You may have noticed I haven't posted anything this week. The problem has been a dearth of noteworthy birds. It's not that I haven't been trying. I visited the patch on Tuesday, Friday, and today, each time hoping to find something different but coming up with very little.
Waders have been restricted to Green Sandpipers and Lapwings. The numbers of the former are going in the wrong direction; seven on Tuesday, six on Friday, and five today. Mind you, one interesting development followed the relocation of the cattle on Tuesday. The newly trampled scrapes held several Green Sands including possibly all five today. Unfortunately to see them is to disturb them, and they inevitably ended up on the flash field.
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| A Green Sandpiper on the new scrapes |
A bird-hide, or even a screen, might allow better views but in the meantime hats off to HOEF for spending the money to create the scrapes in the first place.
One bird that is profiting from the current management regime is the Common Whitethroat. At this time of year the bushes are full of recently fledged juveniles and on Friday I beat my personal record count with a total of 19 including a leucistic (very pale) individual. Unfortunately none posed for longer than a few seconds so there are no shots to commemorate the record. Instead I located a very co-operative juvenile Blackcap in the bushes at Stapenhill Wood today.
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| Juvenile Blackcap |
Continuing the post-breeding theme, on Friday a party of 11 Ravens flew towards an adult bird calling from a pylon giving me another site record count. This species breeds in the surrounding woodland and numbers seem to rise every year.
The unseasonably chilly and damp weather has not been kind to the local insect population, but I have seen most of the expected species of butterflies during the week.
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| Brown Argus |
Still to arrive are meaningful numbers of Teal, any Snipe, or any Chats. Hopefully the delay is only temporary and normal service will be resumed, with maybe an unusual wader or two....please?
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