Upton Warren Friday May 29

The forecast for this morning was pretty dire, and so a wet weather contingency plan was called for. Apart from twitching the Red-necked Grebe last month it has been years since I went to my old patch, Upton Warren, so I was keen to see how it looked.

I started at the flashes, and it was fantastic. Having got used to watching Springwatch this week, I discovered that Upton Warren is now a mini-Minsmere. A sturdy fence all around it keeps out the ground predators, and the birds have responded in spades.

The hide now has a bottom tier, which opens up the possibility of taking Lyn on future visits. In front of the hide, everything is nesting.

Eight-legged Avocet

Avocet with bigger chicks

The rain was initially fairly light, but even so, all the Avocets which had chicks were spending much of their time protecting them from the elements. I counted 28 Avocets and at least 17 chicks (the log book said there were 23). Avocets are fantastic birds, but there is a downside to having them breeding here. They are extremely aggressive to any migrant waders which might consider visiting. Fortunately the pair of Black-tailed Godwits which have been around for a few days were sufficiently settled to remain.

Black-tailed Godwits

The sheer number of breeding birds was staggering. Black-headed Gulls totalled at least 170 adults and 95 chicks, and kept up a Minsmere-like cacophony the whole time. There were only eight Lapwings present, but two of them had broods of young.

Another breeding wader was Little Ringed Plover, and I could see two incubating birds. A quick look at the log-book told me that a pair of Shoveler had hatched a brood of ducklings for the second successive year after a 67 year absence. I scanned the third flash and was just in time to see the pair, with at least two tiny ducklings, before they swam out of view. Another adult male was much closer to the hide.

drake Shoveler

Another prominent duck species was Shelduck. At least six adults were present, and I wasn't too surprised to find that they too had ducklings.

A brood of Shelducklings

At about 09.30 the rain intensified, with predictable effects.

Many of the birds, particularly the Black-headed Gull chicks started pointing their bills skywards to reduce the dampening of their plumage/down. Suddenly some passage waders arrived.

Ringed Plovers

Four Ringed Plovers had dropped in at 09.40. Within five minutes they were looking uncomfortable (Avocet pressure), and they were off, heading north for the tundra.

A Cuckoo had been calling when I arrived but the rain shut it up. When the rain eased off I decided to head back. The gravel pit was now hosting over 100 House Martins, 30 Sand Martins, and 30 Swallows plus a few Swifts.

I drove to the Moors Pool to find it too was covered in birds, but a different cast. Two pairs of Oystercatchers had young.

Oystercatcher and chick

The sun was out, and it was as though the rain had never happened. I added to my count of Tufted Ducks to come up with a total count of 64 on the reserve. Also two Little Grebes, two pairs of Great-crested Grebes with chicks, and about two pairs of sitting Common Terns.

Cetti's Warblers sang, but evaded my lens. I had to settle for a Dunnock with a crane-fly all ready to be stuffed in its offspring's gape.

Better than Morton Bagot? Just a bit!