We made a short trip to Pembroke Millponds this afternoon. A male Blackcap was in a sunny patch of dense ivy below the Castle wall, busy chuntering to himself in subsong (sounding almost garden warbler-like at times) with occasional brief bursts of full song. Spring is not so far away!
On the Castle Pond, the wintering female Goosander (which seems to move around a bit between the Castle Pond and the Middle Pond) has been joined by a male Red-breasted Merganser. Both were busy preening in the very shallow water where, as posted by someone on the blog yesterday, the water level is low for sluice gate repair/maintenance work.
Other than the usual good number of Mute Swans (55 today) other waterfowl numbers were still low, including only 3 Coot on the Middle Pond. However, a male shoveler was still present there, as was a Kingfisher resting in its usual spot. Several of the Little Grebes are now in full breeding plumage.
Black-headed gull numbers seem much reduced (possibly less than 100) today. We could not see any with rings, but for many feeding in the Castle Pond shallows their tarsi were plastered in mud, so it was difficult to be sure. If the mud here remains exposed for a while, it might attract some waders such as Black-tailed godwits.