So, to continue from my last post, its Friday April 27, and scanning the grass in front of the marsh I counted nine Wheatears. Out came the camera. The image below is my first attempt at cropping. I hope to improve. I resumed walking to the flash when two Yellow Wagtails flew over. I arrived at the flashes, which were now overflowing with water which was spreading across the field. I counted 46 Swallows, and two Sand Martins. The only waders were three Redshank, but there were more Wheatears and Yellow Wagtails.
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| Wheatear |
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| Yellow Wagtails |
My final count was 11 Wheatears, including a possible Greenland, and seven Yellow Wagtails. Both counts were record totals for the site. In addition to the Yellow Wagtails, the Sand Martins were also year ticks. Not a bad little fall of passerines.
As I am typing this on Saturday April 28, I have had several texts from John Yardley to say that he has found the first Oystercatcher of the year (it could easily be the only record we get), plus nine Wheatears and the seven Yellow Wagtails.
Unfortunately, I will not be able to join him, and the weather forecast tomorrow is pretty awful, so I suspect I will go somewhere with hides.
Hi Richard,
ReplyDeleteCarrying on from the earlier Wheatear discussion, my Greenland at Lower Park was 21st April 2010, earlier than I remembered. Had eight Wheatears at Lower Park today - one or two seeming quite bright and a little larger, and therefore Greenland candidates. However I'll be making no claims!
Cheers
Mike
Hi Mike
DeleteThat's pretty close to the date I saw my bird. I do have photographs of it and of one on Friday. But they are very small images. When I work out how to save the enlarged image to the blog I'll put them on.
I assume your bird was clour-ringed, or perhaps it was extremely close.
I know a Marsh Lane birder who thinks all the later Wheatears are Greenlands. This may be taking it a bit far, but I suspect a lot of them are.
All the best
Rich
Nice one Richard. There were incredible falls in North Worcs today with both myself at Shenstone and Craig at Wassell Grove/lutley well into double Wheatear figures...well worth braving the weather!
ReplyDeleteHi Jason
DeleteWhat I like about blogging is that it is often the case that you can see patterns like this. The Wheatear fall nicely illustrates the point.
Hi Rich,
DeleteYes, the bird I saw was colour-ringed, in Helgoland as I recall. I didn't really have any suspicions that it was a Greenland to be honest, not something I tend to worry about due to the conjecture over such claims. The reply from the ringer mentioned, amongst other things, the wing-length that made it too long for a bog-standard Wheatear.
Cheers
Mike