Steve's Swannery Sightings: Abbotsbury Swannery Bird Sightings

Highlights...

July's best birds were two Glossy Ibises that lingered for a few days.

Glossy Ibises, Abbotsbury Swannery, July 2022 © Steve Groves

Also of note were up to five Little Ringed Plovers, two Knots, one Sanderling, regular Mediterranean Gulls, at least two Yellow-legged Gulls, a Roseate Tern, up to four Cattle Egrets, regular Grey Herons and Little Egrets, one Red Kite, at least one Barn Owl, at least two Kingfishers, regular Ravens, several Cetti's Warblers, at least one Firecrest, several Yellow Wagtails and two Corn Buntings.

Roseate Tern, Abbotsbury Swannery, July 2022 © Joe Stockwell

Cattle Egret, Abbotsbury Swannery, July 2022 © Joe Stockwell

The Month's Bird News In Full...

More details of the above highlights and the rest of this month's sightings...

Canada Goose... Present throughout. 890 were counted during the Wetland Bird Survey on the 17th.

Snow Goose... The regular summering bird was present until the 28th at least.

Black Swan... One from the 1st to the 9th, three from the 10th to the 14th and seven from the 15th to the month's end.

Mute Swan... Present throughout. 585 were counted during the Wetland Bird Survey on the 17th.

Whooper Swan... The resident (presumed escape) was present throughout.

Shelduck... Present throughout. The highest count was of at least 30 on the 13th.

Shoveler... Regularly encountered. The highest count was of at least 15 on the 21st.

Gadwall... Five on the 10th, 2 on the 11th and one on the 14th.

Wigeon... One on the 22nd, the first since April.

Mallard... Present throughout. 280 were counted during the Wetland Bird Survey on the 17th.

Teal... Regularly encountered. The highest count was of 12 on the 23rd.

Pochard... One was seen regularly from the 22nd to the 31st.

Tufted Duck... Present throughout. The highest count was of at least 33 on the 3rd.

Pheasant... Present throughout.

Red-legged Partridge... Regularly encountered. The highest counts were of at least five on the 7th and 28th. At least one possibly two broods were seen indicating the first confirmed breeding for the site!

Swift... Regularly encountered. The highest count was of at least 20 on the 27th.

Domestic/Feral Pigeon... Present throughout.

Stock Dove... Singles were noted on five dates.

Woodpigeon... Present throughout.

Collared Dove... Present throughout.

Moorhen... Present throughout. 10 were counted during the Wetland Bird Survey on the 17th.

Coot... Present throughout. 340 were counted during the Wetland Bird Survey on the 17th.

Little Grebe... Present throughout. Five were counted during the Wetland Bird Survey on the 17th.

Little Grebe (juv.), Abbotsbury Swannery, July 2022 © Steve Groves

Little Grebes, Abbotsbury Swannery, July 2022 © Steve Groves

Great Crested Grebe... Present throughout. 40 were counted during the Wetland Bird Survey on the 17th.

Oystercatcher... Present throughout. The highest count was of six on the 13th.

Lapwing... Present throughout. The highest counts were of five on the 8th and 31st.

Ringed Plover... One on the 27th.

Little Ringed Plover... Singles on the 21st, 22nd and 25th; two on the 29th and 30th.

Little Ringed Plover, Abbotsbury Swannery, July 2022 © Steve Groves

Whimbrel... One on the 24th.

Curlew... Singles on the 4th and 26th, two on the 29th and one on the 31st.

Bar-tailed Godwit... Two on the 4th.

Black-tailed Godwit... Regularly encountered. The highest count was of 15 on the 7th.

Black-tailed Godwits, Abbotsbury Swannery, July 2022 © Steve Groves

Turnstone... Singles on the 23rd and 29th.

Knot... Singles on the 21st and from the 27th - 29th.

Dunlin & Knot, Abbotsbury Swannery, July 2022 © Steve Groves

Sanderling... One on the 25th.

Dunlin... Regularly encountered. The highest count was of nine on the 15th.

Snipe... Two on the 22nd and one then regular to the 30th. The first since April.

Snipe, Abbotsbury Swannery, July 2022 © Steve Groves

Common Sandpiper... Virtually present throughout. The highest count was of 12 on the 5th.

Green Sandpiper... Singles were on the 2nd, 5th and 22nd, three on the 30th and one on the 31st.

Green Sandpiper, Abbotsbury Swannery, July 2022 © Steve Groves

Redshank... Regularly encountered. The highest count was of six on the 10th.

Greenshank... Regularly encountered. The highest count was of three on the 23rd.

Greenshank, Abbotsbury Swannery, July 2022 © Steve Groves

Dunlin & Greenshank, Abbotsbury Swannery, July 2022 © Steve Groves

Green Sandpiper, Snipe, Dunlin & Greenshank, Abbotsbury Swannery, July 2022
© Steve Groves

Black-headed Gull... Present throughout. 180 were counted during the Wetland Bird Survey on the 17th.

Mediterranean Gull... Virtually present throughout. From one to at least 10 were present most days.

Great Black-backed Gull... Present throughout. The highest count was of at least 40 on the 31st.

Herring Gull... Present throughout. 56 were counted during the Wetland Bird Survey on the 17th.

Yellow-legged Gull... Single juveniles on the 16th, 19th and 20th.

Lesser Black-backed Gull... One or two were regularly encountered.

Sandwich Tern... Regularly encountered. The highest count was of eight on the 10th.

Sandwich Terns (ad. & juv.), Abbotsbury Swannery, July 2022 © Steve Groves

Little Tern... Two on the 5th.

Roseate Tern... Singles on the 5th, 6th and 13th.

Roseate Tern, Abbotsbury Swannery, July 2022 © Steve Groves

Common Tern... Present throughout. The highest count was of at least 160 on the 6th.

Common Terns (ad. & juvs.), Abbotsbury Swannery, July 2022 © Steve Groves

Common Terns (juv.), Abbotsbury Swannery, July 2022 © Steve Groves

Cormorant... Present throughout. The highest count was of 50 on the 10th.

Glossy Ibis... Two from the 19th - 21st.

Glossy Ibis, Abbotsbury Swannery, July 2022 © Steve Groves

Glossy Ibis & Greenshank, Abbotsbury Swannery, July 2022 © Steve Groves

Cattle Egret... One on the 7th, one from the 26th - 30th and two on the 31st.

Cattle Egrets, Abbotsbury Swannery, July 2022 © Steve Groves

Cattle Egret, Abbotsbury Swannery, July 2022 © Steve Groves

Grey Heron... Present throughout. The highest count was of at least four on the 14th.

Little Egret... Present throughout. The highest count was of at least 40 on the 13th.

Little Egret, Abbotsbury Swannery, July 2022 © Steve Groves

Sparrowhawk... Singles were noted on four dates.

Red Kite... One on the 9th.

Buzzard... Present throughout.

Barn Owl... Singles were regularly encountered.

Tawny Owl... One was heard on the 25th.

Kingfisher... Regularly encountered. The highest count was of two on the 5th.

Great Spotted Woodpecker... One or two were regularly encountered.

Green Woodpecker... Singles on the 27th, 28th and 30th.

Kestrel... Present throughout. The highest count was of four on the 21st.

Peregrine... Singles on the 20th and 22nd.

Jackdaw... Present throughout.

Rook... Present throughout.

Carrion Crow... Present throughout.

Raven... Regularly encountered. The highest count was of six on the 5th.

Coal Tit... One or two were regularly encountered from the 3rd to the 14th.

Blue Tit... Present throughout.

Great Tit... Present throughout.

Skylark... Present throughout. The highest count was of at least 10 on the 19th.

Sand Martin... Regularly encountered. The highest count was of at least 450 on the 9th.

Swallow... Present throughout. The highest counts were of at least 50 on the 12th and 13th.

House Martin... Regularly encountered. The highest counts were of at least 50 on the 20th, 23rd and 24th.

Cetti's Warbler... Present throughout.

Long-tailed Tit... Present throughout. The highest count was of at least 20 on the 27th.

Willow Warbler... Singles were regularly encountered.

Chiffchaff... Present throughout. The highest count was of at least 30 on the 23rd.

Sedge Warbler... One or two at least were noted on four dates.

Reed Warbler... Present throughout. The highest counts were of at least 10 on several dates.

Blackcap... Present throughout.

Whitethroat... Singles were regularly encountered.

Firecrest... At least one (in song) was noted regularly to the 20th.

Goldcrest... Present throughout.

Wren... Present throughout.

Treecreeper... Present throughout.

Starling... Regularly encountered. The highest count was of at least 20 on the 30th.

Song Thrush... One was noted on three dates.

Blackbird... Present throughout.

Spotted Flycatcher... At least one of the unsuccessful breeding pair lingered to the 6th.

Robin... Present throughout.

Stonechat... Present throughout. The highest count was of at least eight on the 7th.

Wheatear... At least one on the 13th.

House Sparrow... Present in the gardens of the adjacent Grove Lane throughout.

Dunnock... Present throughout.

Yellow Wagtail... Regularly encountered. The highest count was of at least five on the 30th.

Grey Wagtail... One on the 6th and at least three on the 7th.

White Wagtail... One male on the 22nd.

Pied Wagtail... Present throughout.

Meadow Pipit... Present throughout.

Chaffinch... Present throughout.

Bullfinch... One or two were regularly encountered.

Greenfinch... One or two were regularly encountered.

Linnet... Present throughout. The highest count was of at least 10 on the 28th.

Goldfinch... Present throughout.

Corn Bunting... Two lingered on the adjacent slope of Chapel Hill to the 3rd.

Reed Bunting... Present throughout.

And that's it for this post except to thank my colleagues, Joe Stockwell, Charlie Wheeler, Kev Butler and Phil Jenks for additional sightings; Alan Barrett and Ian McLean for carrying out the WeBS and also an extra big thanks to Joe for the use several of his photos.

Until the next post here's a few images of other wildlife seen in July 2022...