Early Spring Arrivals.

The first early Spring arrivals that I have manged to get in the viewfinder this morning during a trek around the full circuit of the Grove Ferry/Stodmarsh reserve, in the shape of a ChiffChaff , which already seem to be numerous, singing around the reserve and a male Blackcap that I caught up with in the Alder wood at the Stodmarsh end. The only other birds of note were around a dozen Cattle Egrets, some perched on the backs of the resident Galloway herd that are grazing on grass around the Oxbow area of the reserve and viewed from the River path by the Port Farm bench.

A pair of Pochard swam in close to the Reed Bed hide recently whilst I was present, and although a common site at Stodmarsh, a duck that seldom allows photo opportunities due to always favouring the deeper water of the main lake, hence normally only viewed from a distance.