A wintery walk at lunchtime today produced 4 Common and 3 Great black backed Gull on the ice at Swan lake in with C. 300 mixed gulls of the 3 commoner species. A few Snipe buzzing about and singles of Peregrine, Sparrowhawk and Buzzard on top of the large pylons. Female Goldeneye also still present.
2 Pink footed geese flew west c.12.35 today. A flock of c.350 mixed thrushes and starlings in the horse fields just southwest of the railway bridge, mainly Redwing and Starling with a few Fieldfare mixed in. A pair of Stonechat on the fence leading to the farm near Swan lake and a single Siskin over.
Pair of Wigeon on Swan lake this am along with 27 Gadwall. Pretty quiet otherwise, c. 400 large gulls moving between the fields to the south and the industrial units to the north but nothing unusual obvious in with them, so far.......
Better morning over Cutacre. Birds of note
2 x Water Rail on pond behind Amazon
1 x Snipe
1 x Green Sandpiper on Swan Lake
12 x Skylark
77 x Redwing inc 1 in song
9 x Stonechat in 5 separate locations
6 x Siskin
Total of 46 species
This morning birds of note
1 X Treecreeper
1 X Green Sandpiper (Swan lake)
1 X Kingfisher
1 X Stonechat
31 X Redwing
18 X Fieldfare
No sign of Garganey
The Garganey was still present on Swan Lake this morning also Kingfisher, Green Sandpiper, 3 Teal and 9 Gadwall on the pool. 3 Siskin and 1000+ Fieldfare over south.
-- Edited by Simon Warford on Saturday 4th of November 2023 12:04:44 PM
This mornings.birds included Kingfisher and Green Sandpiper on swan lake, single Brambling over south, Raven west and small numbers of lRedpoll, Siskin, Fieldfare, Redwing and starling also heading south but many heard only as very low cloud over the site today.
Garganey still present on Swan lake this afternoon also Green Sandpiper still present. Birds over included 2 Siskin and Crossbill heard going south but not seen.
The Bittern first seen by Kristian Wade last week was still present today. Kristian had it again this morning and it flew in from the east mid afternoon and dropped into Swan lake. Also this afternoon 4 adult Whooper Swana flew in from the east left the site to the southwest but then banked and headed back east. Single Stonechat and 3 Grey Partridge also seen.
A single Green Sandpiper on one of the pools tonight, my first of return passage. Also fantastic to confirm breeding of Willow Tit with an adult and two well-developed chicks. I hadnt seen any Willow Tits at the site for several months so feared theyd been lost, apparently not yet!
Nice to see a couple of Hobbies here late evening yesterday chasing the many many swifts feeding over the whole area. Also 7 juvenile Stonechats and 2 reeling Grasshopper Warblers.
8 Golden Plover flew north this morning and Redshank, Jack Snipe, 19 Snipe, Woodcock, 14 Lapwing and 2 Oystercatcher were nice to see on the WeBS count. Wildfowl included 27 Gadwall, 8 Tufted Duck, 9 Teal, 2 Little Grebe, 42 Mallard, 2 Mute Swan and 15 Coot.
Majority of sightings were down around the Swan Lake area with Engine Lane unusually quiet.
A break in the ice on Swan Lake held 1 Mute Swan associating with 2 white farmyard ducks & 20 Coot. About 200 mixed Gulls descended on the ice containing a very large Great Black-Backed Gull. 2 Snipe were flushed from the bulrushes near the inlet creek with a further 2 flyovers nearby. The bulrushes had 2 Stonechat, 1 Reed Bunting & 5 Goldfinch feeding on the fluffy seeds.
On one of the large grassed hills was a mobile flock of 30 Meadow Pipit's.
Also seen :- 2 Redwing; Grey Heron; F Pheasant; 3 Kestrel; Jay; 2 Song Thrush & a very friendly Robin that tried to land on my shoulder down Engine Lane.
3 Whinchat and 3 Wheatear on the eastern side today - my highest total of either this year! Dont check the eastern side much so difficult to say if this is a one-off occurrence
Third covey of Grey Partridge found today, towards the south of the site where I saw a pair regularly in April. Looked to be around 15 individuals, added to the other two groups suggests around 30+ juveniles from this year. Much better than the 12 or so from last year. Will be interesting to see if/where these birds will disperse to - can't imagine there are many sites locally that could support Grey Partridge outside of the mosses.
From the last couple of days: -Confirmed breeding of Shoveler for second year in succession -Confirmed breeding of Stonechat - first that I can recall -Multiple Little Grebe broods -Large Grey Partridge covey, counted 21 minimum. I don't know if this would represent multiple family groups or not, but there were at least 3 pairs on site this spring. -Raven on the pylons -Large numbers of Gadwall down on Swan Lake, unsure if they bred onsite this year, but easily 20-30 -Several Sedge Warbler still about
A couple hours around the eastern end of the site had the usual big numbers of singing Skylark. 3 Ringed Plover,2 Little Ringed Plover and a single Common Sandpiper were on the large central muddy pool. A Snipe was flushed from the long grass, Oystercatcher over and several Lapwing holding territory. A Lesser Whitethroat was rattling away behind Kenny's Skip Hire on the way in,several Whitethroat, Chiffchaff and Willow Warbler singing,also a single singing Reed Warbler in one of the phragmites beds. On the pools a couple of Shoveler, Mallard and plenty of Gadwall,plus the usual Herring ,Lesser Black Backs and Black Headed Gulls. Elsewhere a male Stonechat,pair of Grey Partridge, 2 Grey Wagtails ,a few Linnet and Reed Buntings and a couple of Buzzards were the best of the rest.
Highlight this morning was a VERY late Fieldfare feeding on the ground. Couldn't really believe what I was seeing, although it was in the exact same spot Redwings and Fieldfares would feed earlier this year. Otherwise, pair of Shoveler, 10-20 Linnet, and the Stonechat pair still looking very settled were the highlights.
Decided to do a full Linnet survey this morning. Was surprised by the result - at least 9 pairs across the south half of the site. 8 singing Whitethroat, 5 Blackcap, 10 Willow Warbler. Swallows back at Oliver Fold, 2 pairs. 4 Gadwall, 4 Tufted Duck also on Swan Lake.
Decided to do a full Linnet survey this morning. Was surprised by the result - at least 9 pairs across the south half of the site. 8 singing Whitethroat, 5 Blackcap, 10 Willow Warbler. Swallows back at Oliver Fold, 2 pairs. 4 Gadwall, 4 Tufted Duck also on Swan Lake.
Lapwing numbers high again this morning, 15+ in the air when someone decided to let their dog charge through them :/ Also a pair that have been occupying the field by Oliver Fold farm. Warbler numbers on the south side included 6-8 of Willow Warbler, Chiffchaff, Blackcap and Whitethroat. A brief female Wheatear on the ground. Pair of Teal. 2 snipe. First ever Mute Swan on Swan Lake, also 2 Greylag Geese. Linnet numbers high, at least 5 pairs.
This afternnon: Lapwing numbers much higher than I saw last year. Perhaps 15 pairs in total. Skylark numbers similarly very high, probably >30 singing males. First swallow of the year over. Pair of Shoveler are back again (there were 5 a few days ago). Pair of Raven. Pair of Linnet. And a strange (to me) Pipit. It was feeding in one of the shallow ponds, moving around the vegetation and reeds. It did not associate with any of the Meadow Pipits, and when it flew off had two distinct short calls. Only one of them sounded like the typical call. Still looked like a Meadow Pipit though so perhaps just some unusual feeding habits?
A single Avocet on the 2nd most easterly pool,feeding out in the shallow water ,also Raven over north carrying possible food,plenty of singing Skylarks and a Little Ringed Plover calling.
Multiple Stonechat still around. At least 4 Snipe around the site, 2 Woodcock, multiple Bullfinch and Willow Tit. Kestrel, Buzzard and Sparrowhawk. Lots of Redwing at dusk.