Salford Priors GP (July/August)

 Great Spotted Woodpecker

Red Kite

Red Kite & Buzzard

Brown Hare

Redstart (Mark Clarke)

The summer months have once again proven difficult to get through. The extended dry spell and boiling temperatures with the ongoing looking over your shoulder every minute is very tiresome. Pophills is now completely out of bounds as its being converted for fishing with CCTV installed. It's even tested my record keeping and visits. I seem to go from daily spring visits to weekly, which are also begrudged.

I did find a Brown Hare caught in deer fencing mid-month which was thankfully released due to Marion & Dennis, who came down quickly with cutting equipment.

Anyway here are a summary of the sighting highlights:-

1st July - Great White Egret

9th July - Stonechat

13th July - 3 Green Sandpiper, 1 Common Sandpiper

25th July - 2 Common Tern

27th July - Redstart

1st August - Wheatear, last LRP, 2 Kestrel, 1000 Starling

4th August - 2 Redstarts, Common Sandpiper

8th August - Whinchat, Redstart

11th August - Lots of Chiffchaff & Blackcaps, 1 Lapwing

12th August - Female Redstart, singing Willow Warbler

14th August - 5 Teal

21st August WeBS count :- 20 Little Grebe, 1 Great Crested Grebe, 3 Cormorant, 4 Grey Heron, 20 Mute Swan, 140 Greylag, 52 Canada Geese, 6 Gadwall, 4 Teal, 210 Mallard, 50 Tufted Duck, 1 Green Sandpiper, 2 Red Kites, 5 Buzzard, 4 Kestrel, Sparrowhawk, 85 Coot, 1 Lapwing 4 Swallow, 12 House Martin, 30 House Martin, 2 Raven, 2 Green Woodpecker, 1 Great Spotted Woodpecker, 2 LBBG, 4 BHG, 1 female Redstart, Blackcaps & Chiffs active, lots of fledged Goldfinch.

27th August - Juvenile Peregrine, Green Sandpiper, Lesser Whitethroat

31st August - Greenshank, Wheatear

Many thanks to everyone for their sightings.

Greater Sand Plover & day at Redcar Races

 Greater Sand Plover

Redcar Races

A male Greater Sand Plover discovered originally in Aberdeen on 21st August, was re-located on Redcar beach on the evening of the 25th. This couldn't have been better timed as I was visiting the youngest in the local area in addition to visiting my 49th (Thirsk) & 50th (Redcar) British racecourse. Redcar Racecourse was less than a mile away from the Plover, so it was a very casual mid-morning stroll along the sea front.

I had seen one previously in Spurn, but this bird offered much better viewing opportunities and occasional flight views when flushed by odd fisherman. Not a bad day out at all, the drive home was a solid three hours.

Stork surprise in Bromsgrove

 

I followed up a report on social media that a pair of Storks had roosted in Catshill on Wednesday evening. With no specific details regarding the location, I just drove around the main routes scanning roof tops. With a bit of luck, I actually found them perched high by the playing field.

I took a few images before walking back to the road to see a could get a road name to tell Mark who was on the way. Just as I reached the road, the birds took flight, reaching a great height quickly. The local gulls started harassing the Storks which forced them to drift north not to be seen again.

It turned out the Storks were from a "wild zoo" in south Wales. Good luck catching those! Certainly made for a welcome break.

Cape Gull (1st for Britain) Grafham Water

 Cape Gull 

All along the watchtower

Looking down on things

Gull line up

Common Tern

Getting tired of being watched

Little Egret

YouTube video

I was out playing golf in the Cotswolds on Sunday when I received an alert of a possible "first for Britain" at Grafham Water, Cambridgeshire. My first thought was to let the big guns go and debate the ID before I'd casually drive over midweek. However, the identification seemed very confident from early visitors and there were some cracking photos emerging.

There was zero chance of me having enough enthusiasm to go on Sunday evening, so I planned a possible dawn raid, being very confident the bird would still be in residence. photos

Postive news emerged early and being only 90 miles it took less than ninety minutes with the roads free from commuters.

The car park was closed on my arrival therefore I took the last space on the verge (no verge parking is now allowed, but, car park is open early). I'd never been to this site before a couple of weeks ago, so I knew exactly where to head. Toilets and a cafe are always a great benefit to any site.

The actual twitch was very routine, casual walk, scope bird, take a few photos & walk back. The bird never changed location and the only exercise it did was to stretch it's neck and wings.

I know you should be mega excited about a first for Britain but this really didn't feel like it. The bird was very similar to a Great Black-backed in structure but had longer legs and beak.

Cape Gulls are a sub-species of Kelp Gull and are generally found in south African countries. The first record for the Western Palearctic was in Paris in 1995, so the hard core gullers have certainly been looking hard for a possible Cape Gull.

Other highlights included 2 Yellow-legged Gull, a Caspain Gull, 12 Common Tern, Little Egret and an abundundance of Yellow Wagtails.

Racing, photos & birding

Pagham Harbour

Sandwich Tern

Mediterrean Gull

Grey Heron

White-rumped Sandpiper

White-rumped Sandpiper

Cormorant

Storm approaching

Sanderling

Sanderling & Dunlin

Pegasus Stables

Yeoman on parade

The wonder horse Baaeed

Action from Goodwood

It has been a busy few weeks with my photography shooting, a wedding and Commonwealth Games awards. On top of this, I've been to Glorious Goodwood to see the unbeaten Baeed and the historic Pegasus Stables in Newmarket.

On the trip to Goodwood, I visited Pagham Harbour for a enjoyable session of birding. The White-rumped Sandpiper was the star attraction but it was to see a range of species including Sandwich & Little Tern, Cattle Egret, Brent Goose, Spotted Redshank, Dunlin, Med Gull, Whimbrel, Curlew and Black-tailed Godwit.

The Newmarket trip gave us the opportunity to take a walk at Grafham Water which is just outside Huntingdon. The weather was excellent but there was a threat of a storm in the distance. I did find a Sanderling and Dunlin on the basin which hadn't been reported previously which was nice. We walked as far as the nature reserve, taking in some nice views of a dozen Common Tern.  

Black Tern at Bartley

 

It was back to back visits to Bartley Reservoir last week when a Black Tern was observed on Sunday. Although quite distant, I was quite pleased with my urban-style images. I was in the office in Tipton the following day when Mike Inskip messaged me to say there was a juvenile Little Tern at the same site. Given how it's so close to the M5, I called in to see the Little Tern, my first record in midlands, and there were now two Black Terns.