A perfect spring morning was had today, with sunshine, fairweather cloud and very little wind.

An initial 3 and a half hour patch visit brought some reward straight away this morning, when a pair of GREYLAG GEESE (51) flew over as I left my house, while my persistent early morning circuits of Migrant Alley have eventually brought me my first WHEATEAR (76,52) of the year,a cracking male bird, superb! Its arrival is a little earlier than the 15 year median average first date for my patch, that being the the 7th April.

Stunner! As always, these male spring Wheatears prove hard to approach, but I got some reasonable images.

As I took the above images, a couple of single MEADOW PIPITS (53) flew over, calling as they headed NW, also, flyovers from SISKIN, LESSER REDPOLL and YELLOWHAMMEER were had as I finished a circuit of the paddocks and sheep pasture. I noted the ROOKS were gathering food in their crops, they must have young to feed now.

Rooks gathering food for nestlings  :-)

A quick visit to the Scrubby Woods and lakes for a possible Willow Warbler wasn't successful, especially as the fisherman were back on the small lake, however, I did watch a party of 4 TREECREEPERS chasing about the bankside trees of the main lake, plus a pair of SPARROWHAWKS flew low over the scrubby Woods, the male calling constantly.

On my walk back across the Ashes Lane Fields I watched a SWALLOW chase a SKYLARK, the chase went on for a couple of minutes, i wonder what that was about!

Just before Midday, I had a second visit to Migrant Alley for a sky watch, noting the KESTREL pair at the Greenhouse Grounds as I passed en route, while my sky watch produced lots of BUZZARDS again, plus another Sparrowhawk and a couple of distant Swallows, plus another addition to the months list - a LITTLE EGRET (54) that flew low over heading N, this species has now been seen in each month of this year so far, unusual for my patch.

Initial frost and fog soon cleared this morning, to leave a bright and sunny day.

The start of a new month is always looked forward to, but April is one of the more exciting ones, with a good variety of species to look forward to hopefully seeing, from the departing winter species, to the arriving Summer species, plus of course all the familiar resident ones  :-)

This is what was seen for the first visit of the month, in the order I recorded it...............

Setting off along ashes Lane WOODPIGEON, JACKDAW, STARLING, GREENFINCH, CHAFFINCH, BLUE TIT, ROBIN, GREAT TIT, COLLARED DOVE and BLACKBIRD, were the first on the days list, then into the Greenhouse Grounds I added KESTREL, GOLDCREST, LINNET, WREN, SONGTHRUSH, PHEASANT, DUNNOCK, GREEN WOODPECKER and PIED WAGTAIL, plus flyovers from SISKIN and the recently arrived SWALLOW.

A circuit of Migrant Alley was good for the Gull species again, with BLACK HEADED, HERRING, COMMON and LESSER BLACK BACKED GULLS all seen on the sheep pasture, with those were CARRION CROW, ROOK and MAGPIE. A SKYLARK sang overhead, but no migrant species were to be found yet.

Lesser Blacked Backed Gull 

Lesser Black Backed Gull

Nothing at all was added to the list as I walked across the Pub Fields and Ashes Lane Fields, but entering the Wet Woods I added GREAT SPOTTED WOODPECKER, NUTHATCH, STOCK DOVE and MOORHEN.

The lakes gave me the usual suspects of MUTE SWAN, CANADA GOOSE, MALLARD and COOT for the months tally, whilst the adjacent Scrubby Woods gave me CHIFFCHAFF, MISTLETHRUSH, LONG TAILED TIT, TREECREEPER and BULLFINCH. Heading over to the Small Holding, via the Wet Woods again, I found a COAL TIT, plus a SPARROWHAWK flew through the canopy, but the only species added from the Small Holding were the JAY and a couple of LESSER REDPOLLS

I found the days only HOUSE SPARROW record along High House Lane, where the adjacent Bustard Hill was overflown by a lone calling YELLOWHAMMER. The last and 50th species to be found for the April list was the BUZZARD, two of which were up over Migrant Alley as I completed the patch circuit. I was just about to go round again, but received a call from a friend, asking if I would like to join him on a trip to Ashdown Forest to try and get some Dartford Warbler images, I of course jumped at the chance !

At Ashdown Forest we found a nice male Dartford warbler eventually, which allowed some distant photo's, frustratingly it only appeared when the sun went in! I took some images anyway, not often I will get the chance to photograph this fantastic species!

Dartford Warbler