Little and large

Great White Egret, Shapwick Heath. I apologise in advance for the awful digiscoping - it is deteriorating somewhat!

Loxton Marsh, Walton Heath (Ham Wall RSPB) - these places have more names thn you can shake a stick at! In there somewhere are two Little Bitterns (plus young?) and some of their larger cousins.

Juvenile Little Ringed Plover, Moat Lane pools, Rixton. The photo below was taken five days earlier.

Moat Lane pool 2 - the pools at least look good for waders!

Pool 1 is looking very dry.

Young Yellow Wags on the Rixton mosses

Redshank guarding her young on Moat Lane pools

This Kestrel seems fascinated with the midden heap!

Common Sandpiper, Seaforth

Grey Heron, Seaforth. Someone spotted that this bird has only one toe on one foot - the others appear to have been amputated!

Kittiwake, Seaforth. Pretty gull!

Med Gull, Seaforth

There are four adult Meds in this lot!

Black-necked Grebe, HGF

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Middle of last week I had a trip to Slough (work again). Not many birds in Slough, however it did give me the chance to count Red Kites over the motorway. I had 31 on the way down and 29 on the way back the next day. On the Wednesday evening I diverted to Rixton on my way home. Of interest was an adult Red-legged Partridge with two youngsters at the top of Holly Bush Lane – I can’t remember seeing this species here before. Yellowhammers and Corn Buntings were also observed and one field seemed to be alive with insects attracting over 150 Swifts and at least 90 Swallows. I saw just one House Martin though. On Moat Lane pool there was just one young Common Tern – it was calling constantly. This was to be the last time I saw any of this tern family. Black-necked Grebe was still on HGF this evening – four LRP’s were also present. The female Kestrel was again perched on the midden heap off Dam Head Lane and two juvenile Ravens were in the turf field at Cadishead Moss – not many gulls though. One of the Lady Lane Little Owls was going bananas because the owner of the cottage opposite had let their two Parson Russell terriers out into the field – they were sniffing the tree containing the nest site.
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Houghton Green Flash has remained pretty static for the last week or so. The Black-necked Grebe did go walk about for a day and then disappeared completely over the weekend. A single Little Grebe also popped in and out from time to time. Little Ringed Plovers are present virtually every visit, the Coot numbers built up to 35 and Tufties to 33. I think it was last Saturday morning I found an adult Common Tern feeding here and four juvenile Common Sandpipers flitting along the shoreline. Various raptors also seen including a female Sparrowhawk over Midhops. I also found the second male Corn Bunting – nr Myddleton Farm but further west than usual. A small flock of around 13 Linnets has also been buzzing around and at the beginning of this week the Lapwings had reach 34 birds around the pool.
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In the garden it has been pretty quiet though a few different birds have visited recently. A Stock Dove was feeding with the Collared Doves, a few juvenile Coal Tits have been on the feeders, a Great Spotted Woodpecker was also around and a couple of garden rarities – a Common Gull and a small flock of Swallows!
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Had one mooch around Rixton last Friday – after Jonathan told me about some Redshank juveniles on Moat Lane pools. Both pools have been well and truly drained now though curiously the resident Mute Swan is still on what is left of pool 1. On pool 2 a pair of Little Ringed Plovers were present with four tiny balls of fluff and a Redshank was also there with two half grown youngsters. There were a few Black-headed Gull chicks also on this pool and half a dozen herons on pool 1. On the mosses I found two juvenile Yellow Wags on Woodend Lane. A colleague who lives in Rixton has sent me a photo of a juvenile male Green Woody which is frequenting her garden.
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Two visits to Seaforth have seen me dip on the Roseate Terns. Four adult Meds were present on the first visit and two on the second – found by Mssrs Kinsella et al. One of these is a ringed bird and so far no one has seen the characters. It showed briefly and allowed us to see the last 2 characters were J9 then the gull flock flushed and the meds disappeared. Plenty of waders including summer plumaged Knot, Blackwits, Barwits, Dunlin and Redshanks. On one visit a Spar was seen to fly at a flock of sheps and appeared to take one. While walking back to the car a female Spar flew low overhead carrying a half eaten sheppy.
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Birding at the van last weekend was sporadic (too tired). On Sunday morning I did a couple of hours sea watch (up to high tide) from Jenny Brown’s Point – complete waste of time! Nothing doing though one very distant blob could have been a Gannet. And then again it might not have been – just too far to tell. On the shoreline next to the Morecambe complex at high tide were 800+ Oystercatcher, 300+ Shelduck, 140+ Curlew and 340+ Black-headed Gull. At Halton Mills Weir in the evening the only notable birds were a pair of Grey Wags and a Dipper – 6 Mute Swans were also around just above the weir and warblers picked up constituted 2 Chiffers and a Willow Warbler.
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On Monday after work in Somerset I went for a wander around Ham Wall RSPB. I was really only interested in seeing a Little Bittern. The first interesting thing I saw was a presumed juvenile Garden Warbler. My assumption is that adult Garden Warblers don’t usually perch on a washing line begging for food! When I arrived at Loxton Marsh (Walton Heath) a local birder told me that evenings were crap for seeing Little Bittern. I also found out that there are now two of them with a female having joined the long-staying male a few weeks ago. Anyway I settled down for a vigil and within five minutes a Bittern (large, normal one) flew up and back down again. While watching it through the bins something caught my eye and I turned to see the female Little Bittern drop into some reeds. I saw her for all of three seconds – and that was it for the rest of the night!
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On my way back to the car a couple of Little Egrets flew over and I watched a Spotted Flycatcher launching from a telephone wire to murder the local insect population. The next night I got the chance of a return gig. I first made my way over to Shapwick Heath and Noah’s Hide to have a look at the Great White Egret there. It showed well though distantly and suddenly seemed to disappear. Nine Little Egrets were present on Meare Heath, though not a single wader on the scrapes – the water levels look really high. I then headed off to Walton Heath – I am pretty sure I found the juvenile Garden Warbler again on the way!
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On arrival at Walton Heath things seemed to start the same way as yesterday – a Bittern went up and back down followed shortly after by a three second glimpse of the female Little Bittern. Fortunately it was to be a better evening. The female showed again briefly before I spotted the male flying away from me, low over the reeds. The female then gave two relatively prolonged flights low over the reeds and on both occasions I just happened to be looking through my scope so superb views were had. On a slightly negative side I didn’t see a single raptor while I was there. I did see a second Great Bittern fly low over the reeds before I left. Check this out:
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http://uk400clubrarebirdalert.blogspot.com/2010/07/little-bitterns-breeding-in-somerset.html
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The Great White Egret currently here is the bird that spent so long in N Lancs at the back end of last year – interesting to see the same bird in locations 260 miles apart (by road). Below are some details of its movements (courtesy of Alan Ashman at the Somerset Ornithological Society forum):
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Ringed as a nestling by Loic Marion on 6/5/2009 at Besné (near Brière marshes, Loire Atlantique, F), metal ring CA 69229. It has been observed many times in the UK : on 24/9/2009 at Banks Marsh, Lancashire, on 25/9/2009 at Brockholes Wetland LWT, Lancashire, on 26/9/2010 at Hesketh Out Marsh, Lancashire and at Crossens Marsh, Lancashire, on 27/9/2009 at Banks Marsh, Lancashire, from 30/9 to 7/11 at Leighton Moss, Lancashire, from 8/11 to 17/11 at Crossens Outer Marsh, Lancashire, on 12/12/2009 at Leighton Moss, Lancashire, from 13 to 28/12/2009 at Crossens Outer Marsh, Lancashire, on 29/12/09 and 8/1/2010 at Churchtown Moss, Lancashire, on 1/1 and 20/1/2010 at Marshside RSPB, on 19/1/2010 at Crossens Outer Marsh, Lancashire, on Lancashire, on 22/1/2010 at Castleton Court, Fortran Road, St Mellons, Cardiff, from 21 to 27/2/2010 at Crossens Outer Marsh, Lancashire, on 11/3/2010 at Peterstone Wentlooge, Gwent, from 17 to 27/3/2010 at Ashleworth Ham, Gloucestershire, on 28/3/2010 at Frampton-on-Severn, Gloucestershire and at Saul Warth on Severn estuary near Slimbridge, from 28 to 31/3/2010 on the Slimbridge reserve, on 1-2/4/2010 again at Ashleworth Ham, Gloucestershire, on 4-6/4/2010 at Hendre Lake, St Mellons, Cardiff, Glamorgan, and on 27/4/2010 at Catcott Reserve in Somerset.”. Now today still on Shapwick Heath.
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This morning I called in early at Moat Lane pools in Rixton again. On pool 1 an eclipse drake Teal was new, the Mute Swan (right, blue, JP4) is still resident on the dwindling stretch of water, both juvenile Coot and Moorhen were seen and a pair of Little Ringed Plovers with two well grown juveniles. I must get out of the habit of calling them juveniles – technically they are not by this age – however I can’t seem to get this word out of my head. On pool 2 the Redshank and the two half grown youngsters were still present along with a second pair of Little Ringed Plovers. The latter had two slightly larger balls of fluff than last time I saw them – I wonder what happened to the missing two. Perhaps I don’t want to know. A Grey Partridge was also on the bank of pool 2.
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At lunch I had a quick drive round Rixton mosses. There were the usual decent number of Reed Buntings and Linnets (9+ and 13+) off Holly Bush Lane and a single Corn Bunting was also seen. A flock of around 70+ Lapwings were flitting around and a single small youngster was also observed. A male Yellow Wag was in the usual field off Holly Bush Lane and I found a second male perched on top of a cabbage, preening himself. This one was off Woodend Lane.
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Garden tonight was graced by the male Bullfinch and a gang of Long-tailed Tits. Late evening I managed to dodge between thunder storms and visit HGF where it was relatively busy. The pair of Little Ringed Plovers with the well grown youngster were present plus a juvenile Common Sandpiper. On the water were 36 Coot, 41 Tufted Ducks, 8 Pochards, 9 Great Crested Grebes and a Little Grebe. Almost back to normal! By Midhop farm the sheps were congregating on the wires – around 350 of them. Oh and it was bloody wet.