Please note that this is my own personal blog and therefore the views and opinions expressed, although in no way intended to be controversial, are not necessarily those shared by my employers Abbotsbury Tourism Ltd. and Ilchester Estates . All photos are © Steve Groves unless otherwise credited.



Sunday 21 September 2014

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.

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