Prestwick/The Sun/Muddy/Havannah

Pottered around earlier in the week in glorious sunshine. Everything singing their heads off perched mainly in the tree tops.

Reed Bunting belting it out at Prestwick Carr.

I was up at Prestwick Carr at first light on Monday, it was magnificent. With the mist clinging to the ground and trees until finally burning off.  It took a couple of hours and it was decidedly chilly for the first 90 minutes or so. No Shorties(too early) or G.G.Shrike but the place was teeming with life. Birds of note included a single Lapwing, half a dozen male Reed Buntings making themselves known, a score of Curlew lifted intermittently as i headed up to the sentry box from the horses field.( I missed a brilliant flyover image!) and a Kestrel made the presence of a Buzzard in the same tree as it to me by eventually chasing it off before joining a second bird of  its species immediately after doing so.
 Tuesday morning i spent a couple of hours at the Rising Sun, again in wall to wall sunshine. As i scoured the pond for a white winger one of the lads noticed a Pink-footed Goose as it drifted into view from behind the reeds but it was observed for only moments before lifting with 8 Canadas. An Oystercatcher dropped onto one of the islands briefly and the lone G.C.Grebe still remains. No Iceland Gull before i left for a wander with a count of 5 Chiffchaffs at various locations before i was drawn by the "wheezing" of one of my favourites a Greenfinch. The plumage on the males more than make up for the tedious call which just about matches that of the Chiffchaff.

Stunning male Greenfinch but an awful "song"

After a midday appointment i headed up to "Muddy" Big Waters via the Havannah reserve. A place i visit occasionally but fails to inspire. I did get my first white butterflies of the year in the shape of 3 Small Whites all in the same vicinity and 3 Peacocks scattered around. Bird wise very little.
Big Waters provided me with 2 more Small White butterflies as i drove in followed by 3 more Peacocks later on. I spent the majority of my time by the dipping pond close to hide number two. The NWT cut down some trees beside this pond late last year and it is now a very promising site especially as Alan J. put some time in cleaning up the pond itself. I had a pair of Newts on 4 occasions, don't know the species and there was quite a bit of activity in the water for the time of year. I couldn't spot any Damselfly nymphs in there but had Pond Skaters, Whirligig Beetles, a Water Boatman and various "other" smaller species swimming about along with a number of Tadpoles. While i enjoyed the sun and the pond i was serenaded by the bird pictured below.

Chiffchaff serenading, if you can call it that.