Disappearing Waders

It was very drizzly on Thursday morning when we returned to last Wednesday's location. We went to Townend Hide first where there were plenty of waders to see. The largest island was covered in Snipe with 2 Spotted Redshank nearby and a Dunlin on the other side of the island. There was a scattering of bog standard Redshank all over the water with a large Heron stalking at the back of the reeds. Some Teal were dabbling and and a Shoveler and a small flock of Gadwall flew West. A flock of Ringed Plover flew west, which was more surprising. We stayed a long time and eventually a Marsh Harrier flew past. 4 Greenshank flew in and the Spotted Redshank left around the same time. Some large fat Plovers flew over, which may have been Grey Plovers, but we're more likely to have been Golden Plovers. Towards the end of our stay about 12 Black-tailed Godwits flew in and started feeding.

All photos on this post (c) 2012 Richard Whateley

Black-tailed Godwits

Snipe

Redshank

Greenshank

Black-headed Gull & Dunlin

Meadow Pipits

It was very drizzly on Thursday morning when we returned to last Wednesday's location. We went to Townend Hide first where there were plenty of waders to see. The largest island was covered in Snipe with 2 Spotted Redshank nearby and a Dunlin on the other side of the island. There was a scattering of bog standard Redshank all over the water with a large Heron stalking at the back of the reeds. Some Teal were dabbling and and a Shoveler and a small flock of Gadwall flew West. A flock of Ringed Plover flew west, which was more surprising. We stayed a long time and eventually a Marsh Harrier flew past. 4 Greenshank flew in and the Spotted Redshank left around the same time. Some fat Plovers flew over, which may have been Grey Plovers, but were more likely to have been Golden. Towards the end of our stay about 12 Black-tailed Godwits flew in and started feeding.

On to Singleton where there were fewer waders, but a lot more ducks. A young Cormorant was on the island, but took off when the Black-headed Gulls moved in. There were plenty of Shoveler and Gadwall, and a couple of Little Grebes.











We missed out First Hide because there was only a Coot and we headed to Marshland. The birds were mainly roosting here with Spotted Redshank, Snipe and a couple of Greenshank being the best of it. Every member of the hirundine family went over with Swallows in the majority, with a few House Martins and even less Sand Martins. Richard spotted a Kestrel hovering in the distance. 




Near Xerox I heard a Willow Warbler and then suddenly a flock of mainly Long-tailed Tits appeared with a few Great and Blue Tits in tow.











In the afternoon it became hunt the wader with very few waders to be seen. A pristine Hobby flew right along Singleton, but only Eric and myself (as well as some strangers) saw it. In contrast most people saw great number of Lapwing fly up in the far distance and then at the back of the group the fast wing-beats of a hunting Peregrine could be discerned. It made its way all along Alkborough Flats, and apart from a brief detour to chase a small bird, it carried on heading south east until it was lost to sight. A Marsh Harrier came a lot closer and was particular enjoyed by Gordon. We saw plenty of waders drop into Townend, but when we got there there was nothing.  Eventually a Black-tailed Godwit dropped in, at least it was a new bird for the pm session. Eric also later picked up some Bearded Tits, but the rest of us had already left Townend by then. Marshland was much more disappointing than the pm with only a Pied Wagtail, some Snipe and Teal putting on much of a show. Brian spotted some small birds at the back of Marshland - the first were Reed Buntings, but the final birds he noticed were a couple of juvenile Reed Warblers.  There wasn't a sign of the best birds last week - all the Ruff seemed to have continued on their migration south.  I'm not sure if the poor afternoon was a result of the outgoing tide, or the fact that a lot of places are less interesting after lunch.

Visit to the Dentist Required

Wednesday saw us return to last Tuesday's venue. However this week it was low tide, so the birds weren't as close to the hides as last week. We sheltered from the heavy rain in the Visitor Centre where we saw several Ruff and 5 Dunlin towards the left, and Teal, Shoveler and a single Wigeon on the right. Tony saw what he thought was a Marsh Harrier flying east, which the young Scottish RSPB officer was too polite to correct. On investigation it proved to be a Bittern, which was much more exciting for everyone. We had already seen a bona fide Marsh Harrier too, so we had the best of both sightings. A Long-tailed Tit flock passed by and some of the group saw a small, sharp-billed bird in tow, which was probably a Willow Warbler.

Konik Pony

 Long-tailed Tit

 When the rain stopped we set off to last week's premier hide. There was plenty to see here again, but nearly everything was much further away. The nearest bird was a juvenile Redshank & a couple of Snipe flew in. Spotted Redshank and Ruff were already in situ, but a couple of Greenshank flew right into the back of the site and shortly before we left 3 Black-tailed Godwit arrived - one of which still had plenty of breeding colour.  One surprise was an adult Avocet with 3 youngsters in tow, which were seen from 2 hides before setting off west.  Perhaps they were breeders from further north on their way south - but records this late in September are rather unusual at this reserve.  In the afternoon a distant Great Crested Grebe was sighted from the most easterly hide.

Juvenile Redshank

 Snipe

 Black-tailed Godwits (far left & far right)

The far hide was less profitable with mainly the odd duck species, a distant Marsh Harrier and a family of Little Grebes. We retraced our steps, but the hide near the visitor centre was very poor. The photocopying hide was a little better, but didn't add any new species. The main entertainment was provided by the fierce marshland ponies. 

 Spotted Redshanks & Lapwing

 Marsh Harrier

We then tried the one hide on a different alignment to the others. Here were 15 or so roosting Spotted Redshanks, which were later joined by a very white-headed male Ruff and a couple of others, plus plenty of Lapwings. A total of 6 then 9 and later 15 & eventually as people got their eyes in 18 Snipe were asleep at first, but then set about stitching for food. In the heavy rain the afternoon group saw 6 Ringed Plovers, a fairly unusual bird at this site - they had obviously dropped in to refuel in the bad weather.

Juvenilia

The first Wednesday session of the Autumn term saw us venturing into Lincolnshire. We shared cars over the Humber Bridge at the recently discounted rate. The tide was still coming in when we were due to start, so I was hoping for some close views of waders, but the site has been silting up. 

 Yellow Wagtail

 Immature Swallow

 Immature Willow Warbler

 

 Black-tailed Godwits [mainly]

 Black-tailed Godwits [foreground]

 Little Egret

 Long-tailed Tit (c) 2012 Aileen Urquhart

 Long-tailed Tits

 Small Tortoiseshell

 Common Blue

Common Blue [female]

Record shot of Immature Water Rail

Ruddy Darter

 

From the car park I heard Whimbrel and Bullfinch, but couldn't actually see either of them there. Meadow Pipits were heard calling and a pair of Stock Doves flew over. Before we arrived at the 1st hide the class marvelled at a flock of Black-tailed Godwits as they circled the pool several times before coming in to land. There were a couple of Dunlin among the Black-headed Gulls. At the hide itself there were plenty of distant Teal, Shoveler, and a few Shelduck. An unusual call turned out to be a Spotted Redshanks, which landed for a few minutes before heading off with a bog-standard Redshank heading West. A Ringed Plover called several times before being lost to sight. The whole day was punctuated by the calls of Greenshank, but they weren't as easy to see as yesterday.







Along the high bank path we saw at least 10 Yellow Wagtails and a Reed Warbler. As we watched these about 50 Swallows were catching insects above our heads, and these had 2 House Martins in tow. A family of Long-tailed Tits were seen in some bushes along the path, and while we were observing these 3 very bright young Willow Wagtails were seen.









In the final hide Miles spotted something in the reeds, which seemed to be half a mile away. It turned out to be an immature Water Rail, and another passed through the reeds nearby.  The juvenile Water Rail was still there in the afternoon.





After lunch some very strange sounds seemed to emanate from a pair of Little Egrets - I've never heard them make a sound before.  the large flocks of Swallows had been replaced by 4 soaring Buzzards - one with very tatty wings.  

A Nice Day Beside the Sea

Wednesday was the second day running I'd spent on the coast, but this time I was some 30 miles or so south of yesterday’s venue, so not many species overlapped.  From the car park some of the class thought they saw a Snipe fly into the Borrow Pits, but it didn’t stay long.  Leaving the car park we saw a Greenfinch performing its slow-motion ‘butterfly courtship’ flight, and then we soon encountered a House Martin colony with a couple of House Sparrows also in residence.  Not long after going through the gate we found our first Common Blue butterfly, but we didn’t add many more.  This area is normally very good butterflies, but apart from a few whites and a pair of Small Heaths fighting and a Speckled Wood in the afternoon, numbers of butterflies were definitely down.  Once it had warmed up by the afternoon a large hawker Dragonfly was also patrolling this area.  Blackbirds and a Song Thrush were singing, but there were very few Linnets, and a few singing Goldfinches.  Near a marshy area we usually see a Sedge Warbler, but this was absent this time, although we did see a whole family of Whitethroats.  At the end of the hedgerow Meadow Pipits and Skylarks were singing and flying above a meadow.   

Cuckoo (c) 2012 Aileen Urquhart

 Speckled Wood

 Small Heath

 Small Heath (c) 2012 Aileen Urquhart

 Blackbird - with damaged plumage & beak full of worms

 There had been changes in the area, as new conservation areas had been excavated since last Autumn.  This meant that we had to take a slightly different path from this point.  Here, we did have good views of a Sedge Warbler and a Large Skipper, and a more distant sighting of a Reed Bunting.  A male Wall Brown basked at the entrance, but a few hundred yards further we stumbled upon a very worn female Wall.  2 Little Egrets flew over as we neared the lagoons.  On the first stagnant pool we discovered a pair of Shelduck, a Redshank and 3 more Little Egrets.  Then we saw our first hunting Little Tern, while 5 Sandwich Terns headed out to sea.  

 Large Skipper

 Wall Brown (male)

 Wall Brown (worn female)

 Little Tern

 Little Tern

 Sandwich Tern

 Ringed Plover

 Ringed Plover (Chick) - had the awww factor

 Ringed Plover - adult in flight

Ringed Plover seeing off a Dunlin

Right next to the hide in the morning was a Curlew, while in the afternoon this had been replaced by a Little Egret.  From the hide we saw a couple of Ringed Plovers and 3 tiny chicks, and a Little Tern also seemed to be on eggs.  A distant Cuckoo we seen heading north being mobbed by small birds before it left them trailing in its wake.  Meanwhile on the lagoon a Dunlin in breeding fettle flew in, but it was soon seen off by one of the Ringed Plovers.  On the return journey a Cuckoo (possibly female) was flushed from the hedgerow, she flew over the fields, but then started to return before perching on the top of a hedge in full view.  We even had time to set up the telescope for everyone to get a decent view.  Exclamations ranged from “Golly gosh”, through “Crikey”, to “it was good, that”, but Brian’s “brilliant” provided the final consensus.  Suddenly the temperature rose to unimaginable heights and the humidity was an amazing contrast to recent weather.  The afternoon started with these temperatures, but by the end a cool easterly wind had started to hit us from the sea. 

Dunlin

 Little Egret

 ditto

 Little Egret under attack by Ringed Plover

 Cuckoo (c) 2012 Aileen Urquhart

Mute Swan Cygnets (above) - again provided an aww factor

The morning group shared cars to the hide on the edge of the Nature Reserve.  There wasn’t a great deal to see, although the 5 cygnets in front of the hide elicited some appreciative, but embarrassing cooing!  Also seen here were a pair of Pied Wagtails, some moulting Mallards, and a few Linnets & meadow Pipits came down for a drink.  In the bushes opposite we observed a family of very colourful Greenfiches and the odd Whitethroat were also spotted.   

Pied Wagtail (female) with Mayfly?

 ditto

 Apprentice Scumbag

 Three of the morning group went on to Sammy's Point where they saw at least 4 different Cuckoos.  However, the afternoon also scored as the morning female had returned to her position in the hedgerows she had patrolled in the morning.  They were all able to enjoy a long look at her as she flew north over an Oilseed Rape field.

 Cuckoo (c) 2012 Tony Robinson