Holme Pierrepont - Monday 17 August 2009

Mick, Duncan & I decided to slip in a quick session on the A52 side today seeing as the weather seemed to be holding. In the end the wind curtailed things by mid-morning, but we caught a decent flush of warblers first thing and ended up on 51 birds.

Sylvias were dominant today and Whitethroats and Lesser Whitethroats (pic below) were particularly numerous. Warbler totals were as follows:

Whitethroat 13
Blackcap 11
Lesser Whitethroat 7
Garden Warbler 2
Reed Warbler 2
Sedge Warbler 2
Chiffchaff 1
Willow Warbler 1
One of the Garden Warblers was an adult with arrested moult. On both wings, the inner 4 primaries and corresponding primary coverts had been replaced. This species is a bit of a maverick when it comes to moulting and no two seem quite the same. However, as far as I am aware, post-breeding wing moult is generally the exception in this country.

Amongst the other bits and bobs caught were a retrap Willow Tit and a single Long-tailed Tit. Both Sparrowhawk and Kestrel were seen and the odd Skylark and Linnet were overhead. A group of 4 Gadwall were flying around for much of the morning too, calling noisily. Not sure what had got into them… Good to see healthy numbers of Common Blues around the patches of Bird’s-foot Trefoil.

Pete