29th Sep 2024

It's been a generally quiet week. Steve Holliday saw a Pintail (fem/imm) on Tuesday morning that circled the reservoir but flew north.

On Wednesday morning the rain from previous couple of days had forced the river to overflow and the entrance, cattle field and paths around the wood were all flooded. I had at least 103 Meadow Pipits over flying south-east in 1 hour, mostly in small groups (including groups of 32, 15, 20 and 10), and several others around/grounded. there was also 1 Skylark over south-east, at least 22 Pied Wagtails around and a lot of small gulls including 2-3 Common Gulls.

The weekend was fairly quiet and uneventful, but a Mistle Thrush that dropped in for around 5 minutes on Friday afternoon was nice.

22nd Sep 2024: Great White Egret

With easterlies forecast for most of the week and at least cloud cover most days I had high hopes of adding a few more species to the year list, especially after the easterlies earlier in the month. I was thinking along the lines of more waders, terns (I haven't seen Common Tern yet this year) or maybe even a Spotted Flycatcher for the year list (fast becoming a really good patch bird!), but it wasn't to be.

The highlight of an actually very quiet week was a Great White Egret over on Thursday morning. It circled looking like it was going to land but carried on north. Otherwise there's been a good variety of ducks (for here), with up to 2 Teal on a few days, 2 Wigeon on Thursday, a Shoveler Friday and 2 Gadwall Saturday amongst the usuals. JFT had a Snipe flyover north on Saturday, there's been a couple of Yellow Wagtails and a Kingfisher around most days.

15th Sep 2024

Quite a good week with a few nice birds. On Wednesday evening JFT found a juvenile Arctic Tern. Friday afternoon another Whinchat (or a lingering bird maybe) was in the cattle field and was around until today at least. There was also a 2cy Yellow-legged Gull.

This morning there was a Wheatear with the Whinchat, but it didn't hang around very long. A Lesser Whitethroat was along the western bank and a steady passage of hirundines, mostly Swallows, overhead.

8th Sep 2024

Sandra found a Redstart on Monday along with a Whinchat still and later in the day another Redstart was seen. On Thursay JFT had 4 Shovelers and a Common Tern.

Yesterday there was a bit of a fall with a Redstart, 3-4 Whinchats, 2+ Wheatears and a couple of Yellow Wagtails all in the Cattle Field. In addition there was a Lesser Whitethroat and Garden Warbler amongst a really good number of Chiffchaffs and Blackcaps. 

This morning there was 2 Shoveler, Little Egret, Common Sandpiper, Kingfisher, and Yellow Wagtail. The first couple of Meadow Pipits and Skylarks over of the autumn. Adrian T also saw a Whinchat in the Cattle Field.

Courtesy and copyright of JFT

1st Sep 2024: Pochard and Nuthatch

On Monday Clive found the first Pochard of the year on the reservoir, which stayed around till today. There was a Common Tern too and JFT had 2 Yellow-legged Gulls in the afternoon.

A Teal, Common Sandpiper, and Yellow-legged Gull on Wednesday and Kingfisher, Cetti's Warbler, and 3-4 Yellow-legged Gulls yesterday.

This morning JFT and I were out early and were rewarded with 2 Whinchat, with individuals seen in different places. Also 6 Yellow Wagtails over, Teal, 2 Swifts, 2 Little Egrets and a Nuthatch calling in the woodland. 

Courtesy and copyright of JFT

Courtesy and copyright of JFT