As usual, the first long-distance migrant seen here was sand martin, with two passing over on the 8^th. Willow warbler is the most likely candidate for the second, and a bird duly obliged on the 11^th. We generally start to see sedge warblers (below) a day or two before reed warblers, but this year the first reed warbler arrived on the 13^th with a sedge warbler following the next day. We should get one or two pairs of sedge warblers staying to breed but the number of reed warblers will be far higher.

Common sandpipers (below) have a fairly drawn-out migration season and the first bird of spring was seen on the 19^th, with sporadic appearances for the rest of April. We saw the first swallow of the year on the 24^th, followed on the 25^th by a singing male lesser whitethroat, which sadly didn’t stay around. This is a species which has never been recorded breeding here but theoretically could, as several pairs generally breed within a few miles of here.

The first house martins of the year were seen on the 28^th, followed by the first common tern  (below) on the 30^th. There is a tern colony nearby at Walthamstow Wetlands and we should get regular visits from those birds over the breeding season. 

Shelduck are another species which haven’t bred here yet but do breed at Walthamstow, so we had a few visits during April from these birds. Red Kite and Buzzard breed further up the Lee Valley and both of these large raptors were seen here several times through April.

As well as being a big month for arrivals, we also see the departure of some of our winter species in April. Common gull, snipe, shoveler and teal were all here at the start of the month but none were here by the end, and we had no records at all of water rail, suggesting they may have left early this year.

The total number of bird species seen here in April 2022 was 65, this figure is well down on the average figure for previous Aprils, largely because migration was late this year, caused by a number of factors including wind direction and temperature.