April is a great month to be out in the field, which can make it even harder to keep up with the blogging! Our resident birds are busy nesting, and some are already raising young. And our migrants are arriving in ever greater numbers, returning to their favoured haunts to breed or just passing through on their journey north. Many flowers and trees are looking their best too - meadows full of fritillaries and cowslips, copses and hedgerows bursting with cherry and crab apple blossom. I've been able to spend a good amount of time out and about, mostly in the local area but with a few trips just beyond, here are some of my highlights .....
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| male Little Ringed Plover, Grimsbury Reservoir, 5 April |
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| Female Little Ringed Plover, Grimsbury Reservoir, 5 April |
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| Chiffchaff, Tadmarton Heath BOS nature reserve, 7 April |
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| Snakeshead Fritillaries, Clattinger Farm Wiltshire Wildlife Trust nature reserve, Cotswold Water Park, 8 April |
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| one of the fritillaries, 8 April |
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| Red-necked Grebe, Daventry Country Park, 9 April |
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| pair of Red-necked Grebes and single Great Crested Grebe, Daventry Country Park, 9 April |
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| Red-necked Grebe, Daventry Country Park, 9 April |
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| Eurasian White-fronted Goose, Daventry Country Park, 9 April |
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| Song Thrush with ornamental cherry blossom, Grimsbury Reservoir, 10 April |
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| Long-tailed Tit gathering spiders webs, Grimsbury Reservoir, 10 April |
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| collected and ready to use! |
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| Woodpigeons, Grimsbury Reservoir, 11 April |
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| female Mallard on her nest at Grimsbury Reservoir , 13 April |
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| male Blackcap in Ash tree, Tadmarton Heath BOS nature reserve, 16 April |
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| Mistle Thrush, Tadmarton Heath Golf Course driving range, 16 April |
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| Mistle Thrush, Tadmarton Heath Golf Course driving range, 16 April |
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Horsetails emerging, Tad
male Grey Partridge (female nearby), Upper Wardington - on strip of bare tilled ground that has attracted up to 7 passage Northern Wheatears in the past week. |
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| Sand Martins at Farmoor Reservoir near Oxford, 17 April - where there were also my first Swifts and House Martin of the year (but no Bonaparte's Gull, I think I was about an hour too late!) |
and finally....
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| male Great Bustards, Salisbury Plain (Great Bustard Project tour), 8 April |
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| male Great Bustard, Salisbury Plain, 8 April |
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