Black-necked Grebe is star of the week at the pits

  

 

 Black-necked Grebe (Dennis Sinton)

Arctic Tern (Dennis Sinton)

 Litte-ringed Plover

 Litte-ringed Plover

 Local heard

Stunning individual

Steady easterly winds continued this week which certainly didn't assist migrating birds. This didn't stop us having a good week though. Find of the week was on Tuesday, when Rob Evans found the pit's third Black-necked Grebe in summer plumage. The bird was very active and dived almost continuously. I was on a late shift at work so didn't arrive until 6.30pm but it was great that all our regulars plus many more all connected. Chris Lane picked up two Arctic Terns when watching the Grebe giving us another good annual record. This was followed by Mike Inskip who flushed a Tawny Owl from the plantation.

On Wednesday, Common Whitethroat (P Hands) & Grey Partridge (M Clarke) were added to the year list. A flock of 20 Siskin (Ed Betteridge) were picked up at Hillers and a Ringed Plover (P Hands) was on the A46 flash.

Thursday started a run of twelve days off work for myself and the first morning resulted in a Willow Warbler singing on the railway line. This increased to three on Sunday. We now have at least 5 Little Ringed Plovers around the site, it's interesting to see how they have adapted quickly to some of the new habitats created as part of the restoration.

Our first Common Sandpiper arrived on Friday morning and this increased to two on Sunday. A female Pochard was on the main pit also on Thursday, Sand Martins continued to trickle through despite the conditions.

On Sunday, myself and Jon wrapped up a good week when we found a singing Corn Bunting (undisclosed location) which was another first of the year followed by a Yellow Wagtail going over late in the morning. Other birds recorded were 19 Shoveler, 2 Swallow, a House Martin, Peregrine, Kestrel, Sparrowhawk, Red Kite, 6 Raven and first summer Yellow-legged Gull.

The site list now sits on 108 for the year.