I have been keeping local bird records on a spreadsheet since 2003, mainly recording the earliest sighting of each species and a running total of my year lists, patch year lists big day totals and so on. So, I can quickly check when I usually see my first, eg Whitethroat. For that species, most of the first records are just after the mid-pont in April. The earliest ever was on 9 April 2011.
However, [drum roll] this morning on my cycle through Ferry Meadows CP, I had at least one singing Whitethroat (and possibly another, but it may have been the same bird moving a couple of hundred metres along a hedge). So this is my earliest ever Whitethroat by one day. (If you take into account the extra day for the leap year, this date becomes even less impressive!).
Otherwise, more of the same at FMCP, with the Common Tern still hanging around on its favourite buoy on Gunwade Lake, plenty of Chiffchaffs and Blackcaps, oodles of Green Woodpeckers, a single Swallow and a whole colony full of Sand Martins. I fancy a Yellow Wagtail, or a Wheatear next…
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