End of May update from the pits

Short-eared owl (Mark Clarke)

 Little Owl

 Red Kite

 Oystercatcher chicks growing well

Common Tern

 Day roost of Gulls

Common Terns

Our purple patch continued last week when Mark Clarke discovered a Short-eared Owl on the main pit.  This is an unusual sighting given the time of year. The bird sat on the east bank with some cover from the willows. Most of the regulars all managed to get down to see the bird with the last sighting at 2pm. Sadly I was working late on a new programme so missed the action but I did find a Little Owl sat on a telegraph pole above the road on the way.

A Dunlin & 2 Ringed Plover were the only migrants through the pits. Jon was back from his migration holiday in north america and had an interesting morning on Sunday. A Little Owl was heard calling from an old haunt which brings new hope of a return whilst other counts included 17 Little Grebe, 1 Cormorant, 3 Grey herons, 4 Mute Swan (plus brood), 26 Greylag, 70 Canada geese (plus 3 broods & nest), pair of Shelduck and nine ducklings, 22 gadwall, 115 Mallard (plus 8 broods), 44 Tufted Duck, 14 Buzzard, 1 immature peregrine, 4 Oystercatcher with two young, three Little Ringed Plovers, 2 lapwing, a Redshank, 4 Common tern, 35 Lesser Black-backed Gulls, 5 herring Gulls, four Cuckoo, 25 Swift, a Sand Martin, Meadw Pipit, male Yellow Wagtail, 15 male Reed Warblers, 4 male Lesser Whitethroats, 2 Common Whitethroat, 2 Ravens, calling young Sparrowhawks and three broods of Long-taile Tits.

Also of note was the second Common Club-tail dragonfly for the pits and the first for Warwickshire for several years. 15-20 Bee Orchids are also by the main pit.

Passage & breeding birds at Pits

Marsh Harrier (Mark Clarke)

Marsh Harrier (Mark Clarke)

 Female Ruff

 Sanderlings

Sanderlings

 Stunning Goldfinch

 Mute Swan family doing well

 Tawny Owl

Tawny Owlet

It's been a very busy last ten days at the pits with some quality waders passing through and our resident breeding birds generally doing well. Going down most evenings when not working hasn't given me much chance to update the blog

Passage picked up last Thursday when two Dunlin & a Ringed Plover came through. On the same day a pair of Common Tern were seen at the main pit but also Abbots Salford (AW).  A juvenile Tawny Owl was calling from the east side of the pits.

A Sanderling was a nice find on Friday morning which was linked to some inland migration across the county. The Ringed Plover was still present whilst there were 50 Swifts and 200 House Martin's feeding low.

On Saturday I was very hopeful of finally recording our first Black Tern of year but no luck on either of my visits. The Sanderling surprisingly stuck over night whilst there were also 60 Swallow, 5 Sand Martin, & 12 Swift but no Black Tern. A Red Kite was hunting on east of main pit late afternoon whilst a Cuckoo was calling on the south pit border.

Our second Ruff of the year was waiting for me on Sunday whilst a Great Crested Gebe was also on the main pit. 

Bank Holiday Monday didn't start well when Mark and I discovered a Tawny Owlet in the road. Very sad, it looked like the owlet had tried to fly from its breeding tree to the mothers roosting spot. Later in the evening we did find the parent bird sat back in the roost tree. Down at the main pit 3 Sanderling's all in slightly different plumages were feeding. The Common Terns were copulating increasing the chances they may bred again locally.

Very positive evening with a new Tawny Owlet in the roost tree which was really pleasing for myself and Mark who have put in a lot of time in trying to find the pair of local Tawnys. No real change on the main except 4 Sand Martin whilst two Great Crested Grebes were on the central lagoon.

On Wednesday I was stuck working late delivering a running project to 170 people when the Squire text me as he had found a Marsh Harrier roosting on Wheatear Hill by the main pit. Wow, what a brilliant record and our 118th species of the year. The session was made even better when he recored the Terns, Cuckoo & a Redshank.

May day at Upton Warren

The amazing weather continued on my return from Dorset so I headed over for a morning at Upton Warren. There can't be many better places to spend a morning.

A Great Crested Grebe had a chick on it's back on the sailing pool before I headed down to the Flashes.  A Wren posed brilliantly singing his heart out whilst there were Sedge & Reed Warblers both singing too.

The first two Avocet broods had been born taking their first steps closely guarded by their parents. It was fantastic to see three Little Ringed Plover chicks also, their parents were working very hard to ensure their new born did not attract any undue attention. 

Over at the Moors a Common Tern was on the raft but the best views were of a family of Oystercatchers below the hide. 

As always plenty of friendly chat with the locals and we did amuse ourselves by reviewing a certain Twitter account of a midlands area attracting some amazing rare birds on a daily basis. Poor Dave Jackson almost fell off the hide bench laughing. 

Balloons, Cuckoo & new arrivals

Passage waders !

Cuckoo

Attention!

Air Festival over the patch

Whitethroat keeping an eye on me

Oystercatcher family

Cygnets take to water for first time

After a few days away it was back to birding on the patch. The weekend started well when I picked up a Hobby flying towards Dunnington and five Swifts were soaring above the Broom Tavern as we left.

On both mornings the patch roads were full of hot air balloon festival watchers. Thankfully all the balloons stayed clear of the water areas. The balloons were a lovely back drop to the fantastic weekend weather. 

The bird of the weekend was definitely the Cuckoo with five different birds observed in the areas between Cookhill and Biford-upon-Avon. A pair were copulating on the edge of the main pit and both birds were observed through until Monday.

We had a number of exciting new arrivals joining the three Mallard broods already out in the open. First brood to reveal themselves were the Oystercatchers that emerged on the main spit whilst in the reed bed corner there was ten Shelduck duckings. 

Sundays WeBS count included 2 Ringed Plover, 3 Little Ringed Plover, 2 Shoveler, 111 Mallard, 99 Tufted Duck, 12 Gadwall, 10 Greylag, 58 Coot, 8 Canada Geese, 3 Mute Swan, 8 Moorhen, 4 Lesser Black-backed Gull and a Lapwing. Raptors included a Sparrowhawk, 2 Buzzard and a Red Kite.

On Monday I headed down again and I had a hunch of a tern could be possible given local movement. This proved correct as 2 Common Terns were present before heading towards Abbots Salford. There was also a count of 57 Lesser Black-backed Gulls. 

Spring break - Nightjars on Trinity Hill

I made two visits to the local Trinity Hill Nature reserve whilst in Dorset. The first visit was with Justin and we had two churring Nightjars exactly thirty minutes after sunset but no flight views. A Tawny Owl was calling throughout our visit.

The following night I returned later and stayed longer. The churring was more prolonged and I did observe some wing clapping and a close fly by. Not quite Forest of Dean standards but it was perhaps a little early. 

Spring break (Day 5) - Aylesbeare Common & Bowling Green Marsh

Dartford Warbler Video

Dartford Warbler

Stonechat

Red Kite

Dartford Warbler

Ruff

Saints centre forward

Donkey Santuary

My next destination would be Aylesbeare Common, a heathland reserve managed by the RSPB. My local sources told me not to go too early as my target species the illusive Dartford Warblers are best seen when the insects feel the warmth of the sun. 

I got onto the reserve about 9am to find two separate birders who had been there since dawn and not seen anything ! Also warning me the winter snow may have killed them off. This could be more difficult than last year. 

Yellowhammers and Linnets were very vocal in a number of locations then I picked up the scratchy call of a Dartford. Promising……I set myself up in a shaded spot on the main patch & just waited. Within 10 minutes I was treated to some fantastic views of the species. 

There looked to be two pairs with the one male occasionally crossing the border into the other pairs territory creating much havoc for the resident pair. The birds showed well for around thirty minutes before slowly drifting back into heavy cover.

Just near the trig point a pair of showy Stonechat amused me as six Red Kites past over head part of two day passage of Kites over Cornwall & Devon.

Bowling Green Marsh was pretty quiet but there were a pair of Ruff's of which the male was displaying on the main spit with the Bar-tailed Godwits. The only additional sighting of note were 4 Bar-tailed Godwits in the estuary.

I spent most of the afternoon at the fantastic donkey sanctuary near Seaton. This brilliant charity do some amazing work and it's a great place to spend a few relaxing hours.

Spring break (Day 4) - Black Hole Marsh & Lodmoor

Bluethroat

Bluethroat

Oystercatcher

Common Terns

Barn Swallow

Black-tailed Godwits

Sedge Warbler

Whimbrel

Day 4, first stop the fantastic Black Hole Marsh at Seaton for high tide. With passage waders very rare it was always going to be hard work. The reserve looked fantastic and the main marsh had 25 Shelducks, 3 Oystercatcher, 2 Dunlin, 4 Black-tailed Godwits, Little Egret & a Whimbrel. The Sedge & Reed Warblers were really cracking out a morning song so much so I didn't hear my phone go with messages saying "BLUETHROAT LODMOOR".

I'd landed at Lodmoor within an hour and marched down to the corner of the reserve (Marsh Harriers flying above) where the bird had been seen and photographed. Unfortunatley as the reserve got busier with joggers and dog walkers the bird had gone to ground. A lengthly steak-out began which was broken up with some good company from a Yeovil birder & a walk down to see the Common Tern's clearly ready for spring.

When we returned from watching the Terns both Richard @charmouthbirder & Justin @woodworser who I'd met at Lambert's Castle turned up and as if by magic the Red-spotted Bluethroat appeared on the fence line singing before going to the top of the closest scrub. I managed to grab a couple of shots but I wanted to really see the bird well. Now that was brilliant !

I added two Bearded Tits on the way back to the car to round off a fantastic mornings birding.