Farlington - 12th April

The weather was sunny and warm. Highlights were Little-ringed Plover, Whimbrel, Whitethroat and Sedge Warbler.

A sunny clear day didn’t bode too well for seeing migrants, but was great to walk in. One of the first birds we saw was a Buzzard flying past the scrubby grassland and a Blackbird feeding there. It was low tide and out on the harbour mud there was a few Curlew, some Redshanks, a Black-tailed Godwit in summer plumage and some Black-headed and Herring Gulls. We got to the pool and there quite a few birds here. A large flock of Black-headed Gulls, several Mallards, a Gadwall, Moorhen, Coot, several pairs of Teal and a single Little-ringed Plover that gave good views. 2 Kestrels hovered over the grassland looking for rodents and a few Swallows flew past. There were quite a lot of Skylark singing over the grassland and we searched for Wheatears. None were seen, just Starlings, Magpie, Woodpigeons, Pheasant, Lapwings and Skylark. Further round 4 Canada Geese were on the grassland. Another Swallow flew over.
We got to an area of scrub in the grassland with a path through it. A Sedge Warbler was singing from the scrub, but would not make itself visible. However we did see a Whitethroat here and several singing Greenfinch and Linnet as well as singing Meadow Pipit. The scrub here was covered in the webs of Browntail moths and we saw lots of a scarce plant that Farlington is quite well known for. This is the Corky-fruited Water Dropwort. It was not in flower, but we could see the leaves.
Walking back down the far side of the harbour there was quite a lot in the pools. Little Egret, Oystercatcher, Shelduck, a pair of Shoveler, Coots, Mallards and 2 male Tufted Duck. On the muddy foreshore we had good views of a Whimbrel with some Curlews, Grey Plover, Redshanks and a Turnstone. There were several Great-crested Grebe in the water. Further round the path heads back through the fields. Here there were about 10 Brent Geese with some Canada Geese. Most Brent Geese have left by now, so it was interesting to see these. At the wildlife information hut we saw Little Grebe, Teal, Mallards and several Black-tailed Godwit in the pool and heard a Cetti’s Warbler singing. Along the path running back to the cars there was Hawthorn coming into flower and Ground Ivy and Alexanders in flower.
Simon Curson