April 2019 : Summary

April 2019 : Summary

UK Species Year List to April: 138
Total UK Species in April: 108
New “Year Ticks” in April: 31
New “Life Ticks” in April: 2

Life ticks in April 2019

1. Green-winged Teal at Leighton Moss 9^th April 2019
2. Savi’s Warbler at Minsmere on 30th April 2019

Year ticks in April 2019

1. Sand Martins at Brockholes on 2nd April 2019
2. Fieldfares at Brockholes on 2nd April 2019
3. Willow Warblers at Leighton Moss 9^th April 2019
4. Swallows at Leighton Moss 9^th April 2019
5. Spoonbill at Leighton Moss 9^th April 2019
6. Raven at Wharton Crags 9^th April 2019
7. Red-breasted Merganser at Leighton Moss 9^th April 2019
8. Goldcrest at Moore Nature Reserve (and the pub afterwards) on 16th April 2019
9. Green Woodpecker at Moore Nature Reserve (and the pub afterwards) on 16th April 2019
10. Wheatear at Leosowe Lighthouse 15th April 2019
11. Water Pipit at Burton Mere Wetlands 15th April 2019
12. Hobby at Rutland Water 26^th April 2019
13. Common Tern at Rutland Water 26^th April 2019
14. Nightingale at Rutland Water 26^th April 2019
15. Whitethroat at Rutland Water 26^th April 2019
16. Reed Warbler at Rutland Water 26^th April 2019
17. Sedge Warbler at Rutland Water 26^th April 2019
18. Bar-tailed Godwit at Rutland Water 26^th April 2019
19. House Martin at Rutland Water 26^th April 2019
20. Osprey at Rutland Water 26^th April 2019
21. Red Kite en route to Weeting Heath on 27^th April 2019
22. Cuckoo at Lakenheath Fen on 27^th April 2019
23. Gray Wagtail at Nunnery Lakes on 27^th April 2019
24. Stone-curlew at Weeting Heath on 28^th April 2019
25. Garganey at Lakenheath Fen on 28^th April 2019
26. Grasshopper Warbler at Lakenheath Fen on 28^th April 2019
27. Bittern at Lakenheath Fen on 28^th April 2019
28. Kittiwake at Minsmere on 30^th April 2019
29. Sandwich Tern at Minsmere on 30^th April 2019

Summary

Birding Group outings for the month included our first visit for quite a while to Brockholes Nature Reserve on 2nd April. We got some late-staying Fieldfare and some early-arriving Sand Martins and had a nice day. It might have been better if we had left it a little later in the year when the warblers and hirundines had arrived but we still got a decent number of species.

The next week there were only four of us, just one car, but the others really missed out a beautiful day at RSPB Leighton Moss on the 9th April where we got over fifty species including our first Swallows and WIllow Warblers of the year, our first Red-breasted Mergansers, A Spoonbill (!) and a life tick Green-winged Teal – seen from close quarters !

We had a solo day out on the Wirral on the 15th April where we got year tick Wheatear and Water Pipit and the following day was a birding group outing to Moore Nature Reserve on the 16th April where our year tick Goldcrest was outshone by a pair in the garden of the pub we went to afterwards for our planning session for next term as it was the last of this term. The upshot of the planning session is listed here.

The rest of the month was dominated by the first half of our two-week holiday in Suffolk and Norfolk but also taking in some other counties on the way and back.