The Heirs of Gilbert: March 2026

Standing water is at a premium in the parish so I always check out the odd place which occasionally holds on to surface or floodwater. One of these is down School Lane, in the middle of an oilseed rape field, and this March it proved irresistible for Little Egrets. Six were there on 28^th February and numbers continued to build until a peak of 14 birds! Numbers then fluctuated with the final one seen on 24th.

Given the counts varied it’s quite possible it involved more than 14 birds in total. It was also good that it was on School Lane as some children and parents were able to enjoy the sight. This pool also attracted small numbers of Teal and a single Green Sandpiper.

Green Sandpipers were also seen on a tiny pool by the waterworks and on the flood pool on the Thrintoft path. This latter water also pulled in six Gadwall, up to ten Teal and, a village rarity, three Coot. Two of these latter birds were present through to the month end.

The other species of particular note in June were Whooper Swans. Sandra had a group of 30 birds fly low over Morton on Swale on 7th and then another similar sized skein over Ainderby on 18th. She rang me but I didn’t catch up with them. Ten minutes later Sue sent me a video she’d taken of another group of 23 flying high over the village! Fortunately walking back over the top fields I heard a distant call and a magnificent skein of 61 birds flew right over me…

Interestingly, a couple of days later, a radio-tagged bird that had originated from Welney was tracked flying over the village in the late evening, no-one picked this group up.

In terms of summer migrants the first Chiffchaff was heard singing on 7^th and there was a marked influx on 14^th with a number of freshly arrived birds feeding in the hedges on Langlands. But that was it then with not even Sand Martin recorded by the month end.

There was a Red-legged Partridge on the Thrintoft path on the 8^th March, an increasingly scarce species in the parish.

Grey Partridge on the other hand seem to be relatively thriving with an estimated 11 pairs so far (including one pair right on the edge of the village). On the other hand I have had only one singing Corn Bunting so far. They can be late songsters but it is mildly concerning.

Other sightings of note included both a Redpoll and a pair of Siskin in our garden…

A flock of 28 Golden Plover and a group of 12 Oystercatchers were seen by the river on 7^th, with a presumably different flock of 12 Oystercatchers seen here on the 28^th.

Away from birds the first butterfly of the year was a Peacock. Unsurprisingly, as with migrant birds, the cold temperatures meant only Red Admiral had been added by the month end.

Moths on the other hand proved interesting with a trap on the 31^st turning up only 22 moths but four of these were new for the village, Diurnea fagella, Mottled Grey, Streamer…