What an interesting week, I have a newly arrived Chiffchaff in the garden this morning and last Monday I had to clear two inches of snow off the car! On Friday a colleague at work got a call to say there was a Bluethroat in Lowestoft (he never saw it) and then two more were reported, one at Winterton and another at Minsmere. More usual early spring migrants such as Black Redstart and Firecrest were widely reported and I was very pleased to have one in my garden over the weekend. A cracking male Firecrest was easily watched from the kitchen window as it searched for insects in our pine and fruit trees. At one point he even started singing and I vaguely wondered if it would hang about a bit longer, but I haven’t seen him this morning.
I popped down to Minsmere on Saturday afternoon to have a look for the Bluethroat, waded out to the south hide! (my wellies leak slightly, I discover) and couldn’t face standing in a crowd waiting. I just carried on around the reserve looking for Garganey but didn’t see any. There were some smart adult Med Gulls, a 2nd winter Caspian Gull, a single Ruff, loads of Avocet and I heard my 1st Chiffchaff of the year. After touring around the Scrape I went back to the south hide/sluice area and found the crowds had gone and I had missed a chance of a fleeting glimpse of the Bluethroat. I hung about for a while, got distracted by the Marsh Harriers and the Starlings coming to roost. There was a brief moment of excitement when a Reed Bunting fluttered along the path and then it was time to go. Walking past the bushes a robin sized bird shot along at ground level and disappeared, there was a hint of paler/rusty rump/upper tail and an odd call but then it was quiet again - maybe?… Ah well, maybe another time.