22nd April - sunny, hazy sun and cloud later, light SE, 23C

Willey; a Yellow Wagtail was with the cattle in the field to the east of the village.
Things got better, at another location I heard a Woodpecker drumming, immediately I knew it was a Lesser spotted Woodpecker, carefully moving slowly to the area I still could not see it, it moved to another tree and drummed - still not visible, finally it flew from the tree across a clearing and disappeared in the canopy. There may even have been a second bird drumming a little further away - need to carefully listen another day.

Cotesbach landfill; a look here before lunch, as they were not tipping today only a few Gulls were around. 4 Red Kite were present, a Mistle Thrush was singing from the spinney. 3 Lapwings, a single Shelduck and a couple of Teal were in the sand pit area.
Several butterflies were on the wing including a Holly Blue.

Stanford reservoir; an evening check here produced 2 Little ringed Plovers, a Common Sandpiper, an Oystercatcher pair flew over the dam, 5 Yellow Wagtails were present too. On the nearby field 15 Fieldfare and 3 Skylark were feeding. A Red Kite passed by eastward.