Quarry Birds

A six o'clock start at Gayhurst Quarry today.
As I walked up the track several Chiffchaffs were singing including one in the very tree where one was present all last summer- maybe the same bird ? Chiffchaff

Near to the wood a pair of Marsh Tits were getting very amorous.
On the Fishing Pit there were still a couple of hundred Wigeon, a few Teal and Mallard and still 4 drake Shoveler. A Redshank was patrolling the far shore and 2 Oystercatchers flew across, followed shortly afterwards by another. There then followed an incredibly noisy ariel battle between 2 of the birds before one of them flew off eastwards.
A Little Egret was on Spinney Pit and 3 duck and a drake Goosander were on the first river. On the northern side a pair of Sparrowhawks performed over the Poplar plantation and a Buzzard was over the spinney.
Back at the Stables a single Swallow had returned.

This afternoon a scan over the new gravel extraction site near Newport revealed 3 Green Sandpipers and a pair of Grey Wagtails. This site looks very promising and I plan to watch it more in the next few weeks