This mornings vis mig watch from Withins with Paul Wilson up to 11.30am produced -
Single Hawfinch flying low south, right past us at 8.35am 5051 Redwings south, SW or SE, with some even going NE. 744 Fieldfare South 1 Greylag west 21 Wigeon west 12 Teal west 54 Herring Gull east 8 Great Black-backed Gulls east 403 Starlings NW 14 Meadow Pipit 7 Bullfinch 25 Chaffinch 27 Siskin 2 Redpoll 14 Goldfinch 6 Stock Dove
Photo's taken by Elton's finest photographer, Mr Wilson.
11 parakeets on the feeders around 3.30. Several little egrets in the tree behind. I sent the grandchildren out to spook the parakeets as there were no other birds at the feeders when the parakeets were about!!
With Steven
Up to 10 Little Egret around the res, a Brambling heard near Crow Trees, 2 Willow Tit and 7 RRParakeet at the feeders and a Wigeon on the res
A great morning vis migging at Elton 7.20am to 9.30am -
39 Whooper Swans east (12 at 7.40am, 23 at 8.35am and 4 at 9am) Approx 1971 Pink-footed Geese east in 12 or so large skeins 2 Greylag north 668 Woodpigeon south (expected more with the overnight frost!) Highlight was a Red Kite which I tracked from Lowercroft area and it flew directly south above the cemetry and off south over Radcliffe at 8.35am. (videograb from phonescoping attached). 2 Rook south 2 Skylark south 95 Starling west 225 Redwing west 35 Meadow Pipit south 1 Redpoll 4 Siskin 2 Snipe south and 7 on Within's, also 5 Little Egret present.
-- Edited by Simon Warford on Friday 11th of October 2024 05:52:43 PM
This morning, 137 Redwings west during a vis mig watch up to 9am also 125 Meadow Pipit, 900 Woodpigeon, 1 Skylark, 23 Swallow and 5 Siskin south. Still 80 Swallows hanging around.
Great White Egret was in the fields at Within's briefly at 8.15am (found by Keith Rowland).
This morning, 6 Barnacle Geese flew in from the NE circled the reservoir briefly and flew off west, only for them to return around 8am and drop into fields by Crow Trees Farm with Canada Geese where they stayed for a short while.
Also this morning 200 Swallow, 2 House Martin over the reservoir. 3 Shoveler and 2 Little Egret present.
female type Marsh Harrier fairly high SW at 7.34am was only my second ever here Hobby was hunting hirrundines high over the reservoir for a good 5 mins around 8.05am 139 Swallow south 90 House Martin south 1 Mistle Thrush south 125 Meadow Pipits south 3 Grey Wagtail 8 Pied Wagtails
3 Whinchat -Goyt 3 Wheatear -Goyt Redstart - Goyt 4 snipe 8 Teal Spotted flycatcher - creek in a big tit flock which also included the below Whitethroat 30+ Chiffchaff Treecreeper Goldcrest 2 blackcap
No sign of the Greenshank or 2 Great White egrets seen earlier by some of the other regulars
Common scoter Drake Redstart (m) on fence on road to crow tree farm 6 shoveler Little grebe 130 coot 2 Curlew north 3 common sandpiper 2 little ringed plover landed on res wall then flew south 2 Oystercatcher 5 Ring-necked Parakeet 24 House Martin 451 Swift SW Common Buzzard
Lesser Scaup still present on Elton at 1 p.m. in a group of about 8 male Tufted Ducks.
Large number of Sand Martins very low over the reservoir, with a few Swallows and Swifts. 3 Lesser Black-backed Gulls on the buoys. Some of the Sand Martins landing on the exposed mud at Withins. 6 Canada Geese and 2 male Tufted Duck the only birds of note there. Elsewhere Kestrel being seen off by male Blackbirds, a couple of Water Rail heard along the canal, where a pair of Coot are nesting in the middle! Blackcap, Chiffchaff, Willow Warbler and Song Thrush all singing still/again?
Lesser Scaup first found on Elton res (in the middle) early this morning. Only a brief view of it flying off with about eight Tufted Ducks. Clear view of small white patches on wings - different from wing patterns on the Tufted duck, which showed much more white. The birds were lost from view behind the trees on the "mound". Ten minutes later, they were all re-located at the back of Withins, on the shoreline. Stayed here for a couple of hours until the scaup flew off with a single tufted duck. It was then seen back on the main reservoir, in the middle, with several more tufted duck. A nice bird for Elton! Still present when I left at noon
Other birds of note included:
2 Oystercatcher 1 Redshank 2 Common Tern 1 Buzzard 1 Sparrowhawk 1 Peregrine 1 Kingfisher (on Withins - good luck finding anything to eat there!) 1 Rose-ringed Parakeet (at feeders in car park) 2 Willow tit (feeders) 8 Nuthatch (two groups of four, one group at my feeders at Daisyfield) 2 Linnet Total species count of 64 was pretty good for June, despite not going to the canal/marsh area, so missing sedge warbler and a few other species which are likely there).
-- Edited by Ian McKerchar on Saturday 15th of June 2024 02:08:08 PM
A few record shots of Little Tern that turned up this afternoon. Still there 5.30 tonight. They don't usually stay overnight but see if its still there tommorrow