'Bits & Bobs'

Swannery Birding Highlights Of The Week...

Monday 1st to Sunday 7th July 2013.......

Summary...

Now into July it was not surprising that the bird news this week is mostly all about waders but with just a hint of the passerine movement to come.

 

Waterfowl...

For the second week running there is not much to report with all the species from the last few weeks still present. The only real surprise was the very early appearance today of a drake Red-breasted Merganser! More expected was the first returning Little Grebe joining the moulting flock of thirty plus Great Crested Grebes.

 

Waders...

Joining the two Oystercatcher families this week were singles of Grey Plover, Lapwing, Curlew, Black-tailed Godwit, Bar-tailed Godwit and Green Sandpiper, while Redshank peaked at three and Common Sandpiper at six.

 

The Bar-tailed Godwit (with worm). © Charlie Wheeler.



The Black-tailed Godwit.

Gulls & Terns...

The post-breeding dispersal continued and among the Black-headed Gulls was the first juvenile of the year, while six Mediterranean Gulls and two early Common Gulls were also in their ranks. There were no surprises among the larger gulls and apart from a few Sandwich Terns the thriving Common Tern colony drew in no other species.





The putative intergrade  hirundo/longipennis  Common Tern reappeared this week... seen here centre with a typical adult hirundo left and a first summer right. © Charlie Wheeler 

 



The first two Common Tern chicks that fledged from the island today, hopefully the first of many!

Common Tern on Bum Point... food doesn't seem to have been hard to find this year!
© Charlie Wheeler

 



One of several Sandwich Terns that have been regular visitors to the the Common Tern colony.
© Charlie Wheeler

Land Birds...

With no raptors of note again it was left to the passerines to make the notebook and the only ones that did (as they were not local breeders) were a single flyover (heard only) Yellow Wagtail, the first of the 'autumn' and a few Sand Martins.
 

 And finally a few insects...

A female Beautiful Demoiselle...one of many now on the wing.

 



A teneral male Blue-tailed Damselfly.

 



An adult male Blue-tailed Damselfly.

 



Golden-ringed Dragonfly... I'd been stalking this beauty for a couple of weeks!

 



Leaf Beetle sp. © Charlie Wheeler.



Leaf Beetle sp. © Charlie Wheeler.

Less cooperative with the camera were a couple of firsts of the year... a Clouded Yellow Butterfly and a Scarlet Tiger Moth... hopefully the first of many!

A big thanks again to colleague Charlie for providing several of the above images. Check out Charlie's website by clicking the following link.... wheeler-photography