Thursday 23rd April Ingrebourne Valley

2 Lesser Whitethroats, numerous Common Whitethroats, loads of Blackcaps, Chiffchaffs everywhere,  5 Willow Warblers dotted around the Glades giving it all (that)!  Cetti's Warblers every 50 metres belting out a burst of sudden song,  and it is at this time when the female is building a nest that they are at their most vulnerability to the camera.  A few Reed Warblers are singing their stuttering but beguiling  songs hidden from view in the Phragmites.    Mallards are hatching uncontrolable numbers of uncontrolable ducklings with the hungry Herons looking on.   A pair of LRPs have returned and hopefully do the buisiness.   A few Green Sandpipers remain as do some Common Snipe. Cuckoo Cuckoo can be heard along the Valley so we know there're not extinct yet.     The best spectacle is the return of the House Martins flittering and twittering around the scrape and over the trees hunting the flies.