April is traditionally a month of great anticipation in the birding world. Many of the first spring migrants appear and quickly pour out their spring song. In addition, local breeding birds are also in full voice establishing breeding territories and settling down to nest. It is also an overlap month, with the last of the wintering birds gradually departing for their eastern or northern nesting sites. Waders and wildfowl in particular seemingly disappear overnight from the local ponds and mudflats. As always though, the weather plays a crucial role and in many years, cold north or east winds put a stop to migrant arrivals on the East coast. April 2003 though continued in the early spring theme of generally warm weather with no rainfall. Although it was often sunny, the wind was frequently in the north and east. This did delay some migrant arrivals until the last week of the month, when many species flooded into the area in larger than usual numbers.
The first migrants of the month were Willow Warblers which arrived in the first week followed by Swallow on Thursday 10 April, which then became regular. House Martins appeared the following week, but it was then the last week of the month before the first Sedge Warbler, Reed Warbler and Whitethroat arrived. A Yellow Wagtail on Sunday 20 April was a scarce bird in recent years on the park. An early Garden Warbler on the Sunday 27 April was singing from the same area of the southern park as in 2002. By the Wednesday 30 April, there were five Sedge Warblers in song and a Lesser Whitethroat also arrived.
Scarce or rare birds are always likely to occur during spells of southerly and easterly weather in April and May. This year was no exception. On the morning of Monday 14 April a Tree Pipit was calling in the south-west of the park. This species is a rare visitor to the clay pits.Although recorded annually and breeding in good numbers just 20-30 miles away, each spring encounter is a rare one. The following morning, the first Green Sandpiper of the year flew over Pond B but appeared to continue westwards. This charismatic wader was particularly obvious around the park in late summer and autumn 2002 with the highlight being a flock of five birds in mid August. The same day saw a good arrival of Willow Warblers, and in the afternoon a fine summer plumaged Black Tern graced the northern end of the ponds nearest Pasture Road. This was a rather early date for this typical May migrant, but there was a widespread movement of birds into Britain at the time. After catching a particularly large flying insect in a 20m sortie into the air it had an extensive bathe and then departed to the East. The following day though, there were two Black Terns in the same area demonstrating the attractiveness of this piece of water to insect eating birds. The abundance of flying insect prey became clear during periods of cool and wet weather at the end of the month. At that time, large numbers of Swallows, Martins and Swifts gathered to feed low over the open water at the northern end of the ponds nearest Pasture Road. Swifts arrived early in 2003 with the first birds recorded from Thursday 24 April. By Sunday 27 April there were already 50 birds in the area with 100+ recorded by the month’s end. This was a remarkable arrival for a species which is often not recorded until the first week of May, and then in only small numbers. The first Northern Wheatear of the year was on the foreshore on the Tuesday 29 April.
The nest boxes in the park were mainly full of Stock Doves, but it was particularly pleasing to find that a pair of Kestrels had moved into the box by the Folly after ousting the resident doves. Kestrels bred in this box rearing three young in 2001, but no birds were recorded in 2002. It seems remarkable that this pair have chosen the same box as the pair in 2001, as the male is certainly a different bird.
Wildfowl were settling to nest. Good numbers of courting Pochard and Tufted Duck were hopefully a precursor to a good season for these two diving ducks. Up to fourteen Gadwall were present, but Teal departed quickly with just a single pair and an additional male by the month end. The rarest wildfowl of the month were a female Scaup and up to two immature drake Goldeneye to mid-month and a brief staying drake Long-tailed Duck. This superb drake Long-tailed Duck, moulting into summer plumage, was found on the pond nearest Pasture Road on the afternoon of Thursday 10 April. It remained in that location to the following day but could not be found thereafter. This is the second occurrence of this fine sea-duck on the park, following a drake in May 2001. The fact that the two records have involved adult drakes and have been at the same rather unusual time of year may suggest that they were one and the same individual. The first brood of three Greylag goslings appeared on Tuesday 15 April and by the month end, a crèche of 14 was being escorted by ten adults. Three pairs of Canada Geese are also nesting. Mallard broods appeared in force, with at least nine clutches totalling 61 ducklings being present by the month end. The first Coot broods hatched on Tuesday 29 April.
Wader variety was quite poor but two pairs of Ringed Plovers and up to six Little Ringed Plovers were a daily sight on the northern park. Two pairs of Little Ringed Plovers look set to nest.
A number of Peacock, Small White and Small Tortoiseshell butterflies were seen during the month, with the first three Speckled Wood being seen in south-west woodland on the Sunday 27 April. After this date they were noted there and in the south-east of the park, with up to ten individuals being present. This species was not recorded in the area with regularity until 2000. Green-veined whites also became common in the last two days of the month.
On the mammal front, Water Voles became much more active with several individuals being seen in the ponds and channels around the park.