I had a wood sandpiper briefly on Houghton Green pool this afternoon. It came in from the south calling, circled the pool ,then landed briefly before being chased off by the Resident Green Sandpiper . It flew off north at 14.30 . 1 green sandpiper and common sandpiper also present along with 70 mallard but no greenshank.
colin davies said
Sun Sep 25 6:27 PM, 2016
Two visits today, this morning:
Greenshank 1
Green sandpiper 1
Common sandpiper 1
Teal 8
Cormorant 5
Grey partridge 8
Black-headed gull 115
More or less identical this afternoon except that the green and common sandpipers were missing and there were two adult lesser black back gulls with the black-headed gulls.
JOHN TYMON said
Sat Sep 24 7:28 PM, 2016
Houghton Green pool -still don't know why people call it a flash
pm
Greenshank-1 Green Sandpiper-1 Common Sandpiper-1 Teal-8 Cormorant - 4 Buzzard-2
:)
colin davies said
Mon Sep 12 11:06 AM, 2016
Greenshank and two green sandpipers at 7:30am and still present when I left, but apparently all gone by 9:00am. This is now a regular pattern by the green sandpipers, they often seem to be present early morning only. The greenshank (assuming that it is the same bird which has been at the site for nearly 3 weeks), went missing yesterday as well, so perhaps it's going to wherever the green sandpipers go. It will be interesting to see if they're all present and correct tomorrow morning.
JOHN TYMON said
Sun Sep 11 3:17 PM, 2016
No sign of Greenshank today -too much disturbance must have moved it on along with the Green Sandpiper only things of note was 2 Yellow Wagtail
Ian McKerchar said
Sat Sep 10 7:57 PM, 2016
JOHN TYMON wrote:
im getting double spacing again on my threads not sure why ? :(
Your settings were set to use the advanced editor John, which uses double spacing. I've now changed it for you but if it happens again just go into your settings and click it to off
JOHN TYMON said
Sat Sep 10 6:33 PM, 2016
pm
Greenshank -1
Swallow -c500
House Martin -c50
Yellow Wagtail -2 Juv
im getting double spacing again on my threads not sure why ? :(
JOHN TYMON said
Fri Sep 9 6:17 PM, 2016
Greenshank-1
Ruff-1
Teal -4
Cormorant- 4
Long tailed Tit-21
Blackcap-1
Reed Bunting-17
Meadow Pipit-15
Willow Warbler-10
Chiffchaff-2
Grey Heron -1
Kestrel-1
Yellow Wagtail-2
Pied Wagtail-10
Swallow-500+> S
Sand Martin- 200+
House Martin - 100+
JOHN TYMON said
Sat Sep 3 4:04 PM, 2016
Greenshank-1 (longist stay at the pool I know of for this species-10 days)
Ruff - 1 again the longest I remember Ruff at the pool ,assuming its the same one,but strangely todays looked bigger than yesterdays,so not sure if we are getting a passage of ruff or the different weather conditions are making the same bird look different.
Mallard-55 (none yesterday,so they have arrived overnight )
Teal- 2
Swallow -500+
House Martin -150+
Sand Martin-200+
Willow Warbler-2
Grey Heron - 1
Grey Partridge-5
JOHN TYMON said
Fri Sep 2 5:01 PM, 2016
PM
Greenshank-1
Green Sandpiper-2
Ruff- 1 Juvenile -different bird to last week ,likely a female on size
Sparrowhawk-2
House Martin-6
Swallow -20
Grey Partridge- 2
:)
colin davies said
Wed Aug 31 11:00 AM, 2016
7:15am - 8am today:
3 green sandpipers
1 greenshank
1 ruff
1 yellow wagtail
John Watson said
Mon Aug 29 9:11 AM, 2016
John, I think we were there at the same time as you, up by the conifers
We missed the cormorants, got the Greenshank & Ruff, but can add:
1+ White Wagtail (N shore) 1+ Pied Wagtail 2+ Yellow Wagtails touched down briefly on N shore, then flew off high S in flock of ~15 Wagtails sp (but probably all Yellow Wagtails)
JOHN TYMON said
Sun Aug 28 7:15 PM, 2016
Greenshank-1
Ruff-1 Juvenile Male -these are quite a rarity at the pool ,so was nice to see
Tufted Duck-2
Cormorant-4
Swallow-30+
Sand Martin -10 +
JOHN TYMON said
Sat Aug 27 5:26 PM, 2016
Greenshank still present today for the third day in a row
Common Sandpiper-1
colin davies said
Wed Apr 27 9:01 PM, 2016
This evening;
Yellow wagtail 3 males
Common Sandpiper 1
Little ringed plover 2
colin davies said
Tue Apr 26 9:01 AM, 2016
A quick visit on my way to work this morning:
Dunlin 1
Common sandpiper 1
Little ringed plover 2
Yellow wagtail 2 (male and female - the first female yellow wagtail I've seen this year).
Gadwall 1
colin davies said
Tue Apr 19 8:51 PM, 2016
This evening:
White wagtail 1
Gadwall 3
Tufted duck 2
Little grebe 1
Mark Burgess said
Sat Apr 16 2:45 PM, 2016
Nice sunny morning visit, 7.30 - 8.15am
Yellow Wagtail 1m White Wagtail 2 Little Grede Shoveler 3 Gadwall 2 Buzzard
colin davies said
Mon Apr 11 10:33 PM, 2016
This evening;
Little ringed plover 2
Yellow wagtail 1 male
White wagtail 2
Gadwall 4 (2 pairs)
Little grebe 2
JOHN TYMON said
Sat Apr 9 8:32 AM, 2016
8th
Yellow Wagtail - 2 Male( Flew off NW High just before I left at 2pm White Wagtail- 2 Male Pied Wagtail-7... Grey Wagtail -1 Pair Willow Warbler-1 Shelduck- 1 Pair Little Grebe - 1 Pair Lapwing -12 Chiffchaff-1 Gadwall -1 Pair
colin davies said
Wed Apr 6 7:30 PM, 2016
Yellow wagtail 2 (4 yesterday) all males
Little ringed plover 1
White wagtail 1
Shoveler 2 (pair)
Gadwall 4 (2 pair)
-- Edited by colin davies on Thursday 7th of April 2016 08:25:13 AM
colin davies said
Mon Apr 4 9:14 PM, 2016
Yellow wagtail 1 stunning male White wagtail 1 Little ringed plover 3 Swallow 1 Shoveler 2 (male and female) Grey wagtail 2 Little grebe 1 Wigeon 1 female Willow warbler 1 singing
-- Edited by colin davies on Monday 4th of April 2016 10:30:58 PM
-- Edited by colin davies on Tuesday 5th of April 2016 07:16:13 AM
Willow Warbler - 1 a stunning new arrival in brilliant nick Lttle Ringed Plover- 2 Shoveler - 7 - Gadwall- 2 pair Little Grebe-2 Common Buzzards 2 in talon tumbling display flight Swallow- 5 House Martin -1 -chased off by the swallows Sand Martin-10 Wigeon-1 Teal-4 Tufted Duck-2 Reed Bunting-4 chiffchaff -4 Mallard - 8
-- Edited by JOHN TYMON on Sunday 3rd of April 2016 05:55:37 PM
Little Ringed Plover - 2 Widgeon-1 Shoveler-4 Chiffchaff-1 Mallard-4 Gadwall-3 Teal -4 Little Grebe-2 Swallow - 10 Sand Martin- 10 Rooks - at least 36 occupied nests by the pool Pied Wagtail-8 Common Buzzard-1
colin davies said
Wed Mar 30 6:35 PM, 2016
Early evening:
Little ringed plover 1 Goldeneye 2 (male and female) Teal 3 Gadwall 1 pair Wigeon 8 Tufted duck 4 Little grebe 1
-- Edited by colin davies on Wednesday 30th of March 2016 06:36:19 PM
No sign of the little ringed plover late afternoon, but there was a female goldeneye.
Mark Burgess said
Mon Mar 28 10:15 AM, 2016
Little Ringed Plover 1, Was hoping overnight rain would of added to the tally Pied Wagtail 3 Shoveler 4 Gadwall 2 Wigeon 4
colin davies said
Sun Mar 27 2:21 PM, 2016
First little ringed plover of the year at the flash this afternoon, also 2 gadwall (male & female), 6 wigeon, 1 little grebe and 4 grey partridge.
JOHN TYMON said
Sun Mar 13 5:33 PM, 2016
40 Wigeon this afternoon
Rob Smith said
Sat Feb 27 4:35 PM, 2016
With the recent rains partially re-flooding the flash the walk around it produced an interesting array of birds among the mix of riparian and rank vegetation.
Wigeon 36
Mallard 12
Lapwing 30
Oystercatcher 2
Black Headed Gulls 50
Kestrel male
Grey Partridge 2
Magpie 16
Mistle Thrush 2
Song Thrush 9 (7 feeding on the ground & 2 singing from nearby trees)
Pied Wagtail 11
Goldfinch 30
along with a few of the usual's.
colin davies said
Thu Feb 11 5:55 PM, 2016
I called in at the Flash today on my way home to see if the winters heavy rain has had much of an affect, and indeed it has. Water levels are considerably up compared to late summer when I was last there, the main problem now is that there is very little muddy shoreline for waders because the tall vegetation is flooded. Still not a lot on the water, I saw just three species, 42 wigeon, 20+ mallard and a couple of coots, but at least it's looking like it might be worth a look occasionally.
JOHN TYMON said
Thu Sep 3 5:11 PM, 2015
Called in this afternoon ,the puddle left is about 20 feet across,and contained no birds. If you consider it used to be half a mile to walk round the pool ,you can see its gone now as a real wetland bird site :(
colin davies said
Wed Jul 8 9:14 PM, 2015
Ringed plover 1 Little ringed plover 4 Little grebe 1 adult Yellow wagtail 2 juveniles Lapwing 10
colin davies said
Tue Jul 7 8:17 PM, 2015
Little ringed plover 4 Little grebe 1 Lapwing 10 Yellow wagtail 1
Not much left of the "flash" now. It's at least a metre lower than it was in the spring. It might just survive the summer and perhaps get a reprise with winter rains, but it could just as easily disappear by the end of August. One thing I can guarentee, water extraction will stop soon.......
colin davies said
Wed May 27 6:22 PM, 2015
Two male yellow wagtails today but not much else.
colin davies said
Wed May 20 6:04 AM, 2015
Two yellow wagtails and two grey partridge this morning, no sign of sanderling or any other waders of note.
colin davies said
Tue May 19 1:02 PM, 2015
3 sanderling this morning at 5:30am and still present at 19.00 also 2 yellow wagtails.
-- Edited by colin davies on Tuesday 19th of May 2015 10:48:47 PM
colin davies said
Sun May 17 10:17 PM, 2015
Ringed plover and oystercatcher present this evening. That's 9 species of wader for me at this site in the past couple of months but mainly all singles of each.
Mark Burgess said
Sun May 17 10:54 AM, 2015
8.45-9.15ish
2 Yellow Wagtail (Flava) males Lapwing with two young
colin davies said
Wed May 13 11:29 PM, 2015
Very quiet at the moment, a single redshank and yellow wagtail the highlights, plus the usuals. Still, over the past few weeks black-tailed godwit, redshank, dunlin and green sandpiper have all managed to stay more than a day despite the constant disturbance, so maybe a Temminck's stint or curlew sandpiper will be next??
colin davies said
Wed May 6 9:56 PM, 2015
A single dunlin was the highlight this evening.
colin davies said
Tue May 5 10:05 PM, 2015
Thanks John. Complicated things these races of yellow wagtail. I did see two channel wagtails last year and they were much brighter than this, but then again they were both males. Females are a nightmare!
JOHN TYMON said
Sat May 2 5:09 PM, 2015
colin davies wrote:
Possible female blue-headed wagtail at the flash this evening (photos on my blog), male yellow wagtail and single redshank.
It looks like one of the channel wagtails you get now and again see Ians Article on the main site ,The pool has had visits before of Channel wagtails over the last few years.
colin davies said
Fri May 1 10:37 PM, 2015
Possible female blue-headed wagtail at the flash this evening (photos on my blog), male yellow wagtail and single redshank.
Brian Baird said
Thu Apr 30 9:07 PM, 2015
Singles of Little Ringed Plover, Common Sandpiper, Redshank, Yellow Wagtail and Pied Wagtail today.
colin davies said
Wed Apr 29 9:36 PM, 2015
Hobby again this evening, also 2 dunlin, 1 redshank, 1 common sandpiper and a yellow wagtail
colin davies said
Tue Apr 28 9:56 PM, 2015
Hobby again over the flash this evening, also shelduck, common sandpiper, redshank and 2 yellow wagtails.
colin davies said
Mon Apr 27 5:07 PM, 2015
An awesome hobby flew through chasing swallows at high speed late afternoon. Also 2 common sandpipers and a redshank, but no sign of the blue-headed wagtail, just a single yellow wagtail.
colin davies said
Sat Apr 25 8:41 PM, 2015
A cracking blue-headed wagtail with at least two male yellow wagtails this evening. Rubbish photos on my blog "Birds to Bryophytes". Also a couple of redshanks.
Two visits today, this morning:
Greenshank 1
Green sandpiper 1
Common sandpiper 1
Teal 8
Cormorant 5
Grey partridge 8
Black-headed gull 115
More or less identical this afternoon except that the green and common sandpipers were missing and there were two adult lesser black back gulls with the black-headed gulls.
pm
Greenshank-1
Green Sandpiper-1
Common Sandpiper-1
Teal-8
Cormorant - 4
Buzzard-2
:)
Greenshank and two green sandpipers at 7:30am and still present when I left, but apparently all gone by 9:00am. This is now a regular pattern by the green sandpipers, they often seem to be present early morning only. The greenshank (assuming that it is the same bird which has been at the site for nearly 3 weeks), went missing yesterday as well, so perhaps it's going to wherever the green sandpipers go. It will be interesting to see if they're all present and correct tomorrow morning.
only things of note was 2 Yellow Wagtail
Your settings were set to use the advanced editor John, which uses double spacing. I've now changed it for you but if it happens again just go into your settings and click it to off
pm
Greenshank -1
Swallow -c500
House Martin -c50
Yellow Wagtail -2 Juv
im getting double spacing again on my threads not sure why ? :(
7:15am - 8am today:
3 green sandpipers
1 greenshank
1 ruff
1 yellow wagtail
We missed the cormorants, got the Greenshank & Ruff, but can add:
1+ White Wagtail (N shore)
1+ Pied Wagtail
2+ Yellow Wagtails touched down briefly on N shore, then flew off high S in flock of ~15 Wagtails sp (but probably all Yellow Wagtails)
Greenshank still present today for the third day in a row
Common Sandpiper-1
This evening;
Yellow wagtail 3 males
Common Sandpiper 1
Little ringed plover 2
A quick visit on my way to work this morning:
Dunlin 1
Common sandpiper 1
Little ringed plover 2
Yellow wagtail 2 (male and female - the first female yellow wagtail I've seen this year).
Gadwall 1
This evening:
White wagtail 1
Gadwall 3
Tufted duck 2
Little grebe 1
Yellow Wagtail 1m
White Wagtail 2
Little Grede
Shoveler 3
Gadwall 2
Buzzard
This evening;
Little ringed plover 2
Yellow wagtail 1 male
White wagtail 2
Gadwall 4 (2 pairs)
Little grebe 2
8th
Yellow Wagtail - 2 Male( Flew off NW High just before I left at 2pm
White Wagtail- 2 Male
Pied Wagtail-7...
Grey Wagtail -1 Pair
Willow Warbler-1
Shelduck- 1 Pair
Little Grebe - 1 Pair
Lapwing -12
Chiffchaff-1
Gadwall -1 Pair
Yellow wagtail 2 (4 yesterday) all males
Little ringed plover 1
White wagtail 1
Shoveler 2 (pair)
Gadwall 4 (2 pair)
-- Edited by colin davies on Thursday 7th of April 2016 08:25:13 AM
Yellow wagtail 1 stunning male
White wagtail 1
Little ringed plover 3
Swallow 1
Shoveler 2 (male and female)
Grey wagtail 2
Little grebe 1
Wigeon 1 female
Willow warbler 1 singing
-- Edited by colin davies on Monday 4th of April 2016 10:30:58 PM
-- Edited by colin davies on Tuesday 5th of April 2016 07:16:13 AM
Willow Warbler - 1 a stunning new arrival in brilliant nick
Lttle Ringed Plover- 2
Shoveler - 7 -
Gadwall- 2 pair
Little Grebe-2
Common Buzzards 2 in talon tumbling display flight
Swallow- 5
House Martin -1 -chased off by the swallows
Sand Martin-10
Wigeon-1
Teal-4
Tufted Duck-2
Reed Bunting-4
chiffchaff -4
Mallard - 8
-- Edited by JOHN TYMON on Sunday 3rd of April 2016 05:55:37 PM
pm
Little Ringed Plover - 2
Widgeon-1
Shoveler-4
Chiffchaff-1
Mallard-4
Gadwall-3
Teal -4
Little Grebe-2
Swallow - 10
Sand Martin- 10
Rooks - at least 36 occupied nests by the pool
Pied Wagtail-8
Common Buzzard-1
Early evening:
Little ringed plover 1
Goldeneye 2 (male and female)
Teal 3
Gadwall 1 pair
Wigeon 8
Tufted duck 4
Little grebe 1
-- Edited by colin davies on Wednesday 30th of March 2016 06:36:19 PM
PM
Shoveler - 2 pair
Goldeneye- 1 Female
Gadwall- 1 pair
Teal - 1 pair
Little Grebe- 1
Wigeon-8
Mallard-4
Grey Partridge-4
Pied Wagtail-6
Common Buzzard-1
No sign of the little ringed plover late afternoon, but there was a female goldeneye.
Pied Wagtail 3
Shoveler 4
Gadwall 2
Wigeon 4
First little ringed plover of the year at the flash this afternoon, also 2 gadwall (male & female), 6 wigeon, 1 little grebe and 4 grey partridge.
40 Wigeon this afternoon
Wigeon 36
Mallard 12
Lapwing 30
Oystercatcher 2
Black Headed Gulls 50
Kestrel male
Grey Partridge 2
Magpie 16
Mistle Thrush 2
Song Thrush 9 (7 feeding on the ground & 2 singing from nearby trees)
Pied Wagtail 11
Goldfinch 30
along with a few of the usual's.
I called in at the Flash today on my way home to see if the winters heavy rain has had much of an affect, and indeed it has. Water levels are considerably up compared to late summer when I was last there, the main problem now is that there is very little muddy shoreline for waders because the tall vegetation is flooded. Still not a lot on the water, I saw just three species, 42 wigeon, 20+ mallard and a couple of coots, but at least it's looking like it might be worth a look occasionally.
Little ringed plover 4
Little grebe 1 adult
Yellow wagtail 2 juveniles
Lapwing 10
Little grebe 1
Lapwing 10
Yellow wagtail 1
Not much left of the "flash" now. It's at least a metre lower than it was in the spring. It might just survive the summer and perhaps get a reprise with winter rains, but it could just as easily disappear by the end of August. One thing I can guarentee, water extraction will stop soon.......
-- Edited by colin davies on Tuesday 19th of May 2015 10:48:47 PM
2 Yellow Wagtail (Flava) males
Lapwing with two young
It looks like one of the channel wagtails you get now and again see Ians Article on the main site ,The pool has had visits before of Channel wagtails over the last few years.