Good ole Brandon

For a satisfactory afternoon's birding, I usually find that Brandon Marsh delivers the goods, whether it is just the usual ducks or drop-in waders or gulls.  So, on Sunday afternoon, I decided to pay a visit and went along with Capt Blackeye with the intention of meeting up with a new birding pal of mine, Mike-PCC in East Marsh hide.  Things were relatively quiet with the usual gulls drinking and bathing prior to making the final leg of their journey to Draycote Water to roost.  The main majority were Blackheaded Gulls of varying ages, closely followed by Common Gulls and 2 or 3 Lesser Blackbacked Gulls and a couple of Herring Gulls.  The main island had two Dunlin, 37 Snipe and a few Lapwing, while the water held the usual ducks including Goldeneye and Pintail.  After being settled in East Marsh Hide for about an hour, Mike-PCC finally arrived (it turned out that he had been in a different hide for a while) and we pointed out to him the birds we had clocked up already, including a Ringed Plover that we had been directed to by a friendly regular Brandon birder.  As dusk started to descend a Little Egret flew in to the pool and then straight out again, we had two Kingfisher flypasts and a Water Rail wading in the water in front of the hide.  We then got a flash of brown floating above the Newlands reed bed which quickly disappeared from view (just too quick to identify).  Later discussion with those that had been in Carlton Hide confirmed it to be a Bittern.  Although I did not see anything new for this year, a pleasant afternoon was had with good birds and good company.  Bring on the spring migrants in the next couple of weeks (I hear that Sand Martins have been seen already on the east coast).