The weather has played havoc with my patch plans. I was all set to hit it early today and then the weather started and so I kicked the patch can down the road - there's always tomorrow, I thought...
I was wrong. A quick check of local conditions and... it's going to rain all week...
What to do? Now, I have no issue with rain... it is after all the water of life and all that, plus if you tog up, the dampness penetrates not... no, the issue is that birds don't like it very much, or at least, they're tricky to see and if you throw in some wind, tricky to hear as well in bad weather. Water birds, not so much. 'As above, so below' or rather 'as below, so above', not the old Hermetic axiom, but the reality of being a duck. What's the difference if it rains? The bottom half is wet already... Trouble is, from a patch year tick perspective, Goosander is about the only such wet weather bird I need - the rest are likely to be tucked away on a pool or river bank or hunkered down in a bush or tree somewhere this week.
Part of me (the smallest part) still fancies braving the weather and taking a peak, if only to confirm the above, but I'd be happier to do that if the damn hides had lids on. Only Birchwood does these days and I'm not a huge fan of it truth be told. I'm not sure why, but I always favoured Pumphouse on a rainy day. Perhaps because it was quieter, or perhaps because a wader might drop in. Then again, at this time of year you can pretty well guarantee just Coot, Moorhen, Tufties, Mallard, Gadwall and Black-headed Gull - hardly worth the trek. Ah well, spring is around the corner... Now that IS something to relish... spring passage and the arrival of summer migrants.
The first hints, apart from overwintering Chiffchaff and Blackcap starting up their song (haven't heard any this year) or the trill of a Common Sandpiper on the river or Manchester Ship Canal, are typically Wheatear and Sand Martin. I usually pick up my first birds along the ship canal - Wheatear in the fields by the warehouses on the far shore or the fields on Upper Moss Side and Sand Martin over the ship canal or the pools. Middle of March onwards will probably see them turn up. That's only 4 weeks away. It's also worth checking the MSC fields for Ring Ouzel too, albeit a week or two later, when the early Sand Martins are likely to be joined by the first Swallows and a week after that by the first Willow Warblers and Chiffchaffs. Sandwich Terns start arriving back on our coasts too around the end of March-ish, so you never know...
Most of the action though kicks off in April. House Martins arrive early on with Blackcap and are quickly followed by Sedge Warblers, Reed Warbler, Grasshopper Warbler and Whitethroat, with Garden Warbler and Lesser Whitethroat joining the party later. Swift and Cuckoo arrive about mid-month and if there are to be patch Garganey, Osprey, Whinchat, Hobby, Tree Pipit, Yellow Wagtail or 'other' terns... April is as good a time as any to keep eyes and ears peeled for a first stab at these patch irregulars. This year I'm staking out the fields around the Balloon Hut on Upper Moss Side - I'll put money on it that Great Grey Shrike turn up there more frequently than we realize, the two patch records both being in April.
Quite fancy a Black Tern too. They do show up locally, but we've not had one at Moore. Maybe this year... Flycatchers too are thin on the ground, with just a few patch records of Spotted Flycatcher and I think just the one record for Pied Flycatcher in the last 20 years? Woodland species such as the latter, along with Redstart and Wood Warbler are 'blue moon' birds at Moore, but you never know. Based on my long stint at Halfway House ages ago, I reckon stuff is moving through all the time... just need to be on the patch as much as possible to pick things up. That used to be easier than it is now - more people regularly worked the patch and shared news... these days, I know of just two... and one of those, I've never met! Ah well, if you DO patch at Moore, drop me a comment, the mo(o)re of us looking, the more we'll find ;)
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