Shirt-sleeve weather in Beijing today. The mercury hit a balmy high of two degrees. Alas, the pollution index was off the scale again. But you can't have it all.

After my travels to the further flung areas of this continent-size country, it felt a little strange being back on my local patch, by the Wenyu River. The river separates "downtown" Beijing (Chaoyang district) from the wilds of suburbia (Shunyi district). The river has remained mostly ice-free all winter and, despite today's "mild" weather, was still the only ice-free water within miles.

In November, I photographed Bewick's Swan and Swan Geese here, but would there be any sign of migration today I wondered. The 200 or so mallards have been here throughout the winter, but what was that white dot in the distance? Smew! In fact, a group of seven of them, including three males. The light was terrible, but I eventually managed to get close enough to get some okay flight shots.

Despite the gloom, the "warmth" had persuaded many birds to blow the dust of their song books. The singing Chinese Grosbeak (accompanied by three female admirers) was lovely, but the award for the most impressive display of spring-singing has to go to the Rustic Buntings. I was amazed to find the biggest congregation of them I have ever seen - about a hundred - most of which seemed to be singing in unison.

As you can see from the list below, there was a large amount of "action" today. It just goes to show that if you leave the house expecting little, you can quite often be very pleasantly surprised.

Photos of 4 species (the 2 "new" for 2010 are highlighted).

Chinese Grosbeak, male, 4
Smew, 7 (3 males)
187 Rustic Bunting, male (c100)
188 White-cheeked Starling (sev)

Also:

Daurian Jackdaw, 8
Eastern Buzzard, 3
Grey-capped Pygmy Woodpecker, 1
Wren, 1
Hoopoe, 1
Naumann's Thrush, 1
Goldeneye, c60
Water Pipit, 1
Marsh Tit (singing), 2
Little Grebe, 2
Rufous Turtle Dove, few
Spotted Dove, 4
Common Pheasant, 1 female
Azure-winged magpie, c30
Magpie, c50