31st May 2020: The end of Spring?

Juvenile Grey Wagtail. Courtesy and copyright of Dave Fuller

Courtesy and copyright of Dave Fuller

Courtesy and copyright of Dave Fuller

On the 22^nd Mike had the Cetti’s Warbler again in the morning and it now seems settled in on territory. Also recorded on the 23rd, 24th and 25th.

Blue Tit nesting along the railway embankment

On Saturday 23rd I was out a bit later with the main aim of recording damselflies. Having bumped into Clive when I got there and hearing about what he'd recorded in recent day, I was hopeful. I managed to record Large Red, Red-eyed, Blue-tailed and Azure, as well as Common Blue and both Demoiselles. No White-legged yet, but I'll keep an eye out over the next couple of weeks.

Blue-tailed

Typical view of a Red-eyed perched on surface vegetation

Large Red

Beautiful

Banded

Beautiful

John called in later and had a Common Tern drop in briefly.

Courtesy and copyright of JFT

Courtesy and copyright of JFT

Courtesy and copyright of JFT

Courtesy and copyright of JFT

On the 28^th there was a male Stonechat up near the Borrow Pit pool (Richie Thompson). This is an interesting record as it is a very late migrant or possibly nesting (although there was no sign of it on the 30th).

Over this weekend there were two Coots at the reservoir on Saturday (30th) and two new Reed Warblers in on Sunday (30th). The Reed Warblers were in the bushes at the northern end (checked and double checked!) and in the reeds along the river just north of the woodland. Some other interesting sighting today were a Mole foraging out in the open right by the river, a Water Shrew foraging in the, very nearly dried out, ditch in the woodland near the railway line and a very small Grass Snake swimming in the canal (possibly hatched last year as I think it's still a bit early for this year?).

16th May 2020: Egyptian Geese

I was out a bit later today hoping to record some invertebrates as it warmed up. It was a success and I managed to record some of our first damselflies of the year. Although there were very few butterflies around.

Common Blue Damselfly

Beautiful Demoiselle

Banded Demoiselle

As I worked my way back from the river valley to the reservoir I came across two Egyptian Geese in the cattle field. This is the third sighting in a relatively short period of time and I expect they will become even more frequent.

14th May 2020

Mike was out this morning and had the Cetti's Warbler again, in the same area as before.

This evening I had a Reed Warbler on territory in the reedy section of river just to the north of the M40 bridge.

10th May 2020

Early this morning (when it was still warm!), three Gadwall were on the reservoir and there was also a Common Sandpiper along the edges. When the strong north-easterly wind really kicked in several Swifts and hirundines dropped in, including a few Sand Martins. What I thought was also mildly interesting was a group of c.40 Lesser Black-backed Gulls (mostly immature) that dropped in, seemingly from quite high up, showing how many there are generally in the area.

Soon after I left Clive also had a Common Tern and Herring Gull. This evening Mark had two Little Ringed Plovers and a Yellow Wagtail. There are also two juvenile Grey Wagtails now being fed at the reservoir.

9th May 2020: Ringed Plovers

This morning Adrian T found two Ringed Plovers at the reservoir - our first ones for a couple of years. There was also Little Ringed Plover and Common Sandpiper.

8th May 2020

A Common Tern and two Common Sandpipers the best birds today.

7th May 2020

Mike heard the Cetti's Warbler again this morning in a similar place to before, but possibly more towards the canal. It may be staying around for a while.

In the evening I had a Common Sandpiper and Yellow Wagtail.

5th May: mid-Spring update

Sorry for the lack of posts recently and this being a brief round up of the highlights. It's been a good couple of weeks with other bits of interest in between too. 

On the 22^nd  Ian had our first Garden Warbler of the year. 

On the 26^th I had a walk up the valley and there was a Willow Warbler up by the Borrow Pit pool and there were at least four Lesser Whitethroats around. On the Borrow Pit the Little Grebes only had 2 chicks left and there were 2 pairs of Tufted Ducks displaying and very vocal amongst 30 or so birds.

In the morning of the 29^th Adrian had a single Arctic Tern pass through. Mark had a Little Egret and Reed Warbler in the evening. 

Mike was out in the moning of the 30th and found a fairly showy Whinchat. Sandra and Adrian B also found a singing Cetti’s Warbler which was in the hedge between the water treatment works and the cattle field. (It was a patch tick for me!)

All photos courtesy and copyright of Mike Pollard

In the morning on Sunday 3^rd I had a Oystercatcher at the reservoir. A little later Clive had 2 Common Terns and Mark had one still, or another one, later in the afternoon. 

This morning Ian found a nice summer plumaged Dunlin on his walk around and 2 Common Terns.