Garganey again

11th March - in a biting NE wind, birding was not pleasant this morning.  Possibly because of the direction of the cold wind, the often elusive pair of Garganey were actually roosting on the near side of the spit and remained in their chosen spot all the time I was there.

Edit: I went back at 2pm just before school pick-up to find the pair more or less in the same spot.  At about 2:30pm, they eventually woke up, swam out, the male indulging in a bit of display, before flying to the southern bank.  They then flew back to the back of the spit and I left them grazing in the middle of the spit with Teal.

 

 

A Little Egret flew in from the SE and alighted on the spit before taking a look at the Heronry trees on the island - a belated year tick, having missed the regular bird on the eastern flooded paddocks.

Otherwise, it was the usual crowd - a nice pair of Pintail feeding on the spit - probably others on the eastern side, but I was too cold to walk round to look; 4 Shelduck and 7+ Snipe in the reeds.  My highest recent count of Snipe is 12.  Still no Med! and too cold for Spring migrants - the Chiffchaff on the western side may well have been the over wintering bird.