Birding in sorrow

I have lost a part of me, someone truly inspirational and irreplaceable. Birding has never been further from my mind.

Nevertheless, in brief and irregular moments during the last few weeks I have been out and about a little. And for no other reason than a sense of tidiness, I want to keep this diary as up to date as I can.

In mid March (the weekend before Easter) we popped into first Ufton and then Napton. Ufton was oh-so-quiet at first, but then gradually a few nice birds appeared - my first Chiffchaff of the year, a couple of Treecreepers and then my first ever Goosanders on this site, a pair on Grebe Pool.

At Napton the temperature dropped significantly in the chill wind, so we didn't dawdle. The only birds of interest were half a dozen newly arrived Sand Martins.

On Easter Sunday I went for a wander in Cassiobury Park in Watford, where along with the Mistle Thrush and Nuthatches I was pleasantly surprised to find a couple of Ring-necked Parakeets.

And the following weekend, back in Warwickshire once more, I made a fairly quick circuit of Leam Valley to find a few returned Chiffchaffs, a pair of Tufted Ducks on the scrape, nesting Swans, a late-lingering Fieldfare, and... not much else to be honest.

Oh, and in the garden at home we've had a couple of appearances from a male Blackcap, plenty of Greenfinch and Goldfinch (starting to come back after a long time away), courting Buzzards low overhead and sundry garden favourites (including plenty of Wrens).

Bird of the month: a dead heat between Goosander and Ring-necked Parakeet - both visually stunning and both completely unexpected when I found them.