One Swallow does not a summer make...

...but what about two Swallows and a Sand Martin?

Much 'working' of the Lakes this lunchtime produced our first hirundines of the year, going some way towards easing the pain of The Lodgers' Considerable RAnge Plover and might-as-well-be-in-the Med it-was-so-far-away Gull, and moving the score to 104.

Challenge for Captain Marvel

How many Little Ringed Plovers?

;)

Captain Marvel

Yesterday evening, Steve phoned me to say that he'd found two decent birds on Derek Whites Egg's Pits, which should be viewable from the plateau at The Lodge. Unfortunately, I had already arrived home, having started work early. Ever intrepid, he came back to The Lodge and soon after, I received a text to say that Little Ringed Plover and Mediterranean Gull were now on our list.

What a star!

How I'd love to be a fly on the wall at The Nunnery this morning.

(Edit - No shots of the LRP, but I did get one of the Med Gulls...Capt. Marvel)

Spring marches on...

No new birds this lunchtime (although two singing Blackcaps), but a bit of sunshine encouraged a little more life to reveal itself at the Nunnery Lakes. New for the year were Dark-edged Bee-fly Bombylius major, the bumblebees Bombus hortorum, terrestris and pascuorum, a Zebra Spider Salticus scenicus, Pied Shield-bug Sehirus bicolor, plus a few new plants including Common Stork's-bill and Red Currant. Also nice to see the longhorn moths Adela cuprella around the sallow tops that Richard discovered last week and according to the excellent Norfolk Moths website, rather a good record in the Brecks!

Chances

Interesting maths there, Darren: 102 (BTO list) - 100 (RSPB list) = 2... but 17 (what BTO have over RSPB) - 12 (vice versa) = 5... something doesn't quite add up ;) So here's the definitive list of blockers The Lodgers have over the White Nuns.

1. Barnacle Goose - up to 2 feral birds regular until late July last year, no sign since. We're hopeful of a reappearance but not guaranteed.

2. Osprey - Lakes or no lakes, this is a tough one; only on 4/8 Nunnery listers' lists on Bubo Listing (click here then type 'Nunnery', set bottom radio button to 'Combined' then click 'Show list'). 25% chance at best.

3. Merlin - A few around in the Brecks each winter so there's an outside chance but not on any Nunnery listers' lists!

[Oystercatcher - already OTL]

4. Ringed Plover

5. Golden Plover

6. Dunlin

7. Green Sandpiper - We're very limited for wader habbo; Green Sand is a good bet in late July/early August but Dunlin and Ringed Plover only on 5/8 lists, whilst Golden Plover is only on 4/8 lists - no records for TL88 during the Atlas period!

8. Woodlark (STA) - A lot harder than you'd think; depends on fly-overs / distant singing birds in next few weeks. Only on 5/8 lists.

9. Sand Martin - Ought to be straightforward but never common here.

10. Waxwing - My integrity was tested not once but 3 times in early January; almost certain I had small groups over early morning but always going away and no calls heard... integrity in tact but glaring hole in the list and we're running out of time!

11. Wheatear - Not annual but on 7/8 lists and with intense observer coverage I'm hopeful!

12. Raven - Still extremely scarce in E Anglia hence not on anyone's lists to date. On a par with Merlin...

13. [Coué's] Arctic Redpoll - No chance; we've done everything we can for this one but the wintering finches are drying up rapidly.

14. Common Crossbill - Ought to be straightforward but never common here.

15. Corn Bunting - Not on any Nunnery listers' lists; another one we can forget about.

So in short, 1, 7, 9 and 11 are decent prospects, with Wheatear the most difficult of that quartet. Of the rest, Osprey and Woodlark are the only ones we can realistically hope for.

Quality and quantity

Well, the BTO boys and girls are certainly getting some quality birds. There must be a scarce bird superhighway running above the Brecks. In fact, I'm starting to get a little concerned. These are the species on the Nunnery list and not on The Lodge list:

1. Bewick's Swan
2. Egyptian Goose
3. Mandarin
4. Pintail
5. Goosander
6. Grey Partridge
7. Bittern 
8. Marsh Harrier
9. Goshawk
10. Water Rail
11.Stone-curlew
12.Yellow-legged Gull
13. Barn Owl
14. Long-eared Owl
15. Stonechat
16. Marsh Tit
17. Hawfinch

Of these, we should quite easily grip-back Grey Partridge and Yellow-legged Gull. I would consider our chances 'fair' for Marsh Harrier, Barn Owl and Stonechat and the outlook is rather poor (at best!) for the rest.

Birds on The Lodge list, but not The Nunnery list are not quite as impressive. I wonder how Nick considers the White Nuns' chances with these?

1. Barnacle Goose
2. Osprey
3. Merlin
4. Oystercatcher
5. Ringed Plover
6. Golden Plover
7. Dunlin
8. Green Sandpiper
9. Woodlark (STA)
10. Waxwing
11. Wheatear
12. [Coué's] Arctic Redpoll

Stonechat's a century

The BTO reserve has been covered like never before in the past week or so as The Lodgers piled on the pressure by picking off a few easy summer migrants, culminating in them sneaking up to the 100 mark ahead of us. Still no Sand Martin or Blackcap here (despite some of us spending 6 hours on the reserve yesterday for a ringing course!) but Dawn Balmer came up trumps with something far less predictable in Nunnery Lakes terms today in the form of a fine male Stonechat. (Bad luck to dedicated nest-recorders Mike Toms and Dave Leech who texted me thinking that this good 'find' during a nest-checking visit to the reserve was theirs, only to get the frustrating news that they'd been beaten to it!).

Edit: Turns out its bad luck to Dawn too... Ian Henderson was first out of the blocks with the Stonechat, finding it on Saturday - its getting pretty tough to find your own birds down the Lakes this year!

Better even than Stonechat was Ian's fly-over Marsh Harrier, also on Saturday, whilst Andy Musgrove sorted out Blackcap for the year in the Nunnery grounds on Monday morning, taking the total to 102.