21st April - sunny spells, mod ENE, 17C, but feeling cool

A5 Pools/DIRFT 3;   evening. a couple of Greenshanks, Shelduck pair, a Yellow Wagtail.

20th April - sunny periods, light-mod NE, 17C

Willey; more Swallows arrived back over the weekend and are now busy at their nest sites.

Stanford reservoir; afternoon; a Cuckoo was calling, two Lesser Whitethroats and a Grasshopper Warbler singing in  Blowers Lodge Bay area.  Six Yellow Wagtails on the dam.  Goldeneye pair and single Wigeon drake still.  Green Woodpecker on the field ant hills.

Shawell sandpit; evening.  Egyptian Geese pair present.  Single Shelduck, two Gadwall pairs.

A5 Pools/DIRFT; evening.  One Greenshank, two Common Sandpipers, single Lapwing, a drake Wigeon, Gadwall, and Teal.

19th April - sunny spells, light N, 15C

 Willey; 

Well this morning whilst checking the sheep/lambs a rather large black cat walked along a fence-gateway and into the hedge line.  I had to look twice as it was clearly all black, moved stealthily and interestingly at least twice the size of a feral cat.  Its tail was pretty long and quite thick.  It took no notice of the Sheep that it walked past in the gateway area and most sheep didn't notice it, but several did and they, with their lambs, followed it staring at its position as it moved down the hedge line/ditch - they way they do to protect their lambs (many animals will do this so that the predator knows it has been seen).  I have never seen Sheep do this before for a feral cat.

So unexpected, that I;m left a little bemused by what I saw - was it a very large cat or black Cougar???

18th April - Sunny spells, light WSW, 16C

A5 pools/DIRFT; am . Two Greenshank, a Common Sandpiper, Redshank, Lapwing, two  Oystercatchers.  Plus the usual mixture of ducks.

Altho9ugh there is a lot of development activity and road changes taking place this area is still attracting birds, the picture shows the current pools area., a strange location with warehousing going up all around, but rumoured this area will be left - we shall see.

Even Skylark  set up territories still.

Stanford reservoir; pm. a look here this pm, an Oystercatcher on the dam, a drake Shoveler and Wigeon, plus Gadwall, Tufted and Mallard.  No new warblers, three Yellow Wagtails and four male Reed Buntings feeding in the spillway,.

17th April - sunny, thin cloud, light-mod SSE wind, 19C

Stanford reservoir;

The White-tailed Eagle roosted in an adjacent wood, then left there at 0620h, it was SAT-tracked heading roughly SE in to Northamptonshire during the day.

 I did a full circuit during the afternoon.  A few Whitethroats, Sedge and Reed Warblers.  Goldeneye - drake and female, two drake Wigeon, six Shovelers.  6+ Yellow Wagtails.

A5 Pools/DIRFT; 1700h.  Greenshank (been around a few days), Redshank, Oystercatcher, Lapwing 2, Shoveler 15, Teal 2, Gadwall5.  

16th April - sunny, 20C, light SE

Shawell sandpit; am - again nothing new.

Rookery survey - I spent the afternoon counting the Rooks nests in 10 K square - SP58.  I have one Rookery left to count tomorrow.  Its looking like the number will be slightly down on last year, but not worryingly so.

Whilst do this I never heard a Whitethroat, a Lesser Whitethroat or see a Swallow - most odd.

Stanford reservoir;  at about 1745h the call went out from Chris that there was a White-tailed Eagle present and was sitting in a tree.  I got there ASAP and managed to see it in the tree before it took flight and disappeared below the tree line out of view.  I didn't manage a photo before it flew off, but Chris did get record shots.   We are not waiting to see if it was a satellite tagged bird, maybe the one that flew over unseen a couple of weeks ago.

White-tailed Eagle (C Hubbard)

Latest info;

The bird is G819, a 2CY female, from the IoW release scheme.  

15th April - Sunny, light SE, 20C

Shawell sandpit/landfill; am; a look but seemingly very quiet, nothing new. A couple of Shelduck, plenty of Ravens, 10 Red Kites, Teal and 3 Gadwall and a Little Grebe.