LOCKDOWN - Week Seven

5^th May

                Just walk up and down the lane at Wyke a few times where birds seen included 2 Swifts, 8 House Martins, 3 Sand Martins and a Peregrine over the woods.   There was a cool little dancing group of c12 Gren Longhorns at the gate to the Cart-track – all males, waiting for a female to pass by.

6^th May

                A decent walk round the Benthall loop in the bright, sunny, warm conditions produced the first Spotted Flycatcher of the year at Benthall Pools where the male Redstart was still giving little snatches of song and the first Greylag Goose goslings were out and about; other birds included a singing Garden Warbler at Watery Lane, a Swift, a Red Kite (with a second one in the afternoon) and two new Lesser Whitethroats singing at The Vineyards with a few more Whitethroats on territory as well.   The dancing swarm of male Green Longhorns at the Cart-track gate rose to at least 25.

7^th May

                There were three Peregrines over the woods at Farley in the morning along with 3 House Martins, a Swift, several singing Lesser Whitethroats and a Grey Wagtail.   A Sand Martin went over Wyke in the afternoon where there was also an adult female Sparrowhawk, full-on displaying to a 2cy male and a Silver-Y up the lane – the first migrant insect of the spring.

8^th May

                Not too much of note on the Benthall loop with a couple of House Martins over, two Swifts high over Benthall Edge and the usual singing warblers; there are now two broods of small Coot chicks out on Benthall Pools along with two broods of Greylag Geese.   The first Large Red Damselfly had emerged on the second Benthall Pool and there was another dancing swarm of 15 Green Longhorns near the Vineyards as well as a smart Scorpion Fly.

9^th May

                The highlight of this lovely, warm, calm day was a surprise Sedge Warbler singing in the cover crop just down the lane to the south of Wyke; a Sand Martin went north, two Lesser Black-backed Gulls went west and a couple of Lesser Whitethroats were singing further to the south of Wyke.

10^th May

                A complete change in the weather with overcast conditions and a chilly, brisk and increasing NE wind; the days highlight came straight away with a Quail heard singing in fields to the east of Wyke, early in the morning as I was checking the moth trap – it was later tracked down to the corner of the Rape field, right by the gate to the Cart-track.   The Benthall loop then produced a Spotted Flycatcher at Benthall Farm and a pair of Garden Warblers at Watery Lane with at least 26 Canada Goose goslings at the pools.   Another Spotted Flycatcher was then at Woodhouse Farm.

11^th May

                Partly cloudy with a very cold NE wind still; not too much to mention with a 2cy Red Kite heading purposefully NE into the wind over Benthall Hall looking like a real passage bird (wishful thinking that it is connected to the big numbers moving along the south coast at the moment) and two Swifts over Wyke the only birds of note.   There were 30+ Canada Goose goslings on the main Benthall Pool along with one brood of Greylags and four broods of tiny, ugly Coot chicks while the Little Grebes have probably hatched as well judging from the adults change in behaviour but I didn’t see any chicks.

Kestrel

Swallows

2cy Red Kite

Canada Geese

NORTH RONALDSAY - 19th April

Hazy sunshine again and we kept the strong SSE wind that has dominated for seemingly ages now – all set to change tomorrow though!   Walked up the west coast right to Westness in the morning with the highlights consisting of the first 2 Whimbrel of the year over the Obs, a random Canada Goose south down Westbeach and then later at the Obs and then on Hooking, the first Common Sandpiper of the year at Lenswick and a few new migrants such as a female Stonechat at Trebb, a Black Redstart at Lenswick, my first Blackcap of the year also at Lenswick and an influx of 7+ Willow Warblers.

                Other migrant totals included 2 Sparrowhawks, a Merlin, 2 Black-tailed Godwits, a Collared Dove, 16 Sand Martins, 4 Swallows, 275+ Meadow Pipits, 3 Dunnocks, 43 Robins, 66+ Wheatears, a Song Thrush, 12 Chiffchaff, 3 Goldcrest, a Jackdaw, 2 Chaffinches, 2 Brambling, a Goldfinch at Gretchen and a single Snow Bunting.   A little look off the Lighthouse late afternoon produced a brief glimpse of a White-beaked Dolphin just offshore.

Common Sandpiper

Willow Warbler

Goldcrest

Canada Goose

January 27th - 31st

All over the place for a few days without doing much real birding; a couple of days in Devon – generally awful weather produced a few things during a walk around Fremington Quay near Barnstaple including a single Spoonbill down the estuary with a handful of Little Egrets, a single adult Mediterranean Gull with the big numbers of other Gulls and 2 Greenshank up the creek.   The only other birds to mention were 20+ Hawfinches still at Whitcliff, Ludlow.

Hawfinches - Whitcliff

Song Thrush

Goosander - Priorslee Flash

and this weird black faced Canada Goose at Venus Pool

1st December

Had great views of the long staying female Velvet Scoter on Trench Pool at lunchtime (a really rare bird in Shropshire!); it was really active flying around and diving away, never stopping.   A Kingfisher on Priorslee Flash was the only other bird of note on a jaunt around some other lakes in Telford.

Velvet Scoter

Great-crested Grebe on Priorslee Flash

Bish BASH bosh - another Windermere Canada Goose, this time on Trench Pool

30th November

There were 2 Common Sandpipers wintering on the River Severn at Leighton in the glorious sunshine during the morning along with a pair of Mandarin and 30 Goosanders.   A look at Venus Pool in the afternoon then produced good views of the long staying drake Green-winged Teal (a Venus Pool and Shropshire tick!) together with good numbers of wildfowl crowded round the small area of unfrozen water including 365 Teal (a record count for me here), 52 Shoveler, 40 Wigeon, 50 Mallard, 3 Shelduck and a single drake Pintail.

Record shots of the Green-winged Teal; it never came very close

Pintail

Shelduck

Another Windermere ringed Canada Goose was also present