Topsy-turvy April ends with a bang

It's been a topsy-turvy April in terms of weather. We've had it all, from the strong winds and then May-like warmth of Storm Kathleen to, during this last week of the month, frosty mornings and heavy rain. It's not been a great end of April for summer migrants as a result, but it has produced a remarkable period of patch birding for me – so good that it'll linger long in my memory.

Bar-tailed Godwit.

Wednesday 24th

Conditions were similar this morning – cold (noticeably chillier than yesterday) and grey, but without the low cloud and rain. I opted for another Tuesley stakeout but it never felt lively and I had to settle for a similar showing to yesterday minus the passage excitement: the Common Tern pair, including the male offering up a small fish, and the three Mandarin.

Mandarin and Common Tern.

Despite feeling less than enthused I had a look at Frensham Great Pond afterwards. It was very quiet here, though I belatedly heard my first local Reed Warbler of the year with a singing male half-heartedly going for it in the February-like conditions. A small group of hirundines included all three species and a Common Tern flew towards the Little Pond as well.

Frensham Great Pond.

I popped up to Eashing Fields at lunchtime, when it was still rather chilly. A light northward trickle of Swallows was evident and, among them, three Sand Martins – my first in the Eashing area this year and rather a late date for passage birds.

Sand Martins.

Thursday 25th

It was clear this morning and the wind had switched around to the south-west, but it was still unseasonably cold at Thursley Common – around 2°C first thing with some isolated patches of light frost. These aren't good conditions for Thursley and lo and behold I had a quiet two and a half hours on site, with little to show for my 7 km walked.

There were a few bits of Pudmore early on including, interestingly, another pair of Teal, making four birds in total. Prospective breeders or late migrants? The seemingly now resident Mute Swan was knocking about, a Water Rail called and a female Mallard lead a small duckling around. I only heard brief snatch of Curlew call – they will be getting down to nesting business now.

Mute Swan and Pudmore.

It was very quiet on the passerine front. I counted one new Redstart territory since my visit last week (among 10 singing males in total) and seven Crossbills dropped into Crossbill Corner, but there was little else doing. Interestingly there were still a few Lesser Redpolls around – double-figures, though I wouldn't be surprised if they're all gone in a week or two.

Other bits of note included a Little Egret and Firecrest at Hammer Pond, four Tree Pipits and eight Willow Warblers. Amazingly, despite the date and time on site, I didn't record Cuckoo – the weather doubtless played a part in this, though it seems to be one of several species not yet properly ‘in' this spring.

Woodlark.

Friday 26th

An overnight switch to north-easterlies was always going to offer promise at this time of year and, although the forecast rain didn't materialise, it was murky, milder than the last few days and felt good when I headed to Tuesley early on.

As I was arriving a calling Curlew caught me by surprise and I looked up to see two birds, a presumed pair, heading north-east. Curlew is really quite rare on passage in the area and this was only my third record for Tuesley …

Curlews.

Upon scanning the water, there initially seemed little doing, bar the two Common Terns and a small number of Tufted Duck. However, in the south-west corner a wader having a bathe immediately struck my attention – it transpired to be a male Bar-tailed Godwit!

Bar-tailed Godwit.

The bird was quite active and obsessively preening and washing. I guess it came down in the rain overnight but had rested up and was now ready to tidy itself and get going. It became increasingly alert before, unprompted, it took off north, but not after I'd had super views.

Bar-tailed Godwit.

What a great encounter – and three years to the day after my only ever barwit anywhere locally (or indeed elsewhere in Surrey!). Migration in action like this is truly special, especially when it involves species traveling such vast distances, such as this bird, which is bound for the Arctic … and of course, Bar-tailed Godwit is a south-west Surrey mega, with this only the 12th record. 

South-west Surrey barwit records.

This wonderful bird had delayed my session at the Lammas Lands, which I arrived at not long before 7 am. It was another quiet visit here to be honest and I only logged 41 species, with what was absent perhaps most notable: seemingly no Little Grebes on the Overgone pool (perhaps abandoning their nesting effort?), no sign of the Catteshall Sedge Warbler and still only one Whitethroat.

Catteshall Meadow.

Three Greylags flew over and two Reed Bunting pairs were present on each meadow, and at least one of the Coots was still on Overgone, but that was it.

Reed Bunting.

I finished my morning by having a quick look at Snowdenham Mill Pond. A late female Shoveler was of note – in fact it's the first I've seen anywhere locally this month – though this species does have form for lingering late in the spring in south-west Surrey. 

Snowdenham Mill Pond.

Six Tufted Duck were present, the male Grey Wagtail was in song and the female Mute Swan was sitting on her nest, too.

Saturday 27th

This morning's session nearly merited a post of its own, it was that epic … the forecast was the continuing stiff north-easterly breeze with low cloud and some showers, after a night of rain. Given the date, this felt good – conditions for a waterbody stakeout. Still, when I arrived at Tuesley early on I didn't think it'd be quite as special as the following two and a half hours proved to be.

Upon my arrival a Whimbrel took off from the near shore. A good start. The bird proceeded to linger for a good hour plus, before, during a rare bright spell, it took off, calling often, disappearing to the north. Migration in action!

However, the Whimbrel initially played second fiddle to a simply amazing flock of Little Gulls that appeared overhead not long after I'd arrived. In total there were 11 birds – nine adults and two first-summers. Amazing to see – these are such good birds – and this group was calling to boot!

After this group departed high to the north, there was some brief quiet, before another two Little Gulls dropped in. These birds were far happier with their temporary resting place, sitting on the water and flying around for a good half hour, allowing prolonged views.

Little Gulls.

While I was enjoying the Little Gulls, a Dunlin powered north and a Common Sandpiper dropped in. Phew – clearly this was quite the morning of migration! Hirundines were lightly moving north, too, along with a trickle of Swifts and Yellow Wagtails …

Common Sandpiper.

When the two Little Gulls decided to take off, they spent several minutes thermalling up to gain height. As I was watching them, I picked up another bird that had joined them – a tern. A Black Tern! 

Black Tern.

This session had now truly reached peak patch mode, I thought, as I gawped up at this local rarity as it circled with the two Little Gulls, higher and higher, eventually disappearing north. Absolutely bonkers – a site first, needless to say, and it looks like only the fifth-ever south-west Surrey Black Tern away from Frensham.

Only five or so minutes had passed when some very high large gull passage, chiefly involving Lesser Black-backeds, had caught my eye. And upon scanning, I picked up a further two Little Gulls! This brought the morning count to 15 – as far as I can tell, a record number for south-west Surrey. Ridiculous stuff!

Then came the Yellow Wagtails. Not ones or twos, but small flocks, the largest of which was a splendid single group of 13. I ended the morning on a minimum of 32, but missed plenty – easily my highest ever count of the species in Surrey.

I definitely didn't need an icing on the cake at this point, but I got it just before 8 am, when two waders flew north – a tundrae Ringed Plover and another Dunlin, off to the Arctic. Just amazing stuff …

Dunlin and Ringed Plover.

Other bits of note during the morning, among 51 species, included three Common Terns, two late Lesser Redpolls, a Siskin and three Mute Swans. Epic.

Swift and Mute Swans.

A session I'll never forget, I was reminded of how lucky I am to have access to this private site, though admittedly nine times of out ten there's nothing to see!

After the madness of Tuesley, and having refuelled with a coffee, I figured I should take a look at Frensham Great Pond. There were hundreds of hirundines gathered – mainly Swallows and Sand Martins – plus a few Swifts, but not much else, save a Common Sandpiper on the south side. But I think I'd used up all my luck for today by now!

Despite the pouring rain, I was tempted out to Tuesley again in the evening. A grounded Yellow Wagtail was present, plus the Common Sandpiper and a few hirundines, as well as a half-decent site count of six Common Terns, a couple of which I thought were passage birds – perhaps related to the massive movement of this species that took place along the south coast today.

Common Terns.

Sunday 28th

I woke up to biblical rain, which had fallen since late afternoon yesterday. The wind had switched to a north-westerly and waterbodies were naturally on my mind, especially after yesterday. 

I stuck my head in at Eashing Farm reservoir first. Two drake Tufted Duck were good value – only my fourth Eashing area record, the three of which I've had since I moved here coming on this waterbody. Better still was my first 1-km Yellow Wagtail of the year, heading south – a first Eashing area spring record for me.

I then headed to Tuesley. It was really quite foul when I arrived, with the rain bucketing down. Immediately, a familiar do do do filled the air – and I was soon watching two Greenshanks take off from the north-east corner. They soon landed again, joining another two birds!

These were amazing scenes, but it got better when the quartet took off again unprompted – and were joined by four more! For a couple of minutes this mega flock of eight Greenshank flew up high then back again, calling away, before resettling in the south-east corner.

Greenshank.

Presumably they'd come down overnight in the heavy rain and were settling for this temporary accommodation. Greenshank never seem to like being on the deck here and they seemed agitated throughout, so it was no surprise that they disappeared when the rain eased off and the cloud lifted a bit. Amazing – what a three days for this site.

I stuck it out for another hour but it was much quieter today, and colder to boot. Two Yellow Wagtails included a female on the deck, a group of large gulls dropped, five Mandarin were present early on and the Common Sandpiper was still around, but there were no terns or other waders by the time I packed up, and far fewer hirundines than yesterday.

Common Sandpiper.

The Greenshank action tempted me to pop my head in at Pudmore afterwards, a site with good form for the species. There was nothing doing – the water levels seem to high here for waders at present – though three drake Teal were interesting, especially after Thursday's two pairs here, and a Sand Martin zipped over.

I ended up by heading back to Milford and having a look at Enton Lakes. It was fairly lively here, with two Common Sandpipers at Johnson's Lake the highlight, closely followed by singing Cetti's (still localised in south-west Surrey) and Reed Warblers (only my second of the year!).

Common Sandpiper.

At least 30 Sand Martins and 20 Swallows were around, plus a handful of House Martins, and both Mallard and Greylag Geese pairs had young in tow. A Common Tern flew over Richardson Lake as well.

Mallards.

Monday 29th

Following the run of grey, wet and frankly miserable days (despite their productivity for birding!), the wind had finally swung round to the south today and despite being cool, a bright, clear morning felt much more in keeping with the season.

I had a lazy start and popped up to Eashing Fields before work. The highlight was a Mute Swan west – only the second site record! A Yellow Wagtail north was also good value and continuing the decent little run for this species locally.

Mute Swan.

Other bits included the Red-legged Partridge pair, two Lesser Black-backed Gulls high north, at least five Skylarks, singing Swallow and Whitethroat and a male Sparrowhawk, though there was no sign of the Stonechat pair.

It was lovely and warm when I headed out late afternoon for a stroll along the Wey at Eashing, though the southerly was quite strong. A bright male Greenland Wheatear at A3 Fields was a treat, as it bore the brunt of the breeze on a fence line, and a Swift high upriver was my first in the 1-km this year. 

Wheatear.

It felt much more spring-like than yesterday and plenty of birds were in song, including a new male Whitethroat, and the Grey Wagtail pair were taking food to their nest by Eashing Mill. A Mandarin flew over Eashing Marsh as well.

Tuesday 30th

It was a lovely sunny and mild morning, which have been thin on the ground during the last couple of weeks. I walked Shackleford before work and it was nice to be out such conditions, but it was very quiet, and I only managed 33 species in an hour and a half – a poor haul for the end of April.

The only sign of migration was a female Wheatear in the ploughed field, though Whitethroat numbers were finally up here and I counted at least four singing males. There was little else doing, though the Coot pair on the farm pond had hatched three small youngsters and a Red-legged Partridge sang briefly.

Skylark, Whitethroat and Wheatear.