Monday, 30 April 2012
Barwit!
A stonking male Barwit just flew through Broom. Matt got so excited he had to strike a pose!
Spring!
The first spring like morning in weeks...and a good walk around the fields and into the woods was very pleasant. There are singing Chiffchaff and Willow Warblers everywhere and at least 5 Whitethroats in the hedgerows in the Church area (YT 81). There were also a few Swallows passing through.
A quick walk through the Northern end of the woods was pretty quiet although a singing Cuckoo (YT 82) was nice and the biggest surprise was a singing Garden Warbler (YT 83) in the Clay Pits area. Had a flyby Tawny Owl on one of the rides, which was good to see!
Hopefully the migration floodgates have finally opened and the summer visitors will start piling in!
A quick walk through the Northern end of the woods was pretty quiet although a singing Cuckoo (YT 82) was nice and the biggest surprise was a singing Garden Warbler (YT 83) in the Clay Pits area. Had a flyby Tawny Owl on one of the rides, which was good to see!
Hopefully the migration floodgates have finally opened and the summer visitors will start piling in!
-!-
Sunday, 29 April 2012
The Migrants cometh !
A great 5 minutes on the patch today !
I decided to check out the Flood plain , as its basically , flooding every where , the net result is ..... A Lake ! and not a crappy lake like Lodge Lake , which still has yet to record a Hirundine , but one with a real life actual COMMON TERN (YT - 68) feeding on it ! and thats not all , a flock of Dark specs revealed themselves to be 35 BARN SWALLOWS , 4 HOUSE MARTINS (YT - 69) and most precious of all a single SAND MARTIN (YT - 70) ....
here is a nice pic of a Wheatear that I took from the car in the rain through my bins ! Alas , this was not on the patch , but @ CMK
Si
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| There is actually a Common Tern in this one ! |
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| A bit like the Ouse washes |
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| I did nearly wet myself with excitement ! |
here is a nice pic of a Wheatear that I took from the car in the rain through my bins ! Alas , this was not on the patch , but @ CMK
Si
Rares at last
An interesting weekend at Linford, not least in the change in water levels. The bund is now almost entirely underwater, the various reserve pools are at high levels, and the river Ouse has flooded near Blackhorse Lake. Pretty sure I saw Noah drifting by this evening, waving from his boat.
Anyway, an early morning stakeout with Si on Saturday was ace. He turned up at some stupidly early hour, I turned up a little later, but luckily hadn't missed anything. Just when it looked like interest would be confined to watching wagtails and the Garganey on the bund, a Whimbrel flew in from the east, and didn't stop, heading towards Gayhurst. Fifteen minutes later, a Little Tern flew in (also from the east), but this time battled against the wind and headed across to Blackhorse. Brilliant stuff, and my first Little Tern at Linford since the mid-1990's.
Also evident were large number of hirundines, mostly coming in from the SE, feeding over the water, and scooting off NW. Difficult to accurately count, as plenty lingered for some time, but certainly hundreds of Swallow and Sand Martin. Also 2 male Shoveler were on the bund, the Dabchick were squealing away from St Peters, and 4 each of Yellow Wag and LRP were also on site.
As an additional bonus, we finally saw both the Cuckoo, and the Gropper, the last showing very well as it sung from the front meadow. Also a definite increase in warblers on site, with 3+ Reed, 4 Sedge, and c6 Willow Warblers. But still no Sylvia's other than Blackcap.
A visit after the rain today was somewhat less productive. A few large gulls batted over NE, a male Wigeon was on the bund, and 5+ Swifts zipped around amongst the mass of hirundines.
Winds are generally from the east over the next week, and normally this would be good for waders, but with absolutely no bund for them to land on, it's going to be a struggle to increase the year list. However, if the council get their act together and open the sluice gates (unlikely), that might make for a different story.
Anyway, an early morning stakeout with Si on Saturday was ace. He turned up at some stupidly early hour, I turned up a little later, but luckily hadn't missed anything. Just when it looked like interest would be confined to watching wagtails and the Garganey on the bund, a Whimbrel flew in from the east, and didn't stop, heading towards Gayhurst. Fifteen minutes later, a Little Tern flew in (also from the east), but this time battled against the wind and headed across to Blackhorse. Brilliant stuff, and my first Little Tern at Linford since the mid-1990's.
Also evident were large number of hirundines, mostly coming in from the SE, feeding over the water, and scooting off NW. Difficult to accurately count, as plenty lingered for some time, but certainly hundreds of Swallow and Sand Martin. Also 2 male Shoveler were on the bund, the Dabchick were squealing away from St Peters, and 4 each of Yellow Wag and LRP were also on site.
As an additional bonus, we finally saw both the Cuckoo, and the Gropper, the last showing very well as it sung from the front meadow. Also a definite increase in warblers on site, with 3+ Reed, 4 Sedge, and c6 Willow Warblers. But still no Sylvia's other than Blackcap.
A visit after the rain today was somewhat less productive. A few large gulls batted over NE, a male Wigeon was on the bund, and 5+ Swifts zipped around amongst the mass of hirundines.
Winds are generally from the east over the next week, and normally this would be good for waders, but with absolutely no bund for them to land on, it's going to be a struggle to increase the year list. However, if the council get their act together and open the sluice gates (unlikely), that might make for a different story.
The rain stopped...
...the sun came out and 2 Swallows drifted over the house (80).
Then the clouds closed back in and the rain started again.
Then the clouds closed back in and the rain started again.
-!-
Friday, 27 April 2012
What a shit evening
First I walk away from Broom only to be told a Roseate Tern flew in a few minutes after I left, then promptly left as I drove back. Then I got told those looking for the tern see a Rough-legged Buzzard fly over! Arse, bum, knob. Let's get pissed tonight instead...
Migrants AT LAST !
I have not given the patch much love recently , cheating on it with Linford and Willen ! So I thought a dedicated search for Warblers was in order and walked the entire lake circuit , taking just over an hour
at least 9 BLACKCAP territories were noted with at least 2 females seen , 5 singing CHIFFCHAFFS and 3 Singing WILLOW WARBLERS was the tally ...... very poor show for the Acros ! Still no Sedge or Reed in , i was just heading back to the car when i thought i would give the scrubby reedbed a go - bang ! Scratchy song revealed a Male COMMON WHITETHROAT ( YT - 66 )
Other birds were a KINGFISHER ( carrying a fish , so presumably breeding along the river somewhere ? ) and 3 BULLFINCHES
a drive by @ the Flood Plain produced the first BARN SWALLOW ( YT-67 ) tacking north in a rain shower and frustratingly what was a probable Redstart seen at some distance diving into a tree , 5 minutes of staring produced nothing more , so the one that got away .... ( I had to rush off and see a Barshank, so no time to search ! )
at least 9 BLACKCAP territories were noted with at least 2 females seen , 5 singing CHIFFCHAFFS and 3 Singing WILLOW WARBLERS was the tally ...... very poor show for the Acros ! Still no Sedge or Reed in , i was just heading back to the car when i thought i would give the scrubby reedbed a go - bang ! Scratchy song revealed a Male COMMON WHITETHROAT ( YT - 66 )
Other birds were a KINGFISHER ( carrying a fish , so presumably breeding along the river somewhere ? ) and 3 BULLFINCHES
a drive by @ the Flood Plain produced the first BARN SWALLOW ( YT-67 ) tacking north in a rain shower and frustratingly what was a probable Redstart seen at some distance diving into a tree , 5 minutes of staring produced nothing more , so the one that got away .... ( I had to rush off and see a Barshank, so no time to search ! )
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