Wednesday 28 April 2021

An Impromptu Holiday-With Pictures!

 I had some time off last week, which was totally unplanned, but turned out quite well.

It actually started on Friday 16th, when I spent the morning at Amwell, only my third visit of the year. I quickly added a few year ticks, with several singing Reed and Sedge Warblers, the usual Oystercatcher pair and three Little Ringed Plovers. There was also a large Sand Martin flock feeding over the south end which gradually dispersed along with small parties of Swallows among them. One female Goldeneye remains, but otherwise only the normal summer wildfowl were present. Snipe were rather more conspicuous than usual with several birds flitting around, one Raven was seen briefly and at the end of my visit a Common Tern appeared.


The Saturday afternoon walk around Aston End wasn't really productive, though my first Whitethroat of the year was seen, but otherwise summer visitors were scarce-having weeks of cold northerlies has really had an impact this year.

Sunday 18th was split into two parts. I did a quick circuit of Norton Green in the hope of picking up Ring Ouzel and Wheatear but it was largely empty. I then went round Dyes and Kitching Lane which again was a bit on the quiet side, there were a a few Chiffchaff and Blackcap around, and the usual Marsh Tits. All of the winter thrushes appear to have finally departed. I was hoping the. ponds and stream would remain through the summer but they are getting rather dry now. A few Hares are in the area-these were snapped last month.


An early walk around Fairlands Valley on Monday was a bit bracing with the northerly winds, but maybe have been beneficial as several Willow warblers were singing, along with a few Chiffchaff and Blackcaps. Willows have been declining locally and the south over the last few decades and last year despite daily walks only recorded a handful of singing birds yet they are certainly more common this year. Two Pairs of Tufted Ducks were noteworthy as well.

Another early walk on the 20th around Aston End was another cool one though it did warm up a bit eventually. Three Willow Warblers was good news, and there were now a lot of Blackcaps and Chiffchaffs singing, but there were no other summer warblers. Last year I had already located a number of Common and Lesser Whitethroat territories.As for cuckoos and hirundines well they were non existent. I did get to see a pair of Yellow Wagtails presumably on passage and there seem to be a few Linnets, Chaffinch and Greenfinches nesting this year.

Wednesday 21st was a red letter day-a trip to Norfolk and meeting up with Colin for the first time in six months. I just wish I had taken my winter jacket.

A quick stop at Chosely and then onto a nice quiet and almost empty Titchwell. Naturally year ticks in abundance with Avocets, Godwits and so on, Brent Geese, Bearded Tits, Marsh Harriers plus a few rather smart Med Gulls in the Black Headed colony. The sea, despite the northerly was a bit disappointing with a few Gannets and Sandwich Terns passing and a rather pitiful flock of three Common Scoter.

After warming up a bit we went to Morston Quay and having walked along the sea wall to the eastern paddock realised that the long staying Ring Ouzel was back where we started near the car park. A couple of Wheatear and a Greenshank in the harbour was useful.



The final part of the trip was an early afternoon walk around Lakenheath Fen. Lots of hirundines over the mere-though without House Martins which I have yet to see. After a bit of a search, a pair of Garganey were found, and a Stonechat then it was a bit of a quiet walk along the river to the Joist fen viewpoint where a rather loud booming Bittern kept us entertained while we failed to see any Cranes though a pair of displaying Hobby in the distance was nice.

Gluttons for punishment we were out again the next day this time to Pembrokeshire. Star of the show was the long staying young Walrus which had taken a liking to the Tenby lifeboat station ramp. It was an exhausting long journey but worth it as it isn't a species I was expecting to see in the UK. While there have been couple of  records the last couple of decades in the northern isles they have tended to be short stayers and mobile,  and I have known people spend days trying to track one down. This one was in Ireland last month and then made it's way to Tenby where there appears to be a plentiful supply of clams for it to feed on.

This is what it was doing while we were there-would have been nice to see it hauled up on the ramp, but watching it bobbing around offshore was an amazing sight. Naturally, despite it's presence for several weeks there was still a bit of a crowd, though I don't think many took an interest in the Turnstones and Purple Sandpipers feeding on the rocks.



In the afternoon we had a walk around St Annes Head overlooking Skomer and Skockholm islands. I had hoped to pick a headland with a plentiful supply of auks and sea birds but there was a distinct lack of them. Maybe the wind direction was keeping them well offshore and perhaps one of the other places I had found would have been better. However we should see some eventually this year and having a pair of Chough low overhead is always worthwhile particularly when there are Greenland Wheatears flitting around and three Whimbrel feeding in the cattle field.

Naturally the next two days were a bit of an anticlimax. A short walk around Fairlands on the Friday produced a Garden Warbler-apparently the first there for several years and the bluebells are staring to look quite nice now. The Tufted Duck appear to have finally departed. One Willow Warbler still remains, and the first Moorhen brood has appeared. The afternoon around Aston End on Saturday was primarily for butterflies and while numbers are still low, Peacock, Small Tortoiseshell, Brimstone, and Green Veined Whites were frequently seen, along with a couple of Speckled Woods and Orange Tips. The Muntjac wasn't expected and seemed to be very curious staying for some time despite the noise from the nearby pub.



Saturday 10 April 2021

Easter and Recent Weeks

 I have still been sticking to the Stevenage area over the last month or so, but since we were allowed officially to get out and about a bit more from early April I have travelled a bit more.

Fairlands has not been visited as much as in the past year. On a couple of occasions I went down in on Saturday afternoons but found it to be far too busy with large crowds, dogs everywhere and quite a bit of disturbance. I did pop down very early on Good Friday and it was nice and quiet. My first singing Blackcaps were heard-five males and a silent female, and there were three singing Chiffchaffs. My first Swallows were also in, mainly sitting on wires by the climbing frame with a few feeding over the lakes. There had been a House Martin earlier as well. Unfortunately a week before a Redshank and an Oystercatcher were around early one morning as I drove past on the way to work, but news arrived too late, and the same week a few Sand martins had gone through.

I've only been around Aston End once since I last wrote, on March 20th. The river level has dropped considerably and the ground was rather dry. About the only things of note were what was presumed to be a build up of pre migration flocks. Starlings numbered around 200, Redwing 125 and Fieldfare 260, largely between Lords Farm and the south end of Walkern. In all likelihood these numbers were rather conservative.

I have missed a large number of spring migrants. Two visits to the Ashwell dungheaps hasn't produced much, most of the good stuff has been seen while at work. The weather wasn't good for me either, cold and windy so no Wheatear, or Yellow and White Wagtails. A nice flock of around 175 Golden Plover in breeding plumage was nice to see though. Never mind as I had a long weekend prior to Easter with a view to finding migrants-it was during the late March warm spell with good southerly winds bringing in lots of stuff. Unfortunately a swollen ankle and tendon put paid to that-shame as that morning was supposed to be spent at Norton and Langley where 6 Wheatear were showing well. Places like Coopers Green pits were also pulling in lots of waders hirundines and Wagtails as well. 

Easter Sunday morning was spent at Tyttenhanger, my first visit in nearly a year. It was bitterly cold with occasional sleety snow so not very pleasant and I only lasted an hour. There has been a lot of work on improving the Tree Sparrow population with several new feeding stations erected. Very popular with the tits and Robins, but I did get to see a pair of Sparrows. The main pit was rather empty, water levels high and only a mixed gull flock and a few Tufted Duck,Teal and Shoveller. Some rather frozen hirundines were trying to feed over the water, I counted two Swallows and eight House Martins.

Earlier this week Ring Ouzels have started to appear. One has been present at Damask Green just outside of Weston for a while, first reported on the 7th along with a male Redstart, and still there today 10th April. I paid a visit after work on the 8th, but it was rather windy and there was some uncertainty of where it was. In the end I covered several fields and hedges around the various grid references with another hopeful birder but without success. A visit this morning was also unsuccessful. Mike Illett had reported it earlier along with a Wheatear and I covered the same area as before. This time it was cold windy with heavy drizzle. Fortunately Bill Last appeared with better information-basically we had been searching the right hedge all along, but the Ouzel spends a lot of time in the bushes and I think the weather has been against us. Luckily Bill refound the male Redstart and while flighty showed fairly well at times in the now pouring rain.