Monday 22nd to Sunday 28th September 2014...

Swannery Birding Highlights Of The Week... 

'Bird Of The Week'... was the Red-backed Shrike (a first winter) that frequented the perimeter of the field behind Chapel Withybed, on Monday...

The (1st winter) Red-backed Shrike. © Charlie Wheeler 
Unfortunately it was rather wary and unapproachable.

A more heavily cropped image of the Red-backed Shrike © Charlie Wheeler  
Both images are courtesy of Charlie Wheeler wheeler-photography as my efforts were atrocious!

There have only been two other records of Red-backed Shrike at The Swannery during my 25 year tenure. The last one, back in October 2007, favoured the very same area as this year's bird. The only other individual was back in October 1998 and that frequented the hedge adjacent to Meadow Hide. Incidentally my only other Swannery shrike was a Woodchat in May 1989 (although I have seen two other Woodchats elsewhere in Abbotsbury since). I still await my first Swannery Great Grey though but I won't hold my breath as surprisingly the sole record for The Fleet recording area was way back in June 1952! Tantalisingly, during an autumn back in the 90's, I did discover a shrike's larder on the barbedwire atop the perimeter fence but unfortunately it's owner had long gone!

And now to the  rest of the week's news...

Wildfowl... The first Dark-bellied Brent Goose of the autumn flew down The Fleet on Monday and proved to be the only 'new in' species of the week, with all the usual ducks still present in similar numbers including the regular female Scaup and the male Goldeneye. 

Two drake Gadwall © Charlie Wheeler  wheeler-photography 

Waders... Another rather poor week saw singles of Knot, Dunlin, Black-tailed Godwit, Common Sandpiper and Redshank, along with a few Snipe and a peak of ten Lapwing. 

Gulls & Terns... Yet another week passed without any terns and no real noteworthy gulls until Sunday when there were six Mediterranean Gulls and a single (first winter) Yellow-legged Gull. 

Great Black-backed Gull (1st winter) © Charlie Wheeler  wheeler-photography 

Other water-birds... There's really nothing to add to the last few week's sightings but again  a few Water Rails and Kingfishers were showy at times...

Water Rail

Kingfisher © Charlie Wheeler  wheeler-photography 

Raptors... The regular male Marsh Harrier, that reappeared this week, after an abscence of a week or so, was the only noteworthy sighting. 

Passerines etc... Although not of the same quality as the shrike there was a slight improvement in the quantity of the 'less common migrants' this week with singles of Garden Warbler, Spotted Flycatcher and Redstart...

This week's Redstart

'Commoner' migrants included a few Yellow Wagtails, Wheatears and Stonechats in the adjacent fields and there were still plenty of Swallows and House Martins moving through overhead, along with a few Meadow Pipits, Linnets and Skylarks. With the exception of a few more Goldcrests there was no real change in the withybeds with Chiffchaffs and Blackcaps still predominating along with the odd Whitethroat, whilst the reedbeds still held a few Reed, Sedge and Cetti's Warblers. All the usual 'residents' were still to be seen of course but new in was the first Jay of the year, though it could well have been a migrant rather than a local bird. 

Wheatear

And Finally Another One That Got Away... 
Luke Phillips observed a Dotterel flying towards The Swannery over his ringing site, a mile or so to the east, on Sunday afternoon. Unfortunately I didn't get his message until the evening but in fact  I was well placed at The Swannery at around the time of the initial sighting so should have connected with it if it had been calling and not to high but I didn't. Oddly enough the day before I had checked through a Lapwing flock in a ploughed field on top of adjacent Chesters Hill, as it looked good for Dotterel but to no avail! Hopefully one day soon though I'll get to add this enigmatic plover to The Swannery list!

So that's it for this week. My thanks to Charlie and Luke. Now bring on October!

Monday 15th to Sunday 21st September 2014...

Swannery Birding Highlights Of The Week... 

Wildfowl... The regular female Scaup and the male Goldeneye were still in the now 200 strong Pochard/Tufted Duck flock, whilst dabbler numbers were pretty much the same, with a peak of around 200 Teal, 30 Shoveler, 30 Wigeon, 30 Pintail and 10 Gadwall.

The long-staying female Scaup

Waders... Last week's Little Stint lingered on meadow pool to Tuesday in company with three Snipe (with a few of the latter also scattered around the reedbeds) but disappointingly the only other waders, save for a few Lapwing, were all fly-overs and consisted of singles of Ruff, Black-tailed Godwit and Greenshank. 

The juv. Little Stint

The three Snipe

Gulls & Terns... Another week passed without any terns and no real noteworthy gulls but Mediterranean Gulls increased to around fifty early in the week. 

Other water-birds... There's really nothing to add to the last few week's sightings but there were plenty of Cormorants on the move both along the coast and departing and arriving from inland, while a very confiding individual frequented the 'moat'...

 

Raptors... There were plenty of Kestrels and Buzzards along with the occasional Sparrowhawk and Peregrine but nothing else.

Kestrel © Charlie Wheeler 

Passerines etc... There was very little in the way of migrant passerines this week either with only a few Yellow Wagtails and a single Wheatear in the adjacent fields. There were however still plenty of Swallows and House Martins, a few Sand Martins and a latish Swift moving through overhead, along with a few Meadow Pipits, the first few passage Skylarks and the first Song Thrush for a few months. There was no real change in the withy and reedbeds either with Chiffchaffs and Sedge Warblers still predominating along with a few Blackcaps and the odd Whitethroat but precious little else!

I'll leave you with an image of a Migrant Hawker Dragonfly that work colleague Charlie captured this week...

Migrant Hawker © Charlie Wheeler 

Thanks to Charlie for the use of some of the above images. Click the following link to check out Charlie's web site wheeler-photography.

Monday 8th to Sunday 14th September 2014...

Swannery Birding Highlights Of The Week... 

Wildfowl...

Joining the regular female Scaup in the steadily increasing Pochard/Tufted Duck flock this week was the first Goldeneye of the autumn... 

The moulting adult male Goldeneye

With high spring tides dabbler numbers were pretty much the same as last week, with a peak of around 150 Teal, 20 Shoveler, 20 Wigeon, 20 Pintail & 5 Gadwall.

Waders...

The best wader of the week was again a Spotted Redshank (Tuesday), that this time was only a fly-over, as was yet another Wood Sandpiper (Monday) but a Little Stint did dally briefly (today)... 

 

Above two images (the second more heavily cropped) this morning's brief juv. Little Stint on meadow pool.
It was a year ago this month of course that this same pool held The Swannery's first Semi-palmated Sandpiper, which also happened to be my last Swannery tick!

Last Sunday's Knot lingered to Monday, whilst peak counts of commoner species were Dunlin 5; Ringed Plover 3; Common Sandpiper 2; Green Sandpiper 2; Greenshank 1; Curlew 1 and Snipe 1. 

Gulls & Terns...

This proved to be the first week that there were no terns of any species present since early April and the only gulls of any note at all were a few Mediterraneans!

Other water-birds...

There's not really much to add to last week's tally, but the novelty of now regular Kingfisher and Water Rail sightings after an absence in the summer has not yet diminished...  

Kingfisher off Bum Point

Raptors... 

The autumn's second Merlin was seen on Monday, whilst the only other raptor of any real note was the regular male Marsh Harrier. 

Passerines etc...

Of the 100 or so Yellow Wagtails present in Monday night's roost, Steve & Luke managed to ring 30 including 3 flavas. A few of the latter continental race birds (known as 'Blue-headed Wagtails') are now ringed annually at The Swannery roost (although rare, less than annual 'in-the-field' sightings, are usually confined to the occasional adult male in the Spring). A few possible thunbergi Scandinavian race birds (known as 'Grey-headed Wagtails') have also been ringed in recent years but none so far this year, despite the easterly airflow. Amongst the Pied Wagtails feeding in the meadow however, I did manage to pick out a few continental/Icelandic race albas (known as 'White Wagtails'). There were no other real surprises this week though, with only single figures of Wheatear and a single Spotted Flycatcher in the fields and hedgerows but still plenty of Swallows, House and Sand Martins moving through overhead along with a few Meadow Pipits. There was no real change in the withy and reedbeds either with, not surprisingly, Chiffchaffs predominating in the former and Sedge Warblers in the latter but unfortunately there were no additional species from last week's tally. So with scarcer migrants now arriving in force on the east coast let's hope some will filter down this way real soon!

I'll leave with a couple of other wildlife images captured this week...

Not everyone's cup of tea... Grey Squirrel on the roof of Meadow Hide

Not everyone's cup of tea for different reasons... young Grass Snake

Monday 1st to Sunday 7th September 2014...

Swannery Birding Highlights Of The Week... 

Wildfowl...

For once the best duck of the week was not the long-staying female Scaup but a juvenile Garganey... 

The juv. Garganey at the back of The Decoy Pond on Wednesday

Unfortunately it was only present for an hour or so and was not seen again. Also 'new in' this week were the first Pintail of the autumn. Today's September WeBS totals were: Mute Swan - 667; Black Swan - 2; Canada Goose - 210; Gadwall - 5; Mallard - 450; Teal - 152; Pintail - 16; Shoveler - 21; Pochard - 14; Tufted Duck - 113; Scaup - 1. In addition, on Tuesday the Bar-headed Goose returned briefly and Wigeon peaked at 5.

Teal, Wigeon & Pintail at 'The Fleet Pipe'

Waders...

The best wader of the week was the adult Spotted Redshank, that was present on Thursday... 

The Spotted Redshank, with Redshank left & Greenshank right

Above three pics the Spotted Redshank with a Redshank

Above four pics the moulting adult Spotted Redshank on 'Meadow Pool'

Spotted Redshank is a relatively scarce visitor to The Swannery, this week's being only the second record in the last five years. Other uncommon waders this week were a Wood Sandpiper (also on Thursday and again on Saturday but on both occasions seen only by ringers Steve and Luke) and two Ruffs that flew in and landed on Meadow Pool during this morning's WeBS... 

This is the only half decent shot I could get of the two juvenile male Ruffs together.
Grrr, if I've trimmed that reed back once...

As you can see from the above two pics at least one of the Ruffs came out of cover!

Today's September WeBS totals (with any higher counts in the week in brackets) were: Oystercatcher - 2; Lapwing - 4; Knot - 1; Dunlin - 2; Ruff - 2; Common Sandpiper - 6; Green Sandpiper - 2 (4); Greenshank - 1 (2); Redshank - 4 (7). In addition earlier in the week Black-tailed Godwit peaked at 2 and there were singles of Bar-tailed Godwit, Whimbrel, Curlew and Sanderling, whilst at least 3 Ringed Plover were 'heard only'.

Juv. Black-tailed Godwit

Green Sandpiper

Greenshank on Meadow Pool

Greenshank at the Fleet Pipe

Common Sandpiper on Bum Point

Gulls & Terns...

The  highlight was the juvenile Arctic Tern (first seen last Sunday) that lingered until Monday... 

The juv. Arctic Tern that was a bit more cooperative for the camera this week

The only other tern seen this week was a juvenile Common Tern and there were no gulls of any real note, with Mediterranean Gulls for instance peaking at no more than 3. Today's September WeBS totals were: Black-headed Gull - 300; Herring Gull - 40; Great Black-backed Gull - 24. In addition in the week there were a few 'Lesser Black-backs' and a single Common Gull was seen on Saturday...

One of the autumn's first few Common Gull's (a 2nd year).

Other Water-birds...

Today's September WeBS totals were: Little Grebe - 23; Great Crested Grebe - 47; Cormorant - 20; Little Egret - 11; Grey Heron - 1; Moorhen - 12; Coot - 500; Kingfisher - 1. In addition in the week there were a few Water Rails in evidence.

Just some of the Little Grebes now in residence...

...And a close up of a Little Grebe

Kingfisher at the Fleet Pipe

Raptors...

An Osprey was seen daily from Monday to Thursday... 

A distant, heavily cropped shot, of the Osprey

There was also a single Merlin on Saturday (Steve & Luke) and a single Hobby on Tuesday... 

Juvenile Hobby over the Fleet Pipe © Charlie Wheeler wheeler-photography

Two Marsh Harriers were seen, a juvenile and the regular male and there were several Buzzards, Sparrowhawks and Kestrels of course, as well as the occasional Peregrine.

Passerines etc...
To Pipits & Wagtails first and at last (having had none in the spring) my first couple of Tree Pipits of the year flew over and (after inexplicably having had none breed in the recording area this year) it was great to hear the first overhead passage this autumn of Meadow Pipits. The Yellow Wagtail roost peaked at only around 30, and among the Pieds were my first few White Wagtails of the autumn, whilst for the set, the occasional Grey Wagtail flew over. Thrushes, Chats & Flycatchers included single figures of Wheatears and Stonechats most days, along with 3 Whinchats, a Redstart and a Spotted Flycatcher. There were also plenty of Robins and Blackbirds of course but there have been no other thrushes for weeks now. Warblers included good but unimpressive numbers of Reed, Sedge and Cetti's in the reedbeds and Willow, Chiffchaff, Blackcap and Whitethroat in the withybeds but there were no surprises.

There have been good numbers of Swallows and House Martins overhead along with a few Sand Martins and a tardy Swift. 

For the sake of completeness (as I have already listed all the wetland species) 'residents' not already mentioned this week were Great Tit, Blue Tit, Long-tailed Tit, Goldcrest, Wren, Treecreeper, Nuthatch, Dunnock, House Sparrow, Chaffinch, Linnet, Goldfinch, Greenfinch, Reed Bunting, Starling, Magpie, Jackdaw, Rook, Carrion Crow, Raven, Pheasant, 'Feral Pigeon', Stock Dove, Wood Pigeon, Collared Dove, Green Woodpecker and Great Spotted Woodpecker.

So all in all a pretty good week! 

Thanks to ringers Steve and Luke, WeBS counters Alan and Ian and work colleagues Charlie and Judy for all their sightings.

I'll leave you with a couple of Charlie's images from the 'Fleet Pipe Hide'. Thanks again Charlie...

Greenshank with Shoveler & a Black-headed Gull © Charlie Wheeler wheeler-photography

Spotted Redshank © Charlie Wheeler wheeler-photography