What a difference a day makes ... Monday 5th April 2010

Returning early morning to the local patch at Holmethorpe Sand Pits, to see if the female Ferruginous Duck was still present, I met up with Ian Kehl and Gordon Hay, but there was no sign of the duck, which I had hoped to get better photos of.

After the excitement of yesterday's find, this morning was a bit of an anti-climax with the best birds being a pair of Mandarin Ducks that flew over Mercers Lake, a pair of Shelducks on Spynes Mere, a Common Buzzard over Mercers Farm and three Little Owls.

Gordon had seen a Green Sandpiper at the Water Colour lagoons early on plus around 2,500 Jackdaws leaving their roost at Nutfield Ridge. Of the more usual species to be seen locally, there were 6 Willow Warblers, 8 Chiffchaff, 12 Blackcaps (only one being a female), 5 Bullfinches, a Sparrowhawk, 16 Gadwall, 7 Shoveler, 12 Teal, one Egyptian Goose, a male Yellowhammer, 5 Bullfinches, 2 Skylarks and around 65 Sand Martins, about 20 Swallows and a House Martin which were feeding low over the water at Mercers Lake.

Not surprisingly, we bumped into several birders who had made the trip to look for the Ferruginous Duck, but none had seen it by the time we left at about mid-day.

Graham