Two New Class Members had a few days in Croatia. There they saw a butterfly only visible in the UK for a few weeks at the height of Summer.Swallowtail Near Dubrovnik (c) 2023 Alison Smith
On Tuesday RSPB Blacktoft was deserted by both staff members and birds. We tried Marshland, but the most noticeable feature noisily eating his breakfast like a pig in its trough. There was a Pied Wagtail family and a Little Egret, but not much else of note. Last time Singleton was the busiest for waders, but the flood waters had increased the water levels to such an extent that the site looked abandoned. We did spot Pink-footed Geese flying over and a few other birds flew past on occasion.
Pied Wagtails
On Wednesday it was too windy for Paull, so we switched to North Cave Wetlands for the first, but not the final time, this week. We were just about to start our walk when we could hear the unmistakable “pinging” of Bearded Tits. They sounded as though they were just behind the hedge. We carried on down Dryham Lane until just a bit further than the first hide we went through the gate to survey the birds. It looked as though there was a moulting Pintail just to the right of a pair of Mute Swans. Wigeon, Shoveler and Gadwall were also ‘parked’ on the waterweed.
When we carried on a single Fieldfare was at the top of the main Ash tree, and we also saw Redwings flying south-west. Bullfinches were heard calling and then seen flying high over Carp Lake. We looked over the new lakes from the slope up to Crossland Hide. The circuit around the silt ponds added 4 Redshank and some Pied Wagtails.
On the West Path a few Redwings were glimpsed flying along, but there was also a marooned Pink-footed Goose from one of the newish viewing areas. The best sighting seemed to be the family of Long-tailed Tits, which gathered around us, but this was soon trumped by a low-flying Green Woodpecker, which landed on the Owl box ash tree, and peeped at us from the side of it, before it flew to the ground and began feeding. It was still in the same area after lunch.
Some sleeping Greylag Geese were worth checking as a pair of Black-tailed Godwits were busy stitching alongside a single Ruff. In the afternoon the Black-tailed Godwits had been abandoned. Another Ruff was seen near the Feral Pigeon flock and a final one was amongst some Lapwings under the Turret Hide, as seen from South Hide.
2 comments:
Where has the rough neck come from?
If you mean Rough-legged, probably from Scandinavia
Post a Comment