With yesterday being a wash out I spent most of the day watching 6 Nations Rugby (the less said about England's performance the better). Hoping that this morning would be the day migrants would be moving, I arrived at the sea watching hide full of expectations only to have my hopes dashed by the look on AJG's face. In a couple of hours watching from the hide the highlights were 3 Eider, 7 Red-breasted Mergansers, 4 Sandwich Terns and a few each of Brent Geese, Red-throated Divers, Common Scoter, Gannets, Kittiwakes and Auks.
A quick look from the south end of the ARC saw the usual Shoveler, 3 Goldeneye, a Marsh Harrier and 2 Great White Egrets on New Diggings.
On the way in to the reserve along the entrance track lots of Curlews probing for worms, still good numbers of Wigeon present and another Great White Egret.
On Burrowes from Makepiece hide, the blue flash of a Kingfisher zipping across the lake, over one the the several flocks of Coot and through the bathing Gulls, which hosted a 3rd year Yellow-legged Gull and later the the 3w Glaucous Gull which came in to bathe before going back to the beach. Among the common wildfowl present were 2+ red head Smew, 5+ Goldeneye and a red head Goosander, also present were 2 Marsh Harriers hunting over the southern bank.
By the track on the way out of the reserve a Bittern flew over the newly cleared island and another flushed from the reed bed by Boulderwall Farm.
A visit to a full Hanson Hide in the rain was uneventful with highlights being 5+ red head Smew, 2 of which showed well and 4 more Goldeneye. With rain now becoming persistent it was time to come home.
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