27th Apr 2022: Garden Warbler

Ian was out early this morning and had our first Garden Warbler of the year. A little later I had a single Yellow Wagtail but not a lot else.

26th Apr 2022: Whimbrel!

After the painfully quiet weekend, where birds seemed to be turning up everywhere except for Grimsbury, we have had a better couple of days. 

Yesterday evening I had a Redstart along the western path, but only a very brief glimpse as it flushed from the path side scrub to the ditch in the cattle field out of sight. There was also a pick up in Yellow Wagtails, with 5 present by late evening. 

This evening John had a Whimbrel! A frustratingly rare sighting at Grimsbury and typically it only landed for a few minutes before it decided to move on. There was also a House Sparrow, which I think is new for the year (but if it isn't I'd previously forgotten to add it to the year list).

Photos courtesy and copyright of JFT

24th Apr 2022

The rest of the bank holiday weekend and this week was fairly quiet in comparison, but we still managed to add a couple of new species to the year list. 

On the Monday Kev had 2 Common Sandpipers and on the 20th had another White Wagtail. 

On Friday I had our first 2 Lesser Whitethroats of the year, one along the river and one along the canal. Another 2 Common Terns also dropped in for a short period of time and a Common Sand around. 

This morning John had a Little Egret fly over and a Common Sandpiper. A little later in the morning I had 3 Yellow Wagtails go over.

Courtesy and copyright of JFT

16th Apr 2022: Sandwich Tern!

Ian Rowe had another 2 White Wagtails on the 11th and John had a mixed singing Willow Warbler. On the 12th Mike P found our first Yellow Wagtail of the year with a White Wagtail, also good numbers of Willow Warbler (5), Blackcap (12), Swallow (8) and Sand Martins (30+).

Courtesy and copyright of Mike Pollard

Ian had a Common Tern briefly on the 13th, perched on a buoy before it flew north. 

On the 14th a Common Sandpiper was at the reservoir and our first Whitethroat of the year was singing at the northern end. There was also 2 Redstarts (1 male) along the western side and then in the hedgerow through the cattle field. 

Good Friday, was good... with our first 2 Greylag Geese of the year, 2 Whitethroats and the 2 Redstart still. Up in the valley around the Borrow Pit pool I had our first 2 Sedge Warblers, 2 Whitethroats and a Yellowhammer flew over. A Sedge Warbler was also picked up along the river later in the day. 

However, Saturday was much better! A Great White Egret (2nd patch record) flew over the reservoir south early morning. Generally there were more warblers around with several each of Sedge and Whitethroat across the whole patch, but we couldn't pick out anything new amongst them. On the way out, lingering to search for Redstarts that weren't there, we were rewarded with 3 terns flying in - which turned out to be a Sandwich Tern with 2 Common Terns. 

Photos courtesy and copyright of JFT

10th Apr 2022: Even more early spring migrants!

On the 28th I was watching several Buzzards and a few Red Kites cruising around and picked up a Peregrine and Raven go over north. Mike Pollard had our first Swallow of the year on the 30th and 6 Wigeon at the reservoir.

Mark Ribbons had another 3 Swallow and 2 Sand Martins on the 31st, which were followed by several more over the weekend. We also had our Skylark and Linnets of the year. 

On the 2nd there was another Willow Warbler at the reservoir and 2 Shoveler with 9 Gadwall at the Borrow Pit pool. On the Sunday we had three sightings of Peregrine, including what I think was two females having a squabble right over the reservoir.

Photos courtesy and copyright of JFT

Adrian B was out on the 4th and had 2 Mandarin fly over south, Sandra had our first (4) House Martins of the year on the 7th and Mike P found our first Common Sandpiper of the year on the 8th.

Courtesy and copyright of Wally Warburton

Courtesy and copyright of Mike Pollard

On the 9th Adrian Tysoe had an early morning Redstart and later 4 House Martins were seen. Several eager people were looking for the Redstart on the 10th but unfortunately it was not still present. However, John picked up a Green Sandpiper flying over north.

Photos courtesy and copyright of JFT