This morning began with a fly-over Tawny owl and a cup of coffee as we waited for it to get light! There were only four of us initially on what promised to be a good morning according to the Met Office. However, within minutes of getting the nets up it started drizzling and we had to close the nets. In the middle of all this, with the four of us spread out, both Gary and I spotted a Spoonbill flying over and both started screaming to the others to look up. Had there been any other people in the area they might have called the police at this strange behaviour. Anyway, the bird appeared to bank and head towards the A52 pit, but despite Gary's efforts it was not relocated.
Once the rain eased we opened the nets again and managed to catch 20 birds before the tape batteries ran out and the breeze became too strong. The total included 9 Blackcaps, 5 Chiffchaffs and single Sedge Warbler and Lesser Whitethroat. Several of these we managed to show to Archie and family and all his cousins who came along mid-morning for the first time in a while.
The most interest remained with the birding though and also recorded were 30 Black Terns on the lake, 1 Curlew, 1 Hobby, 1 Green Sandpiper, 54 Lapwing, 20 Siskin, 20+ Meadow Pipit, 1 Redpoll, 1 Grey Wagtail and good numbers of waterfowl such as Teal, Gadwall, Wigeon and Shoveler. A few Migrant Hawkers and a single Speckled Wood were the only inverts of note.
Pete
All sound like a pretty good weekend with a nice variety.
ReplyDeleteAnd interesting to note that a Spoonbill was seen at Rutland Water the day before and on Sunday most large water bodies in the Midlands had Black Terns - with c50 at Rutland Water for example.
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