Wednesday, 5 April 2023

Birding Review March 2023

We started the month with a short visit to Mull. The weather was mainly dull and overcast. However, we did record 53 species including White-tailed Eagle, Golden Eagle, Hen Harrier and Great Northern Diver.

Pair of White-tailed Eagles

Pair of Golden Eagles

Female Hen Harrier

Great Northern Diver

I also made a few other trips to places further afield, such as Scone Palace where a Hawfinch was photographed.

Hawfinch

However, in the main, my birding trips were limited to regular visits to my local patch - Bingham's Pond - where I saw 30 bird species.

These included sightings of Goosanders, the drake Ring-necked Duck and, at the end of the month, an adult Iceland Gull!

Drake Goosander

Drake Ring-necked Duck

Iceland Gull

Despite the limited number of birdwatching trips, other than short walks to Bingham's Pond, I saw 99 species during March 2023, including the first proper summer migrant in the form of a Chiffchaff.

 Hopefully, April will prove to be a better month.