A good start to the spring with plenty of time for more and hopefully a full blown patch tick...

Paul Bowerman the Gannet I saw earlier at Shaft beach. It had disappeared on my way past later.

Severn Beach so far today..

At least 6 Gannets, 3 Common Scoter and a 1st winter Mediterranean Gull off Severn Beach this evening.

What a start to the day! Alpine Swift over my Sea Mills garden, heading south towards Stoke Bishop 😀 BristolBirding

16 Kittiwakes towered high over Prince of Wales motorway bridge at Severn Beach, heading to the Midlands. Also a House Martin and several Swallows heading North East. South Glos Birds! #GlosBirds

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My highlight of the day was a female Merlin that dropped in front of me for a few minutes, some smart looking Black-tailed Godwits along with usual waders, the Great Crested Grebe and Penelope the Pink-footed Goose. I missed out on the 1st Swallow and 13 Brent Geese of the year.

The long staying and patch rare Great Crested Grebe that appeared on the 2nd March is now looking quite dapper.

The colour-ringed Avocet, Blue C4, was still present today for it's 12th day. It was ringed as a fledgling at Conder Marsh, Lancashire in July 2023. At least 4 Little Ringed Plovers also dropped into today.

Finding new Spring arrivals remains hard work here, still no Wheatears for me but I manage to find 16 Sand Martins out of the 40+ reported today. Some local Avocets and wonderful Lapwings showed well in a brief period of sunshine.

A quick heads up about urgent works on Pilning Wetland. An excavator will be on site for today at least to repair a large leak from the Grebe pond.

Great day to be out despite the grim weather. Best so far were 2 Cranes heading NE in the murk over Pilning Wetland thanks to Aravind Ramesh and my first 4 Sand Martins of year there as well.

Little Gulls are annual visitors in varying numbers to the Severnside Patch. Most are just seen in flight so it was nice to get a 'paddler' on Pilning Wetland this afternoon.

A decent variety on Pilning Wetland today so far; a Pink-footed Goose, a Little Gull and 26 mobile Avocets. Also Great Crested Grebe still present and a good selection of Duck including 3 Pintail.

A wet visit to New Passage with Andy Stockhausen produced the 1st Golden Plover of the year, 1500 Dunlin, 200 Lapwings, 140 Curlew, 90 Oystercatchers, 80 Redshank, many Wigeon, Teal, Shoveler & Shelduck. A female Merlin gave spectacular views chasing a Dunlin for several minutes.

I managed to see much of the same on my patch wanderings today but at least it was dry and sunny for a change. The Cattle Egret showed well again in the small field next to the Zion chapel at New Passage and again briefly across the road at Pilning Wetland.

The New Passage Cattle Egret. With Little Egret in the cow field by the scout hut. Paul Bowerman BristolBirding

A morning search of New Passage with @andystockhausen2 produced the usual birds on the saltmarsh and wetland plus the first Cattle Egret of the year in a tiny field next to the Zion chapel in New Passage Road. 103 species so far for the combined patch year list.