7 Wigeon on Horse-eye, and the resident Shelduck pair on Spoonbill scrape along with a pair of Gadwall, pair of Shoveler, and a single drake Teal. A cream cap Hen Harrier circled over Down Level and a single Buzzard was perched on a gate post near Downash. On the wader front one or two Redshank were back and 4 Dunlin were in the fields behind Spoonbill scrape. A female Sparrowhawk flew from Horse-eye towards Downash and 4 Tree Sparrow were seen near White Dyke.
Bird of the morning though was one of the resident Peregrine on a Black-headed Gull kill near White Dyke.  I was able to watch this bird at close quarters for an hour or so as it dismantled its prey (its at times like this I wish I had a better camera than my bridge but then again if I did I would probably moan about having to carry it around) and enjoyed cracking views thanks to the cover of the reeds behind me, this is a novelty on the levels since usually stuff sees you coming!