30th March - amazingly warm, 19C, light southerly, sunny intervals, brief shower early morning

A very warm day, remaining so in to the evening, this will make the vegetation change very quickly and bring even more insects out.

I managed a short visit to the local lake mid-afternoon, Several Comma and Peacock butterflies were out and about.

More fungi can be found fruiting too.

At the lake the Mute Swan pair are already sitting on eggs, 2 pairs of Little Grebe were displaying and 'trilling'.  Two pair of Bullfinch were in the thicket. 2 Chiffchaff were singing higher up in the trees, then i noticed another warbler lower down in the Willows next to the lake.  Fortunately I manged very good views as it feed and then spent time preening - it was a Willow Warbler, another early migrant.

In the evening I visited Stanford reservoir again, 4 Goosander still, Shelduck pair and the Long-tailed Duck were present.  A single Curlew flew in and called and was 'bubbling', it nearly landed, but decided to fly off.
About 20 Fieldfare and 1 Redwing were in the bushes.  Nearby a Willow Tit sang 3-4 times, a real rare sight these days here.  All the other usual species were present still, including Bullfinch, Linnet, Chiffchaff and the commoner duck species.