Lemsford Springs - Little Egret etc

February turned out to be one of my busiest months ever with talks all over the country and commitments mainly on the plant scene which kept the birding at bay! Apart from a productive Chasewater gull roost on the 18th (Glaucous, Iceland, Caspian and Yellow-legged Gulls) this was to be my first meaningful lift of the bins (not to mention the camera) since the Red-flanked Bluetail!!

I was en-route from Herts to Essex and had googled likely stops around the M25? Lemsford Springs seemed a small but interesting site and after eventually finding the place, I spent a couple of hours there.....

The highlight was undoubtedly a Mealy Redpoll with a couple of Lessers on a feeder in the wardens garden - the bins view didn't convert to a picture as they all flew off and didn't return for the next 45 mins!!!

It's a haven for Green Sandpiper due to the millions of freshwater shrimps found in the shallow lagoons there!

Did you know.... A Green Sandpiper will eat approx 8,000 of them a day?!!

At least two Kingfisher were seen flashing around the river but never paused on one of the 'sticks'. Little Egret were a lot more obliging however, even if the poses were remarkably similar!

 Then the sun came out!

I was planning to spend the weekend in Norfolk, with hopes of something more interesting?