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An errand for work took me to Collingham village this afternoon, which fortuitously allowed a couple of hours on patch this evening without the ordeal of having to get around/out of Newark in peak traffic. As I approached Collingham, the first of several windy, sleety squalls blew through, the second of which hit whilst I was at Mons Pool. I decided to check the sprayed-off field immediately north of Mons, next to the Trent, as I have been doing over the last couple of weeks. Today I hit it lucky, with first a super little male Whinchat, and then 2 Wheatears. Both new species for the year on patch, presumably downed by the weather, given that I have seen the sum total of zero in this field prior to today.

Whinchat

Wheatears

There were also hundreds and hundreds of hirundines at Collingham most feeding low over Ferry Lane Lake. I always struggle to estimate numbers in this sort of situation, but I'd guess there were at least 500 individuals, mainly Sand Martins, but also reasonable numbers of House Martins and Swallows. Two Yellow Wags continued a theme of this species being thin on the ground locally so far this spring. 

Back to the weekend, and the highlight was a Ring Ouzel that Mark D found in the sheep field at the northern end of Langford Lowfields - the same field that has also held Redstart and Cattle Egret so far this spring! The most interesting thing in my sheep field at Collingham (south of Ferry Lane Lake, and actually part of the same holding) is a deceased sheep. Mark also tracked the aforementioned Cattle Egret down at Girton Pits, in the sheep field at North Pit, which necessitated a second off-patch foray on Saturday!

Ring Ouzel

Cattle Egret

Collingham failed to produce any Ouzels or Redstarts, but 2 reeling Groppers were new for the year (with another this evening reeling from the opposite bank of the Trent at Mons), as were 3 Reed Warblers.