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| Courtesy and copyright of Mike Pollard |
A bit of a bumper day of new arrivals today. Mike and I arrived at pretty much the same time and walked up both sides of the reservoir. A single Swallow appeared as we did and then as we stood talking more arrived and Mike counted ten (as well as several Sand Martins) on his way out.
I went off up the valley and on my return I found two Yellow Wagtials alnong the western shore. Sandra later found our first House Martin of the year too.
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| Photo courtesy and copyright of Edwin Barson https://www.facebook.com/EBarsonphotography |
On Monday I was a bit later up to the resevoir and on arrival mid morning there was a big group (big for here) of Common Gulls fly-catching over the water. Constantly wheeling around and altering height they were hard to count with any accuracy but I estimated 150. There had obviously been a good fly emergence in the morning and they were making the most of it. Smaller flocks passed through later too, so they were well and truly on the move that day. Other bits of note were a single Sand Martin, two singing Blackcaps and a Mistle Thrush. I also spotted two Brimstone butterflies and six Small Tortoiseshells.
Tuesday Morning John had a Little Ringed Plover, but again it left fairly early. There had been an arrival of Blackcaps with at least seven and possibly nine singing birds around the patch. The only other bird of note was a drake Gadwall on the Borrow Pit pool.
This morning John had our first Willow Warbler of the year and a flyover Lesser Redpoll.
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| Photos courtesy and copyright of JFT |
On Monday Adrian T had two Mistle Thrushes singing near the Water Treatment Works. I was out late up the valley looking for owls but with no joy, although there was several Snipe that I heard coming out of their roosts at dusk.
On Thursday Adrian T found our first Little Ringed Plover of the year. A highly anticipated sighting, but unfortunately it didn't stay very long.
Friday morning John recorded our first Blackcap of the year with a singing male along the river.
The Marsh Tit was recorded singing on a few days but ranged widely aross the site from the wood, to scrub east of the river and at the Water Treatment Works.
Sand Martins passed through in small numbers most days this week, with a group of 20 seen by Mike P on Friday during a rain shower.
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| Photos courtesy and copyright of Kyle Smith |
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| Photos courtesy and copyright of Edwin Barson https://www.facebook.com/EBarsonphotography |
I spotted our first Sand Martins of the year this morning, with three lingering for c.10 mins before carrying on with their migration north.
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| Photos courtesy and copyright of Dave Fuller |
John was lucky to see a Redshank pass through this morning, albeit briefly.
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| Courtesy and copyright of JFT |
Adrian B found a Shoveler and three Gadwall on the reservoir today. A pair of the Gadwall stayed around for a few days. Adrian T also had another two Raven over the Borrow Pit on the 4th.
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| Courtesy and copyright of Mike Curnow |
The first hint of Spring today with a singing Chiffchaff along the river at the back of the woodland. I assume this must be a bird that wintered locally - maybe at Sptial Farm Lake/the Sewage Treatment Works. There was also a Brimstone and Small Tortoiseshell on the wing.
People talk about the summer doldrums, but my opinion is the winter is worse. We've started our year lists and tallied up as many species as we can mid winter and then we start looking forward to spring. And what a long and boring wait that is.... at least in the 'summer doldrum' period of the year there should be other flora and fauna to look at and, in theory, nice weather to enjoy! Anyway, since the last blog post the winter species seen were very much the same but there was a few things to keep us interested.
The most notable sighting being a Raven Adrian T saw fly over on the 1st Feb. A Little Grebe was around on the reservoir for a few weeks, which is very unusual for here. There was a really good number of Tufted Ducks around using both the reservoir and the Borrow Pit pool with several counts of over 50 birds and for much of the time a drake Pochard around too. The Great Crested Grebe count peaked at six birds. The regular Stonechats remained at the Borrow Pit and in the cattle field and Mike had five on one day, so there must have been an additional pair that moved in late winter - possibly on passage. Also there were several Siskins around for the most part.
Most of the 'usual' bits and bobs around this week. On Monday Mike had three Pochard still at the Borrow Pit and on Wednesday the female Stonechat still at the reservoir.
On Friday, Adrian, Mike C and Mike P were all out and confirmed a Stonechat still at the reservoir, three Pochard still and now two pairs of Stonechat at the Borrow Pit. There was also 20 Wigeon, 12 Teal and 28 Mute Swans on the UCV floods just north of the Borrow Pit.
Yesterday the number of Wigeon up the valley went up to 30. Mark also had a drake Pochard, female Wigeon and Little Grebe all at the reservoir.
This morning the Little Grebe was still on the reservoir and a pair of Goosanders flew over. Up the valley I couldn't find any of the more interesting ducks, but had a Yellowhammer and a Lesser Redpoll flyover. Mike P later had a Lapwing over the Borrow Pit and two Stonechats again.
Visits by several people over the weekend yielded some good records. The two to three Pochard were still at the Borrow Pit pool, although as it was mostly frozen over the Tufted Ducks were using the reservoir more. Yesterday morning there was a drake Wigeon on the reservoir and 49 Tufted Ducks and in the afternoon there were counts of 36 Tufted Ducks at the reservoir and 35 at the Borrow Pit. I expect these were mostly the same birds moving between the two water bodies but it'd be interesting to know what the total was.
A dozen Siskins at the reservoir and just a single Stonechat was at the Borrow Pit this morning. The number of Great Crested Grebes grew to a peak of six on the reservoir today (including a pair displaying).
This morning several new birds were added to the year list, taking it up to 64. The most notable was a pair of Pintail on the Borrow Pit pool, but there was also a 2nd winter (3rd calendar year) Yellow-legged Gull also on the Borrow Pit, Jay, Sparrowhawk, Skylark, Red Kite and Bullfinch.
It was rather quiet when I went around the reservoir this morning, but a little later in the morning Adrian T reported that there were four Pochard on the Borrow Pit pool up the valley (with 44 Tufties) and then a Wigeon on the reservoir.
It's always an exciting time for birdwatchers, the start of the new year and a new year list. When all the common birds are valued ticks to get your list up as high as possible and as quickly as possible and when frustrations rise when something so easy to see throughout the year (or even just a few days ago... like Jay) seemed to have all but disapeared! It's a bit silly really, as they will all probably get seen by the end of January and if not then by the end of the year for sure but it livens up the mid winter birding a little.
On the 1st common birds and a few uncommon winter visitors got the patch year list up to 51 species. Highlights were the drake Goosander - on the reservoir, a Common Snipe - in the usual wet field and three Stonechat - a pair at the Borrow Pit and a female at the wet field (probably the same bird that is sometimes in the cattle field). Late in the afternoon, eleven Herring Gulls at the reservoir is a good count for here.
Yesterday morning Adrian T picked up Siskin and there was still at least one around in the afternoon. The Goosander was absent in the morning but back in the afternoon when there was also two Gadwall on the reservoir.
Early this morning the Goosander was present still and there were three Wigeon on the reservoir and two drake Pochard flew in from the south and landed. They soon departed north and were later seen on the Borrow Pit pool with an additional female Pochard and ~45 Tufted Ducks. A Raven was also seen flying over the woodland and then the reservoir and the female Stonechat was back at the cattle field. Several Siskins were in the Alders along the river today. This took the patch year list up to 57 species.
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| Photos courtesy and copyright of Dave Fuller (taken in Dec) |
