Our shorter walk to Landshipping Quay this afternoon was general
quiet: there were 16 shelducks in a usual spot on the Eastern Cleddau; 70+ teal at the
Quay (mostly in Millars Park pool); the local greylag pair was noisily flying
between Eastern Cleddau and Daugleddau; and a single kite drifted over the area – a fairly regular bird here. We could only find a single greenshank and just seven redshanks today, perhaps most of yesterday’s new arrivals had already moved
on?
Part of yesterday's flock of 30+ redshanks at Landshipping Quay |
The
walk back along one of the footpaths was worthwhile – producing our first garden
warblers of the spring. One was heard singing, then another also
started rattling away in typical hurried fashion. Both were deep inside a large
patch of willow scrub in a dingle next to the path. Although garden warblers
are more locally distributed than blackcaps, where they do occur, they seem to
favour patches of quite dense scrub on woodland edges, at least that seems to be
the case in this general area.