March malaise

Lade - cold, cloudy, sw 3 - An overcast sort of a day with only brief glimpses of the sun, although enough to bring spring flowers such as coltsfoot into bloom. There was little of note on the pits apart from the Slavonian Grebe on north lake and a pair of Goldeneyes.
RSPB - A run out with MH this afternoon confirmed what we expected it to be, a typical quiet early March day with reduced numbers of wildfowl on the pits and a sense of winters end before the (hoped for) spring surge of migrants. However, from the badly potholed access road we watched a Merlin playing havoc with a flock of Starlings while a couple of Marsh Harriers drifted over the fields past grazing Wigeon and a distant Great White Egret. From Dengemarsh hide a few Greylags, Shelducks and Wigeon on the back fields, plus two Marsh Harriers sat in a stubble field, one of which was tearing up an item of prey. There was little on the lake apart from the usual wildfowl. A party of nine Mipits overhead hinted at the forthcoming passage.
We then hit the VC where the old boy kept the Vols entertained with a steady flow of anecdotes and gags. On the water a Smew, four Goldeneye and two Pintail.
With news that the Penduline Tits had been seen earlier from Hanson we nipped over the road but without success. At least 20 Tree Sparrows were chupping away in the car park scrub, while from the hide four Smew and six Goldeneye were noted but little else.
The Glossy Ibis was also reported from its usual muddy field near Cockles Bridge today.