No Scaup....and No Brambles either

It was a grey, drab day in terms of both weather and birding. Intermittent drizzle greeted me as I walked round Lockwood which held just three Goldeneye and a female Goosander - the first I have had for several weeks - which disappeared as usual towards the Banbury. A Chiffchaff defied the gloom to sing and another was seen along the Lea. But the only other sign that Spring will thankfully be with us in a couple of weeks was a reduction in the number of Tufted Ducks, Teal and Gadwall.
     It was no better round the Warwicks where there was no sign of any Scaup nor, sadly, any sign of brambles either (which given all the noise there might have been may explain the former). The gentrification of the reservoirs continues apace with a concrete track being built around East Warwick and all the scrub cut down on the west bank. This rather wrecked my hopes of catching up with Cetti's Warbler and will be a nasty surprise for the returning Sedge Warblers in a couple of months. Some scrub has also been cut on West Warwick but nowhere near - as yet at least - the scorched earth policy on East Warwick. So it still held two Goldeneye, the Wigeon and two female Stonechats. I had no time to look to see if the Scaup had escaped the disturbance on No 4 or No 5 as I had to meet my wife at the cinema .......to see Birdman. Who says birders are one-dimensional...

DB @porthkillier