The ringers are back from their holidays, and I was keen to join them on Saturday morning. The day was forecast to be the hottest of the year so an early start (which for me was 08:10) was required.
They were doing well, catching plenty of warblers and kindly let me photograph a couple of them.
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| This adult Whitethroat had a very high fat score (so ready to head to Africa) |
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| Chiffchaff |
It was good to spend time with them. They had seen a Red Kite earlier in the morning. On a breezeless morning I hadn't seen a single large raptor by the time I went home.
After about thirty minutes I headed for the flash field. I walked through a large party of warblers, Blackcaps, Whitethroats, and Chiffchaffs which kept me optimistic. Occasional calls of Meadow Pipits and Siskins were evidence of overhead migration.
I reached the flash field and found that the water-level had dropped revealing a substantial area of mud. Better than that, along with the Snipe and Green Sandpipers was a juvenile Ringed Plover, the second this year.
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| Ringed Plover keeping its distance |
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| Common Snipe showing its flexible bill tip |
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| Little Egret |
It was starting to get too warm by 10:00 so I headed back via the scrape field for a change. Other than seeing a Roe Deer this was unproductive until I got to the stunted willow, one of my favourite parts of the patch. A movement caught my eye and it proved to be a Spotted Flycatcher which had almost completed its post-juvenile moult.
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| Spotted Flycatcher |
After leaving the site I heard from John C. He had braved the afternoon's heat and had seen two Stonechats, so I obviously hadn't been all that thorough.
This morning I was back, and so were the ringers. In fact they returned mob-handed. As well as Tony and Leigh, there was Sam, John S, and Julie from HOEF. Dave joined me as the rain started. It proved to be a muggy day with almost compete cloud cover and occasionally drizzly showers, annoying for the ringers but great for seeing birds in the field.
Dave and I decided to press on quite quickly and soon found a Stonechat and a Whinchat in the corner of the scrape field with numerous warblers. At the flash field we counted 16 Snipe, six Green Sandpipers, and the juvenile Ringed Plover. The latter remained distant but did fly around calling in panic when a Sparrowhawk powered across the field.
Luck plays a big part in birding and we got a large slab of it when we reached the "raptor watchpoint" above Stapenhill Wood. We had paused to try to see a warbler (probably a Blackcap) which had disappeared into a hawthorn. After about thirty seconds I shifted my left leg, and this tiny movement flushed a COMMON QUAIL which must have been cowering in the long grass inches from the end of my toe. We each shouted "Quail" as it flew fast and straight through a gap in the bushes and within about five seconds the event was over. Small and brown with tell-tale whitish braces along its back, it was enough for only my fifth actual sighting of a Quail. It was the second this year, the first having sung invisibly for a few days in June.
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| Common Quail |
It's a long time since I drew anything, and I can hardly call this a field sketch as it was drawn at home some time after the event, but I do have a strong mental image of what we saw and to my mind this does fit it.
The last part of the morning brought more warblers, including a brief view of a Lesser Whitethroat before we located a few more Stonechats. These brought the day tally to five and included a bird in full juvenile plumage.
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| Juvenile Stonechat |
Stonechats have several broods in a year, and the juveniles start moving before they start their moult into first-winter plumage. The ringers plan to colour-ring this species this autumn (if they can catch any) and it would certainly be interesting to know where our birds come from, and where they are going.
A very satisfactory weekend.
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