March 2026; Roundup #1

March can be a rewarding month, particularly later on when the first summer migrant birds return, and winter birds are still with us. We had our annual end of March trip to North Wales scheduled so this blog deals with the first half of the month.

Sunday 1st March; It was Raining!

As the late great man sang. It's a thing that the first day of March always seems to have rain. Luckily the birds don't care and will still be out there somewhere. You just have to find them. And the song will remain forever, so I can keep singing it in my head whenever it's raining or the first day of March or any other time that pleases.

We headed to a place we'd never been before, Clifford Hill Country Park on the outskirts of Northampton to look for a drake Lesser Scaup that had been present for a week or more at the Barrage, a weir on the River Nene, designed to prevent flooding of the area. The river had pooled up ahead of the barrage leaving a wide section, and where the Lesser Scaup had taken a liking to. The duck had been reported there just before we left home but by the time we arrived it had gone, disturbed by one of the many rowing teams training on the river that morning. We had a good look around the flooded gravel pits but couldn't find it, or for that matter, the drake Smew that was also supposed to be there.

In between, and during the rain, it was positively baltic that morning at such an exposed site so we called it a day there and drove up to another new site for us, Kinewell Lake near Rushden. We were looking for two birds that we'd seen distantly the the week before. We were bang back on form though because, we didn't find either the Red-necked Grebe or the Ring-necked Duck that had been wowing plenty of folk in the days before. Nothing much had changed from the old month to the new month; it was still raining and we still couldn't find our target birds!

However, we were able to save the day, by driving just a few miles further to Denford. By the river just outside of the village, a small flock of twenty-three White-fronted Geese, had attracted a single Tundra Bean Goose as company. A chap I spoke to earlier at Clifford Hill had told me that the flock of geese were quite close to the road, and there was convenient parking in a lay-by just a short distance away. For once it all went to plan; I found the flock of geese quickly and located the Tundra Bean Goose immediately.

The flock of geese were probably only forty metres away, on a sliver of wet grassland between two wide streams. The "island" sanctuary obviously gave them a sense of security since wild geese are not usually seen so closely unless viewing them from a hide. Roadside trees also screened us from the birds a bit. It felt good again to be able to take a few photos.

Tundra Bean Goose

Having the Tundra Bean Goose associating with the White-fronted Geese allowed for good comparisons between the two similar species. The most obvious distinction is the orange and black bill of the Bean Goose as opposed to the all pink bill of the White-fronted. White-fronted are named because of the white blaze on the forehead although young birds lack that. Further differences are the black stripes to the belly of the White-fronted (again juveniles lack those), the belly is plain on Bean. Even though the orange legs of the Bean Goose is an important pointer in separating that species from the similar Pink-footed Goose, White-fronted Goose also has orange legs. Structurally the Bean Goose is slightly larger and more robust looking and is longer winged if seen in flight.

Tundra Bean Goose & White-fronted Goose

White-fronted Goose

We already had Tundra Bean Goose on our year list after seeing a dozen or so at Slimbridge, but they were distant, so this bird made for a definite upgrade.

Wednesday 4th March; At Last, A Little Bit of Garden Magic!

I was all ready to head out for work, and was part-way through my pre-work routine of putting the rubbish out, topping up the bird feeders and checking the pond. It was a chilly, misty morning so I wasn't lingering any longer than I needed to. As I pulled the back door to and locked it, I noticed two small birds deftly hanging onto the branches of the London Plane tree in my next door neighbour's garden. Instantly I knew that they were Redpoll, a species that I'd been waiting for a long time to grace my garden. My wish that I'd made just a week or so before while watching Redpoll in Jeremy's garden in Oxford, had almost instantly been granted.

I grabbed my camera and, using one of my own hawthorn trees as cover, sidled up as close as I  could to where the Redpolls were feeding in the tree just the other side of my fence. The two birds, both female, or first winter types, sporting the bright red caps but not the pinkish breasts of adult males, acrobatically fed on the small pine cones of the plane tree. They could be difficult to see at times since they were small enough to hide behind the twigs and cones but thanks to that acrobatic feeding action they would often dangle on the outermost branches allowing for some decent poses. The grim morning however, still made for challenging photography but a challenge that I was happy to accept.

Redpoll

This was a real treat though so I wasn't too bothered about gaining top quality images. As well, as seeing them "from" the garden, I was also able to officially add them to the proper "seen" in the garden list, when both birds flew over the fence, briefly perched in one of my rowan trees and then hopped onto the waterfall of my pond. We live in a suburban setting with no woods, streams or large waterbodies within miles so my pond and waterfall attracts many birds that come to bathe and drink. Past visitors have included a Grey Wagtail, Goldcrests, Chiffchaffs, Reed Bunting, and most astonishingly, a Sedge Warbler! 

I spent a very happy forty minutes with the birds. I was late for work but luckily I'm self-employed so timings don't impact on my business. It felt really good to finally add Redpoll to my garden list which is slowly nudging its way up to a half century. It's only taken almost thirty-five years to achieve that number.

Saturday 7th March; A Lovely Warbler in an Industrial Landscape

Hume's Leaf Warblers are a less flamboyantly plumaged cousin of one of my favourites, the Yellow-browed Warbler. The bright yellow and green of the Yellow-browed is replaced with much more subdues grey-green and beige. They are tricky birds to find because they blend into the background even in winter when the trees are largely bare. Luckily the Hume's Warbler has a disyllabic call (reminiscent of a Pied Wagtail), which is almost as strident as the Yellow-browed's, so they can be located even when you can't see them.

On the banks of the River Tame on the north-east edge of Birmingham at Lea Marston, a Hume's Warbler had been present for most of the winter period. We hadn't bothered going for it because we'd seen one in just the November before. Now however, with little else on offer we made the shortish drive to get one on our year list. We parked next to a beautiful and quintessentially English church and walked out into a reasonably fine day. The lovely surroundings didn't last long though as we followed a path along the river which was flanked on the other side by a rubbish strewn bank that was overlooked by a massive breeze-block factory. This was a place, hemmed in as it was, that had the air of being abandoned. I was amazed that people went birding there!

Luckily someone did however, and had found the Hume's Warbler on the overgrown woody slopes, a very rewarding find for a dedicated patch worker. As we reached  the area where the bird had been reported we saw our friends Andy & Hannah. They conveyed the news that this was a tricky bird to see, although they had had a brief view a few minutes before we got there. After an hour of squinting and straining my eyes into the shady gloom of the trees, I was quickly losing enthusiasm and thought that this might be an unsuccessful mission. We were saved by a chap who had arrived just a few minutes before. He was local and had seen the bird already on more than one occasion. Amazingly he soon announced, 'Here it is'! I wondered why I hadn't managed to find the Warbler but wasn't going to beat myself up over it. At least someone had. The Hume's Warbler was feeding high up in the tallest trees right at the top of the bank so it wasn't at all easy to locate but eventually both Mrs Caley and myself got onto it. I even took a couple of passable photos!

Hume's Leaf Warbler

On the way home we stopped off at Ryton Pools Country Park where we added a drake Ferruginous Duck to our year list. By then the weather had deteriorated again so the camera didn't even come out of the holster. There was a fine female Smew there as well, but she was so close when we first saw it that I couldn't get a photo of it because the lens wouldn't focus. The Smew then promptly disappeared under the Bankside vegetation and we didn't see it again!

Sunday 8th March; A Tern for the Better!

We had first twitched a Forster's Tern at Arne in July 2023. The bird had returned in subsequent years to the Poole area but had proven difficult to pin down, and we had dipped it in 2024 (although that day ended happily when we lucked in on our first Dark-eyed Junco!). For the past few days though the Tern had become reasonably confiding to a set of wooden posts at Poole Boating Lake and could be seen somewhat reliably unless it was feeding out in the greater harbour. It was much closer to the observer than when we'd seen it before so with the potential of gaining much better images, we drove down on the Sunday morning to chance our arm again.

We arrived into yet another murky grey morning to join around thirty or so other hopeful twitchers including our friends, Madge, Spadge & Mark. Up to that point the Tern had not been seen so the feeling of trepidation was hanging heavy in the air. There were the confident voices still, 'Don't worry, it'll turn up', and the not so confident, 'I knew we should have come yesterday instead of waiting'. Whichever camp you fell into, it didn't matter. Now we were on site we had to wait. The first time we saw this Forster's Tern, we stood for almost six hours in sweltering heat before it flew into roost. We didn't want to wait that long this time so would probably give up by lunchtime if it hadn't shown by then.

While we waited there were other birds to see. At least four Mediterranean Gulls stood where we hoped the Forster's Tern would stand. At this stage in March, most of the adult birds weren't quite in full breeding plumage but in any dress, Med Gulls are smart birds. There were a few Sandwich Terns resting on the posts as well. Despite being essentially the North American cousin of our more familiar Common Tern, the Forster's Tern chooses to associate with the larger Sandwich Terns so every time a different bird flew in, it was scrutinised by the assembled onlookers. 

Mediterranean Gull

Sandwich Tern

About an hour after we arrived, a small group of Terns were flying in towards the wooden posts. A shout went up, 'Here it is!', and 'It's the bird at the back', or confusingly, 'At the front left'. As the birds drew closer, I had only locked onto Sandwich Terns and hadn't seen the Forster's at all. I wondered if the birders calling it had been mistaken. I tracked the birds that had already landed on the posts, all were Sandwich Terns. I was becoming a little bit frustrated. I said, 'Are you sure?', 'I can only see Sarnies'. The somebody announced that the Forster's had definitely landed but was out of view behind a patch of tussocky grass on an adjoining island. 

That started off one of those comical sped up chase scenes reminiscent of Benny Hill, virtually every birder legged it to the end of a narrow pontoon that enclosed the actual model boating pond within the bigger lake. The Forster's Tern was indeed there, I just had time to see it take off and fly back to the posts that we'd all been looking at just before. Cue a rewind of the funny running, albeit slower now as we had to avoid folk still coming the other way and the strip of concrete was only a couple of feet wide. Eventually I made it back to Mrs Caley, who had wisely stayed put, and who now calmly offered me my own scope to view the Forster's Tern through!

Forster's Tern

If the Forster's Tern was a family pet, then it would have been named "Patch" because of the black mask surrounding each eye. It was still in winter plumage so its shortish bill was all black. Thankfully after giving me the runaround, the Tern was now settled and stood easily on its chosen resting post about forty metres away. It was close enough for me to get much better photos than I had three years ago so it had proven to be a good choice to come and see it.

However, there are only so many photos and views of a standing bird that you can get so after a few minutes, I was already hoping that the tern would take off and fly around! But it looked settled so I was distracted by some of the other birds. A pair of Black-headed Gulls certainly weren't loafing around, instead they were squabbling over a piece of bread. This being a popular park to visit by many people there are plenty of titbits available for the birds at the cafes and picnic tables. Herring Gulls were also marauding around looking for an easy breakfast.

Black-headed Gull

Herring Gull

The Forster's Tern did oblige after about half an hour by flying up. Luckily it did a few circuits of the lake before flying away over the railway line and out to the main harbour. So grabbing those desired flight shots was pretty easy now my eye was in. The Forster's  Tern is superficially similar to the Sandwich Terns but is smaller with a shorter bill and the black eye patches don't extend back on to the nape. The legs are red rather than black on Sandwich Tern.

It wasn't long though before the Forster's Tern returned again and landed on one of the posts again. This time it showed a little more closely and went through a whole preening cycle so made for more interesting photographs. This is a very smart looking tern and it would be great to see it in full breeding plumage when it more resembles the Common Tern, but of course when it's in breeding condition it disappears elsewhere.

The Forster's Tern took off again and this time headed earnestly out to the harbour with a couple of Sandwich Terns. That was the end of the show for us so after a few minutes during which the bird didn't return, we made our way back towards the car. I tarried here and there to photograph some of the other birds, including the Sandwich Terns that I'd mostly ignored in favour of the rarer tern. It had been a fruitful morning and we drove home very contented.

Monday 9th March; More Garden Magic!

Another visit to the garden, well strictly speaking next doors London plane tree, by Redpolls (formerly called Lesser Redpoll but not all Redpoll species have been lumped together into just one species), and this time they were a couple of stonking male birds. They only stayed very briefly, but the light was better and the few images I got were much improved on the ones taken a few days before. I hope that we are now firmly on the Redpoll feeding station map and will always see them in the early spring.

Redpoll

Saturday 14th March; Not Spotted Woodpecker!

Having only had a brief view of a Lesser Spotted Woodpecker at the end of February, we headed back to our local(ish) spot to look for the species. This time we were totally out of luck and didn't even get a sniff of one. They must be favouring a different area this year.

We did however, get fine views of Firecrests which have increased in numbers in the woodlands of southern England and are now encountered on most walks in suitable woods. They are not always easy to observe well, but in this particular wood they tend to be in the holly trees at this time of year, before moving to tall conifers in the breeding months, so can be observed at they flit around looking for food. Firecrests are energetic little birds but one stayed still for long enough for me to get a few photos.

Firecrest

After a coffee stop at our favourite cafe, we went for a look at the skies above another local wood hoping for my long desired close flypast of a Goshawk. We saw a couple but as usual they were distant so that yearned for photo opportunity waits for another day. A Common Buzzard was more showy.

Common Buzzard

Sunday 15th March; What-a Pipit!

The area around Staines-on-Thames has become our go-to place to see Water Pipits for a few years now. The scarce winter visitors are normally encountered on Staines Moor, an expanse of flat untamed ground wedged in between the M25 and Heathrow Airport. However, the winter had been so wet that most of the moor had been flooded for months and, although Water Pipits by name and nature, prefer wet areas, it was ironically too wet for them. Instead a few had spent their winter at Staines Reservoirs just a short distance away. We had left it late to go and see them but were hopeful that we'd get some good views.

With up to five Water Pipits reported the day before, we walked up to the causeway that divides the two basins with much anticipation. It took us just a few minutes to spot pipits on the embankment and one of them was indeed a Water Pipit. Frustratingly though, the Water Pipit disappeared almost instantly. No chance of getting the camera on it, and for the next hour there was no further sign of our target bird.

Meadow Pipits were easy to see, as were Linnets, and the two species readily fed on the short grass of the causeway. In addition to the year tick Water Pipit we also saw our first Black-necked Grebes, with five on the south basin. Staines reservoirs are a good place to see the grebes during winter. A pair of Egyptian Geese added some exotic flavour to the day.

Meadow Pipit

Linnet

Egyptian Goose

As we left the reservoir and headed back to the car, I noticed a pipit on the south side of the causeway close to a water tower. I took one last look expecting another Meadow Pipit and was surprised to see a Water Pipit scurrying around the pipework. It was difficult to see since it was mostly hidden by the large water pipes, and the morning heat shimmer of a pleasant day didn't help. I managed a single photo when the pipit popped its head up briefly.

Water Pipit