After a nice lunch in the pub, my wife and I decided to make the most of the warm, sunny weather by going for a walk to the lake at Eske/Pulfin Fen, in the East Riding of Yorkshire. The warmth had made most of the birds rather lazy at this time of day, but a few Skylarks were singing away, creating a real atmosphere of birding in Britain on a lovely sunny spring day. A little way along the river a distant dog walker disturbed a small bird which settled in the vegetation next to the river, about 10 mentres from where we were standing. My immediate impression was that it was a Jack Snipe and I managed to confirm this by tracking it down and observing it from about 3 feet until it finally flew away south. Jack Snipe is a species I do not see very often but birding in East Yorkshire is a good way to come across one at the right time of the year.

An old boggy patch of set-aside land further down held a number of Redshank and Lapwings but my attention was drawn by the call of some Fieldfares; 5 birds were seen flying north along with a flock of Starlings.

At the lake a Chiffchaff was in song, quite probably the bird that I’ve seen a few times over the last few months, but this really made me feel like spring is here. On the lake there were still around 100 Wigeon left over from winter and 20-30 Tufted Duck, a few pairs of Gadwall, a lonely male Pochard a few Teal and a couple of dozen Mallard. Plenty of Mute Swans and Greylag Geese were hanging around as well as 4 Canada Geese. A pair of Oystercatchers were noisily defending a territory from some encroaching Redshanks and 2 Shelduck were relaxing in the sun on the island in the lake.

Plenty of other birds were around but a male Great Spotted Woodpecker was the most noteworthy. However, 4 species of butterfly and lots of flowers were also very pleasant to see on an enjoyable afternoon walk.