Early arrivals

Friday 13th March 2015
There had been one or two reports of early migrants around the Midlands during the week so I dedicated the day or at least part of it to looking for early arrivals. Sand Martins seemed a good bet with the string  of wetlands in the Tame valley a likely place to look. Starting At Shustoke Res. and working North seemed like a plan. It proved a good plan with 11 Sand Martins skimming low over the water along the far bank opposite the car park. The next stop was the river bridge at Lea Marston, there were 40 Wigeon on the river bank near the bridge but little else of note. There was nothing at Coton so I moved on to Kingsbury Water Park There was nothing much on Bodymoorheath Water but at Hemlingford Water there were again 11 or so Sand Martin. Probably the same group I'd seen at Shustoke, moving north, but now flying higher with the sun breaking through. I moved on to the northerly pools of the Water Park where I met up with Steve C.,we spent a pleasant half hour or so seeing who could count the most Snipe on the islands on cliff pools. With the advantage of a scope Steve won with a total of 47.
A text from Steve H. told me that there was a Stonchat at the Sailing club at Shustoke. In my efforts to get an accurate count of Sand Martins I'd failed to notice the Stonechat on my earlier visit.Thanks to Steve I got the briefest of views this time.