MARSH OVER THE MARSH

A female marsh harrier quartered the park's grazing fields on Wednesday 11th, here the bird banking sharply before dropping down.

Having flushed lots of the teal, wigeon and a few black-tailed godwits away from the marshy pools in the fields, the bird dropped down to survey the scene. After a couple of minutes, the bird took off and headed north over the fields.

The bird highlight of the day was the finding of a firecrest by Andy Field along the horse-ride path on the north side of the park. The bird was seen in the hedgerow trees briefly before flying over to the copse at the back of the pond where it remained hidden and not seen again.
This bird will be an early spring migrant just passing through. Although firecrests are often seen at the park most springs, none were seen anywhere on the Island last year.
Two goldcrests were also in bushes near the pond, one singing its high-pitched song.

A pale-bellied brent goose was with 100 dark-bellied brent in the fields on Wednesday as were 200 golden plover.

Another surprise sighting was this water rail, a bird that has been very elusive this winter at the park pond. The bird emerged from the thick stand of reedmace, to feed in some shallow water for half a minute before heading back to cover and not seen again.

The Cetti's warbler sang faintly from cover near the pond, the male pochard remained well hidden in the clump of reedmace in the middle of the pond while 8 tufted ducks were busy diving for food.

Two little egrets were walking over the wet meadow alongside the pond but the sight of one egret swallowing a small fish was intriguing as it wasn't clear where the bird had actually caught the fish. The meadow is certainly waterlogged in places but it can't be that wet to support fish!

Three adders were basking in the sun at the country park during Wednesday morning, these two were coiled up together.
A small tortoiseshell flew past the adders in the middle of the day.

Two green sandpipers were seen near Coopers Beach on Wednesday by Michael Thorley.