Sunday, 7 April 2013

My first RING OUZEL







SUNDAY 7 APRIL


Easterly wind made a resurgence today, bringing back cooler conditions. Nevertheless, still pleasant birding wise, with dry, bright conditions prevailing.

SPADE OAK GRAVEL PIT (MARLOW) proved quiet for me, with no hirundines or waders to speak of, just single OYSTERCATCHER, 15 Common Snipe and a Common Kingfisher.

Picked up on news of a stunning male RING OUZEL just 8 miles north of Tring at WING. The bird was favouring an area of common land just south of the village at SP 885 225 - mainly to the west of the plantation. Mike Campbell and I obtained some excellent views of it this evening, the bird loosely associating with 2 Mistle Thrushes, 2 Redwings, a Song Thrush and 5 Common Blackbirds (see my pix above).

At THE RESERVOIRS, my best offering was 40 Redwings at Wilstone

Earlier, Dave B and Steve had a SCANDINAVIAN ROCK PIPIT briefly, with 2 Sand Martins over

College Lake produced the first Barn Swallow of the year today