'Summertime And The Birding Is Measly'

Weekly Roundup...

Monday 25th June to Sunday 1st July 2012

Still typically rather quiet for the time of year...

New in were a Teal and three Shovelers (the first of the latter since April and yet more evidence of post breeding dispersal) and the 1st summer male Goldeneye still lingered (though there was no sign of last weeks Pintail). A few Gadwalls and Pochards are still over-summering along with the more abundant Mallards and Tufted Ducks and several Shelducks are still present including a now well grown family party. The moulting flock of Canada Geese now nearly outnumber the Mute Swans with over 600 hundred present and the two Black Swans remain.

Drake Shoveler (but I'm cheating this is from the archive).

The pair of Oystercatchers got at least three of their four young off the tern island (where the Common Terns now also have chicks) and onto adjacent Bum Point but now seem to be down to one, whilst the other pair are still incubating their replacement clutch on The Swannery Nest Site. Apart from the lingering single Lapwing I missed all the other waders this week... a Whimbrel by minutes on Tuesday whilst workmate Charlie had a Grey Plover, a Redshank and four Curlews on my day off on Wednesday.

Two of the Oystercatcher chicks after their 'sea crossing' from the tern island to Bum Point.
(Courtesy of Charlie Wheeler)

The (1st summer?) Grey Plover (Charlie Wheeler).

And again showing the diagnostic black axillaries (Charlie Wheeler).

A Cetti's Warbler was back singing in the Swannery grounds (in addition to the the territorial birds at the edge of the reedbeds at Ditchmoor and Knob End), the first there since early spring and a pair of Sedge Warblers were busy feeding fledglings after I had began to think they'd failed and moved on. The Reed Warblers too have now gone rather quiet but are still much in evidence.  Meanwhile up at the nearby Grove the juvenile Nuthatch was still visiting feeders and a vociferous Spotted Flycatcher perhaps suggested that this species is breeding on (or at least near) the patch this year after all. Another species only breeding on the perifery of The Swannery this year is Stonechat with the only pair being on the south slope of Chesters Hill (and therefore not seen during my daily ramblings of the grounds), thus a juvenile by Meadow Hide this week probably came from there.

Juvenile Stonechat Meadow path.

Fledgling Sedge Warbler (Charlie Wheeler)

Scarlet Tiger Moth...
One of a couple seen this week, this day flying moth has declined significantly here during the last 20 years... A couple of hundred would have been more likely in the late 1980's!