First day of Spring

Everybody's favourite, the Robins, all seem to be doing well by the pond.

Two tone trees after rain on the common.

The ubiquitous Black kite, Karachi, Pakistan.

Believe it or not, but after nearly a month in Pakistan it was great to get back to the common. Officially, the Winter has now gone and Spring is here, though you would ever had noticed on Saturday morning but this is England.

Pakistan was work but I did get a mornings birding in the Margalla hills at the edge of Islamabad. Using binoculars, as my 70-200 lens was broken, I was able to identify more species than usual and saw one of my favourite birds. A Lemon-rumped warbler, closely related and almost identical to the more familiar Pallas' warbler. I have yet to add up the species tally and Margalla is a terrific place for birds. The foot hills to the Himalayas, they rise up on the edge of the Pakistani capital to several thousand feet and birds are everywhere. Three species of Bulbul, notably Himalayan, and Grey hooded warbler were some of the most audibly abundant species. The Grey hooded warblers may migrate through, as back in November 2008, only a couple were seen. Hume's warblers were also seen in the car park to the Jinnah Supermarket and our guest house garden. Other favourites were a stunning looking Chestnut thrush, a chestnut bodied, grey headed Blackbird, Rusty tailed flycatcher and a Fulvous breasted woodpecker, which was probably the rarest bird.

Though not quite as exotic, a Goldcrest was calling in the grounds of the school (Graveney), the first since before the start of the winter and a good bird to start the walk with. It seems the general view that the winter was terrible for Goldcrests. Being Spring, March 20th is officially the first day of the new season, the Wrens, Dunnocks and Robin's were all actively singing. Blackbirds, Wrens and Long-tailed tits were all seen in pairs with nesting material. The woodpeckers were generally quiet, though a pair of Great spots were seen in Graveney Wood and a Green was heard. Another Great spot was drumming on the pond island, no Lesser spots unfortunately.

Peter White, who was also doing the rounds said he had heard from a fisherman by the pond, that a Water rail and been seen on the pond's edge a few weeks ago. Peter also hadn't seen the Lesser spots for a bit. The Redwings were still around, a group of 60+ along Doctor Johnson's avenue. They were extremely noisy and preparing for the off. There are also one or two Mistle thrushes down by the car park and Pochard on the pond is of note. Otherwise it was pretty quiet, the migrants have still to come...