Comings & goings

 Stunning Jay

 Looking for final Reed Warblers

 Main pit

 House Martins passage

 The redundant old workings

 Main pit bund disappearing by the day

 Wigeon on main pit

Main bunds showing how much soil is contained within them

Heavy overnight rain gave Jon and I hope of finding a few wader on Sunday however there were no new additions to the Greenshank, 2 Green Sandpipers, 2 Common Sandpipers and three Lapwing. A few more Snipe are starting to show them selves along the water line with 6 being noted.

Eight Wigeon, two Pochard, ten Gadwall, 100 Mallard, 45 Tufted and approx. 85 Teal were  the wildfowl numbers but there appears to be a significant absence of Geese at the moment.

We will have around 20 Chiffchaffs on the site along with a couple of Willow Warblers & Blackcaps however it looks like all the Reed Warblers have finally migrated south.

As we walked through the old workings there was a sudden pick up of migrants passing all around us.  Around 370 House Martins & 200 Swallows came through many feeding low to the ground before moving on. There was also a good fall of Meadow Pipits, around 80 were on the exposed mud feeding.

The species of the morning was most definitely the Jay. Jays are not a species I record that often but on Sunday nine were recorded in various areas. The colour patterns and plumage shades of the Eurasian jay can vary considerably in different geographic ranges with over 30 recorded. It is definitely something that interests me and I'm going to try and take some different images this winter. Jays tend to be overlooked as they can be quite aggressive and their call is a loud "aaaack-aaaack". I'd be interested to read any studies that have been compiled about the species.

Raptors sightings were limited to a Sparrowhawk, Kestrel & Buzzard, oh well always next week.