The first Red legged Partridge(79) was calling somewhere behind the pumping station on 20th April and the same day two Reed Warblers(80) were singing at the southern end of the lake.
The lake produced a real rarity the following day in the form of a COOT(81).It's amazing how few appear on the lake!

Furnace pond rarity.

As I left the house on Sunday 23rd I saw two gulls going over the village and was delighted to see that one was an adult Mediterranean Gull(82). It's always good to get this one on the list and was followed by a Cuckoo calling loudly as it went towards the lake where I also added a Garden Warbler(83).With a southerly breeze picking up a few gulls were going over the garden in the afternoon and I was gobsmacked to have eight  Med Gulls over the house, a brilliant garden tick.

Later in the day I looked at Bird guides to find that a Lesser Yellowlegs had turned up at Dungeness so later on we headed down and were delighted to connect with it-a first for me.

We had a walk round the reserve and found Sedge Warblers all over the place.

One of the many Sedge Warblers.

The 14th saw the arrival of the first Lesser Whitethroat(77) of the year,singing at the top of Kirkins which is still there holding territory and the earliest I have recorded it. I had a good walk that morning and eventually saw fifty species. Other spring migrants were Chiffchaff, Blackcap, Willow Warbler and Swallow.
I also had a flyover Siskin.

On the next three days I recorded Wheatear with a pair,single female and another single.

Wheatear in the weed killed field

On a walk before work today my first Cuckoo(78) of the year put in an appearance. It seems to be getting later each year.

Finally, I found the first two Mistle Thrush fledglings in the sheep field.

Mistle Thrush fledglings

This week has so far been a bit of a mixed bag with the first Willow Warbler(74) arriving on the lake on Monday 10th and the next day there were two. Sadly they no longer stay to breed on my patch

as all the suitable habitat has been removed.
On most days Swallows have been seen but all appear to have just gone through. On the 11th the G C Grebe pair had been joined by another bird which was duly chased off. A pair of Reed Buntings were at the southern end and two Mandarin drakes flew in.
Both Sand Martin and House Martin were seen by Glyn on the twelfth but sadly I missed both.
The week picked up a bit today when a Whitethroat(75) was found singing at the top of Kirkins and down at the lake two Wheatear(76) were in one of the fields in front of Hononton farm house.

One of the two Wheatears.

This week has been good for butterfly species with Holly Blue,Comma,Small Tortoiseshell,Peacock.Small White,Speckled Wood and Orange Tip seen.In fact I don't recall seeing so many Orange Tips before.

This evening I saw my first two Swallows(73) of the spring when they flew low over the orchard. Three buzzards were circling overhead and the Grey Wagtail pair were at the dam end.

Grey Wagtails

The only other spring migrants were Chiffchaffs and Blackcaps but there are good numbers of both.

The sunshine has been a real benefit to the butterflies with 5 Orange tips seen today.