Spring has definately sprung

Seeing your first summer migrants is always a highlight of the birding year. For me, this came in the form of a Little Ringed Plover on the Main Pit at Collingham this morning. It was kept company by a Knot, 4 Ringed Plovers, 3 Green Sands, 8 Redshank and 3 Oystercatchers - not a bad little haul.

LRP at Collingham Pits

Knot at Collingham Pits

Nearby, there wasn't much to get excited about at Mons Pool (although 26 Shelduck was a good count), but my first singing Chiffchaff of the year in the trees along the southern boundary was nice.

I then tried Girton. Again, not a huge amount; I spent around 40 minutes listening for last week's Cetti's Warbler without success (has it moved on, or was it just keeping quiet?), but was rewarded with a noisy little group of 4 Willow Tits - having failed to see any at this site so far this year I was beginning to fear the worst, but good to know they're still around; this is now a scare bird in the Trent Valley. Finally, 3 Pink-feet with the Greylags on the Trent rounded off the morning; presumably the same three that were here in February.