A couple of sessions over the Bank Holiday weekend at Nethergong where there were many campers on site for the first time this year. Birding Saturday early morning produced 2 Greylag Geese, 1 Turtle Dove (116) seen in flight flying through the area, 4 Cuckoo, 2 Swift, 1 Bittern heard booming early morning still, 4 Marsh Harrier, 1 Sparrowhawk, 2 Great spotted Woodpecker, 2 Green Woodpecker, 1 Kestrel, 3 Hobby, 1 Raven, 2 Skylark, 3 Sedge Warbler, 22 Reed Warbler, 4 Swallow, 7 Chiffchaff, 6 Cetti's Warbler, 1 Common Tern (117) seen distantly flying towards Stodmarsh, 5 Blackcap, 10 Whitethroat, 2 Stonechat, 1 Yellow Wagtail, 1 Bullfinch, 1 Yellowhammer and 5 Reed Bunting. Sunday morning produced 2 Grey Partridge, 2 Cuckoo, 2 Mediterranean Gull east, 1 Common Buzzard, 1 Green Woodpecker, 1 Jay, 1 Skylark, 7 Sedge Warbler, 6 Reed Warbler, 3 Swallow, 4 Chiffchaff, 6 Cetti's Warbler, 4 Blackcap, 4 Whitethroat, 1 Stonechat and 7 Reed Bunting. A visit early evening on Friday night produced 2 Short eared Owl hunting the fields. Also 2 Grey Partridge seen. 'Nocmig' recording is still not producing any movement at all but I hope If I keep trying on calm evenings, that eventually I will get something over. 

Short eared Owl

Cuckoo

Grey Partridge

I made an early 05:25 start on the 1st May at Nethergong for 45 minutes before work where I noted 2 Tufted Duck (111) which were on the main lake and also seen mating. Perhaps they will try and breed in the area like they have done so before. Also seen were 1 Cuckoo, 1 Bittern heard booming early morning, 1 Grey Heron, 1 Common Buzzard, 2 Great spotted Woodpecker, 1 Green Woodpecker, 2 Jay, 2 Sedge Warbler, 3 Reed Warbler, 1 Swallow, 5 Chiffchaff, 3 Cetti's Warbler, 3 Blackcap, 3 Whitethroat, 1 Treecreeper, 2 Bullfinch and 5 Goldfinch. 

With my birthday yesterday (2nd May) I booked the day off work and spent most of the day birding in the Nethergong area. Despite the largely cloudy skies, I had and excellent day where a good range of species were noted. The undoubted highlight was finding a stunning singing WOOD WARBLER (112) in a small group of trees which sang on and off for most of the day. It remained extremely elusive but I did see it twice well and managed what can only be described as a 'record shot' and that's being generous! It was heard by two other birders which was reassuring. It just goes to show that you never know what will turn up and this was a species that was never really on the radar to be seen here. It makes all the hours of walking around suddenly worthwhile.

Wood Warbler 'trilling'

A selection of Wood Warbler 'trilling' calls

Wood Warbler (Part of it is in there!)

Other birds noted included 2 Ring necked Parakeet (113), 3 Grey Partridge, 1 Cuckoo, 4 Lesser Black backed Gull, 1 Grey Heron, 2 Marsh Harrier, 1 Red Kite west, 2 Common Buzzard, 1 Great spotted Woodpecker, 1 Green Woodpecker, 2 Kestrel, 7 Hobby (114) which were scoped over towards the Stour Valley, 1 Jay, 4 Raven including 2 well grown young still in the nest, 2 Skylark, 2 Sedge Warbler, 5 Reed Warbler, 13 Sand Martin, 2 Swallow, 4 Chiffchaff, 2 Cetti's Warbler, 2 Blackcap, 6 Whitethroat, 2 Stonechat, 2 Yellow Wagtail, 1 Bullfinch, 1 Greenfinch, 3 Yellowhammer and 5 Reed Bunting. Chris Gibbard made a visit where after hearing the Wood Warbler singing, he found a Short eared Owl (115) in the area. A couple more 'Nocmig' sessions produced very little again, just the 2 Bittern booming still throughout the night. May can be an excellent month for birding, fingers crossed I am able to connect with a few quality birds.  

I spent the weekend birding in the Stour Valley so didn't get out to Nethergong until I made a short 30 minute visit last night (Monday) from 18:30. I parked in the layby and spent the time scanning the area with the scope. Birds noted included c8 Swift (109) which were high in the air towards the Stour Valley, 1 Sand Martin (110) flew south through the site, 2 Common Buzzard and 2 Swallow. I spent 45 minutes before work this morning from 05:30 walking around the site in still sunny conditions listening out for various songsters. I managed to see or hear 42 species which included 1 Bittern booming from the Stour Valley, 1 Cuckoo, 1 Grey Heron, 1 Marsh Harrier, 1 Sparrowhawk, 1 Great spotted Woodpecker, 1 Green Woodpecker, 1 Kestrel, 1 Sedge Warbler, 6 Reed Warbler, 5 Chiffchaff, 4 Cetti's Warbler, 2 Blackcap, 4 Whitethroat, 2 Stonechat, 1 Bullfinch and 1 Reed Bunting. Despite Nocmig recording at night on 12 occasions this month, it has been very disappointing to say the least with no wader movement at all and really, the only birds of note have been the 2 Bittern which have been regularly booming throughout the night. Things can only get better!

Sunrise from the Western boundary