5th Sep 2021

Mike was out early this morning and had two Wheatear on the west side, the Ringed Plover flying around calling (and it wasn't seen later so must have left then), a Common Sandpiper and a Yellow Wagtail. Clive and Jim also saw a Whinchat in the cattle field.

4th Sep 2021

Mike Pollard and a few more of us were out this morning. It was a pleasant morning but much quieter than the previous week or so and unfortunately no Redstarts or Whinchats today. 

The Ringed Plover and Common Sandpiper were still here and a Teal on the water. A Wheatear and a Yellow Wagtail, with at least two more flying over. Several flocks of Hirundines flying over, generally south, with some at a great height but when the cloud rolled in they were much lower.

John also had a Wigeon this afternoon.

Photos courtesy and copyright of JFT

3rd Sep 2021

This morning the Ringed Plover was still present and there were three Teal on the reservoir. A Redstart was showing well on the western side near the bench. A Whinchat was around the reservoir before flushing over to the cattle field and then another around the reservoir, I later confirmed two in the cattle field. There was also a Wheatear, two or three Yellow Wagtails and four Swift.

Teal and Whinchat courtesy and copyright of JFT

Redstart, Ringed Plover and Wheatear courtesy and copyright of Kyle Smith

2nd Sep 2021: Ringed Plover

Mike Pollard was out this morning and found a juvenile Ringed Plover, our first of the year. There was also a Redstart (new bird?), Wheatear, Yellow Wagtail and three Mistle Thrushes over. 

Later Mike C and Kyle were around and had Common Sandpiper, Spotted Flycatcher and Willow Warbler.

Photos courtesy and copyright of Mike Pollard

1st Sep 2021

John and I were both out early this morning. I went up the east side and had a juvenile Med Gull shortly before he arrived and he went up the west side and had a Redstart. We met up near the top end and had a Whinchat and Wheatear along the ditch in the cattle field.

30th Aug 2021: the August Bank Holiday

A very good few days birding around the reservoir!

27th - the weekend got off to a fine start when John found another Redstart in the afternoon, a male this time. I went up for a look and we saw a male again, but John thought it may have been a different bird, and there were two (plus) Yellow Wagtails in amongst the cattle.

28th - I went around in the morning and there was definitely two male Redstarts, both seen together and one a lot brighter than the other. Also three Spotted Flycatchers, two Yellow Wagtails over, a Garden Warbler and twelve Swifts.

29th - Clive and I were out this morning and there was three Redstarts today, two males and a female type, and a Spotted Flycatcher still. We also had a Greenshank fly in, fly around a few times trying to land and then carry on south after being harassed by Pied Wagtails!

Today - Mike Pollard had, what I assume were the same, three Redstarts again and Kev found a Wheatear. Clive had two Mistle Thrush over. A little later I had two Wheatears in the cattle field with a Whinchat and in the evening a Yellow-legged Gull.

Courtesy and copyright of Mike Pollard

23rd Aug 2021

John was out today and recorded a Redstart and Spotted Flycatcher (our firsts for the Autumn). Also a Peregrine over, a Yellow-legged Gull and a Common Sandpiper.

Photos courtesy and copyright of JFT

21st Aug 2021: Teal

Things picked up a bit this week. On the 20th Mike Pollard had five Yellow Wagtails, eight Swift, a Common Sandpiper and two Willow Warblers. The same evening I had our first Teal of the year year and two Yellow-legged Gulls. Yesterday morning Adrian T also had a Teal and a Yellow-legged Gull.

Photos courtesy and copyright of Dave Fuller

15th Aug 2021

It's been a fairly quiet week with little change or movement. I saw our first Common Gull (a juv) of the Autumn on the 12th, John had a Common Sandpiper and Willow Warbler on the 13th and there was two (possibly three) Yellow-legged Gulls this evening.

8th Aug 2021: Med Gull

There's been at least one Common Sandpiper around most of the end of the week.

This morning John was out and saw our first Mediterranean Gull of the year. Also, a Little Egret, a Little Ringed Plover and a Common Sandpiper.

This evening there were two Common Gulls, an adult and a juvenile.

Photos courtesy and copyright of JFT

3rd Aug 2021

This evening there was a drake Pochard on the reservoir.

2nd Aug 2021

This afternoon I had our first returning Common Gull of the summer/autumn and a Common Sandpiper.

1st Aug 2021

John was out and about today and had a Yellow-legged Gull and Common Sandpiper.

July

July was another quiet month, with many of the resident or visiting nesting species busy raising chicks. However, mobile or early returning birds were seen throughout the month.

From the 1st to the 4th John and I had up to three Yellow-legged Gulls, a Little Ringed Plover on the 1st and two Herring Gulls on the 2nd.

On the 8th a Kingfisher had returned to the river and there were fairly fresh broods of both Tufted Duck (6) and Little Grebe (2) at the Borrow Pit pool up the valley.

On the 9th I had eleven (yes 11!) Common Sandpipers around the reservoir. This is the highest recorded count for the site and highest count in the B.O.S. area since 1996. Ian Rowe also had a Hobby fly through. 

Mike Pollard had one each of Common Sandpiper and Little Ringed Plover on the 10th, I had Common Sandpiper and Yellow-legged Gull on the 11th and another Yellow-legged Gull on the 19th. I also had four Purple Hairstreaks on the 19th, in the tops of the oaks along the river.

John was up on the 25th and had a Yellow Wagtail, three Sand Martin and 30+ Swift.

Adrian T had over 100 (!) Swift on the 31st as well as a Little Ringed Plover and the three regular Hirundine species. 

10 of the 11 CS

June

June went by in a similar way to the end of May. Some nice sightings but nothing to really to get the pulse going. 

On the 4th Jim Craik had two Oystercatchers fly through, Sandra B saw a Hobby flew threw on the 7th and I saw two Mistle Thrush fly over on the 11th. 

On the 12th I was searching for Damselflies long the river and had a Nuthatch calling from the small block of woodland to the east of the river. Strangely quite a rare bird on the patch, considering they nest in Spiceball Park!

On the 19th Adrian T had a Little Ringed Plover and a Yellow-legged Gull. I went up the valley searching for orchids and was very happy to see 13 Bee Orchids, 4 Pyramidal and 1 Common Spotted, as I didn't see any last year.

On the 30th I had 3 Skylark in the cattle field, which is fairly notable as they are nearly always a fly over species. There was also late singing Willow Warbler, Garden Warbler and Lesser Whitethroat.