25th April 2010
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Anything I saw today was bound to be a bit of an anticlimax, unless a Bee-eater had flown over the house calling then sat on a nearby roof until half nine waiting for me to get up (unfortunately it didn't). At the 4th time of asking my actinic moth trap had actually caught some moths, admittedly only 2 Hebrew Characters and a Common Quaker, but we can work on that. I stayed in doors most of the day, but a text from Adam saying that he had seen a Barnacle Goose at Whitlingham the day before convinced me to give it a look. He had actually seen a whopping 13 patch ticks, albeit 9 of them birds that I'd seen earlier.
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Arriving at the Great Broad I was off the mark with 2 Common Terns (later joined by two more), swooping low over the water without ever going in. Maybe the gnatty-things are tastier than fish? Or maybe it was a celebratory flight at reaching this urban oasis? Either way, a passage bird that I missed completely last year. I had a quick look in the woods, seeing loads of Blackcaps. The Shelduck had departed from Trowse Marsh, but six Swifts screamed overhead, which I'm sure is my earliest Whitlingham record. Back down to the broad, 5 Sedge Warblers singing in total and some Sand Martins, but no sign of the Barnacle or Lesser Whitethroat. Still, another couple down, seven more to reach 100! I'm banking on House Martin, Cuckoo, Buzzard, Common Sandpiper, Coal Tit plus a couple of waders on Thorpe Marsh to bring up the ton.
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