Smoke on the water....

0435 - 0830 cold to start, frosty, clear, sunny later and thankfully warmer, light SW cool breeze later

Earliest and longest visit to site.  Decided it would be a good idea to not only do another early visit to enjoy Nightingale, though I left a little disappointed as their singing efforts were rather thin, but to try to walk around as much of the site as I could to gather an idea of numbers of Warblers.
I thought I was safe when I got out of bed just after 0400, so I meandered to make a cup of tea for the journey to site and managed to take so long that when I looked out of the window dawn was breaking (0415 or just after).....so I got myself gathered, escaped out of the door...and there was a frost to clear off the car....frosty morn made gr(m)oan.
Over at Five Oak Green the noise was not as loud as last time, maybe I was a little too early even for some Blackbirds and Robins, though there was certainly a nice choral chaos starting between these two and some Song Thrushes.  Even a Great Tit decided it wanted to join in this morning.
Off across the orchard in to the gloom I could hear a couple of dueling Pheasants calling from East and West.  Little Owl called and screamed from the far West part of the orchard, ive never seen them here but new they must be here as they usually are among the apples.
Heading to the northern border of the orchard Cuckoo called over at the pits and Woodpigeon flap-clapped out of a tree nearby.  Two Skylark burst forth across the fields as I pushed on, though several sang on my return.

Cold, frosty....and exciting!!  Here a Lesser Whitethroat sings...

Arriving at the gravel pits I could hear a distant Nightingale off to the West, possibly two.  6 are on site, so a possible total of 7 or 8 within the vicinity.  A Whitethroat sang  just to my left encouraging me to detour West which I had never done before.  I eventually found at least 24 on site with another on the northern orchard boundary.
4 Mallard flew over, I re-found these on a small pool at the Western edge of the site, another two came out of a ditch.
The pits were covered in a rising mist -

Smoke on the water....

Spot the Coot?!?...or anything?!?

- so not a lot could be gleaned from these initially, though not a lot was seen anyway once this cleared, most birds seem to have cleared off.
Tufted Duck and Coot were present in some numbers still.  A Chiffchaff started, though not many were singing this morning considering the site seemed to be dripping with them last time.

The sun came up...and the moon didnt want to leave...now...what rhymes with moon??

....ahhh...thats handy...balloon...it was cold on the ground, I bet it was freezing up there...!

Chaffinch finally made an appearance and another new bird for the site, Cockral.  Does this count??  Still at least it was crowing at dawn rather than mid-afternoon like some.

Corvids were few today, considering the number of Jackdaws that have been around here I didnt see or hear one.  Amazing.  Crow was the first, followed later by Magpie and Jay.
Green Woodpeckers were busy all the time.  Plenty of Reed Bunting as per last few visits, constantly calling and singing and going this way and that.  A Snipe was disturbed from a new spot I have found now that I am including the Western edge.
Blue Tit, Goldcrest and Dunnock all found prior to returning to my normal route.  Continuing the search for Whitethroat it was a pleasant surprise to find Sedge and Reed Warblers present, both singing and both giving rather good views.

Reed Warbler singing...sorry about the picture quality...just after this it sat on top of the Willow...just as my camera battery gave up....doh!!

There were about 10 Mute Swans but only one sitting on a nest.  A Great Spotted Woodpecker drummed and eventually showed up tap-tap-tapping along a branch.  Moorhen squeaked and made an escape as a Lesser Black Backed Gull flew lazily by.  Several Great Crested Grebe seen though one pair displaying well with weed covering their heads.
A few pairs of Long Tail Tits were around and a couple of Yellowhammers seen.  A solitary Starling sat on the top of an old Oak tree.  In the vicinity of this tree, somewhere in a tangle of shrubs, was a Turtle Dove.
The pair of Canada Geese that had flown in earlier honking in the mist were now in view though left a little while later.  Willow Warblers are scattered around the site now, I found at least 4.
A fabulous bird to find is Lesser Whitethroat and it was great to find 6.

Cherry blossom....splendid

Down at the quarry area a few Linnet were shifty whilst 2 Lapwings peewitted in the field.  A Cormorant flew by and 2 Grey Heron left an old dead tree whilst another one sat on a post the other side of the pit.  A solitary Shoveller sat on the water and 2 Swallows skimmed around crazily.
The return journey was boosted by the find of another Lesser Whitethroat just south of the pits and then a  Yellowhammer calling on the northern boundary of the orchard.  House Sparrow, Greenfinch were added and as I approached the car - Collared Dove.