It wasn’t really a twitch because the birds weren’t that rare, the site was very close and I was going there anyway, but when I saw that there were a couple of Avocets at Stanwick Lakes yesterday afternoon then I got down there a bit quicker than I might otherwise have done. And there they were, sitting amongst the gulls and Cormorants at the end of the spit of the island in the A45 layby lake. Very nice too. My first for my local patch.
It was a lovely evening and perfect for bird song – warm and calm – in fact, the best part of the day. There were birds singing, including lots of Chiffchaffs but there was no chattering of an early Sedge Warbler from the reeds and nor was there the tumbling cadences of a Willow Warbler from the scrub which often provides my first of the year.
But there might have been, for it is that time of year when each visit to Stanwick is likely to add a ‘first of the year’ species. When I caught up with Bob and Steve they had seen Swallow and pointed out to me my ‘first of the year’ Little Ringed Plover to add to my ‘first for the site’ Avocets.
We think it was Mike Alibone who saw a couple of Avocets here yesterday morning but then a pair was seen further west up the valley and then later again a flock of nine was further west again. Were these two so enamoured of Stanwick Lakes that they headed back after checking out sites along the valley? Or are there just quite a few Avocets milling around Northants this weekend? We’ll see as spring unfolds. For it is spring, even if it doesn’t always feel like it.
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It must be the time of year for wandering avocets. I have just been looking for 2 that were seen in the Cotswold Water Park yesterday but unlike yours these appear to have gone on somewhere else.