14th May

A little walk down the River Severn from Buildwas to Leighton and back again where birds included 2 Hobbies performing well without actually coming that close, presumably the same female Goosander with 12 remaining ducklings (17 on 27th April), a pair of Little Ringed Plovers, a couple of Common Sandpipers, a Kingfisher and a few singing Redstarts and Sedge Warblers.

Hobbies

Slinky Minky havin' a go!

Goosander family

11th - 12th May

Did some repeat Newt surveys up in Staffordshire where between visits on the 11^th (the day was hampered by long periods of heavy rain) there was a single Black Tern on Blithfield Reservoir along with 20+ Common Terns and 3 Dunlin, a few singing and displaying Tree Pipits and Stonechats during a very wet, half-hearted wander on Cannock Chase and another single Black Tern on Chasewater, again with Common Terns and many low feeding Swifts and hirundines.

                There were 2 Black Terns at Priorslee Lake on the way back on 12th while the drake Garganey was still at Venus Pool with 3 Common Sandpipers before a walk along my stretch of the River Teme at Leintwardine in the afternoon produced the unexpected highlight of a smart male Channel Wagtail feeding along the river and with the sheep with 4 Yellow Wagtails (one pair was later seen with nesting material) and an Oystercatcher.

 

Channel Wagtail

Black Tern

Baby Coots

Great-crested Grebe

The unusual House Martin nest at Stafford Services as featured last week is now pretty much complete!

 

9th - 10th May

Carried out some bat surveys near Wrexham at dawn on the 9th after which we popped in briefly to Clunton Coppice where my first Wood Warblers and Tree Pipits of the year were singing away along with a couple of Redstarts and a Spotted Flycatcher.   A little look at Venus Pool on the 10th then produced a trio of scarce Shropshire birds with a Sanderling feeding around the islands, a Common Tern hawking over the pools and a sleeping drake Garganey.

Common Sandpipers

This big brute of a Mute Swan was not happy when a dozen other Swans landed on Venus Pool but within five minutes he had driven them all off!

Sanderling record shot

Common Tern record shot

 

Grass Snake coming out to warm up at Venus Pool

 

7th May

Thick fog, brought in by the brisk, chilly easterly wind lasted until late morning but there were good numbers of new migrants around Spurn; I had the nets open at Kew through most of the morning but without too much reward as I caught a smart adult female Sparrowhawk and single Blackcap, Willow Warbler and Sedge Warbler.

                Migrants seen through the rest of the day included my first 6 Spotted Flycatchers of the year (two at Kew and four at Sammy’s), a Mealy Redpoll, a Whinchat, a female Ring Ouzel, 2 Reed Warblers at Sammy’s Point, a Little Ringed Plover which few up the Humber, a Cuckoo, the pair of Garganey still on Holderness Field and a Marsh Harrier which flew south late afternoon.

 

Spotted Flycatcher

Whinchat

Mealy Redpoll (probably!)

Wheatear

 

Tree Sparrow

Goldfinch

Avocet

 

6th May

Spent most of the morning at Grafham Water where the highlight was a great flock of 31 Black Terns which appeared off the dam with c30 Common Terns; there was also plenty of action around the lagoons with stacks of singing and displaying birds including a Nightingale which gave a few bursts of song and 2 Grasshopper Warblers, one of which showed really well in the scrub.   Other birds included a Hobby, a Cuckoo, 2 Common Sandpipers, 2 Dunlin, a Ringed Plover, a Red Kite and a lingering female Goldeneye.

                I then drove north, arriving at Spurn early afternoon where a walk round produced the highlights of my first 20+ Little Terns of the year starting to display at Beacon Ponds and a pair of Garganey on Holderness Field – also my first of the year; other birds in no particular order included 4+ Cuckoos, a Short-eared Owl floating around Long Bank, a Reed Warbler singing at Sammy’s, 17+ Whimbrel on Holderness Field with some nice coloured up Bar-tailed Godwits, 2 Sandwich Terns, a single drake Wigeon, plenty of noisy Avocets, a Greenshank and some singing Whitethroats and Lesser Whitethroats.

 

Grasshopper Warbler

Black Tern

Common Tern

Yellow Wagtail