Wren (Troglodytes troglodytes) from the John Morgan Hide

A distant photograph of Little Ringed Plover (Charadrius dubious) from the John Morgan Hide.

Plenty of Black tailed Godwit today 150 plus. not many of them close enough to get a decent shot but this one was ok

Black Tailed Godwit coming in to land

Sunflower photo

A visit on Monday evening to lock the reserve resulted in excellent views of the Wood Sandpiper from the Tower Hide. Also present were 124 Canada Geese and 5 Green Sandpiper. In spite of ideal conditions there was no sign of Purple Hairstreaks and it looks as though this year will produce no sightings of this enigmatic species. Today’s walk was full of interest with a female Pheasant and 6 well-grown young on Butchersfield Tip. No.3 bed held large numbers of Black-tailed Godwit (at least 170) and over 200 Lapwing together with the usual Green Sandpipers. There were good numbers of Teal and Shoveler although I did not do a count. The highlight of the day was the large number of Speckled Wood butterflies with a total of 118 across the reserve. A further 15 were found on the northern section of No.1 bed on Saturday making an overall total of 133. Photo; Sunflowers on No.3 bed

Migrant Hawker taken from next to foot bridge No 3 bed

Record shot of Wood sandpiper from Tower hide 29th August

2 Greenshank taken from the Rotary hide 29 August 2016

Wood sandpiper from the tower hide, big Thanks to the lovely people Who let me use their scope. 2 Greenshank from John Morgan hide , A hobby flew over plus two skylarks attacking a buzzard!!! A stock dove perched on top of the feeders. Also a willow tit heard singing near frank Linley hide and calling chiffchaffs. 2 shovelers and a little grebe from the rotary hide. 200 lapwing, 100+ black tailed godwits, at least 50 Canada geese and lots of teal. A few snipe too. Greylags, cormorant, lesser black backs, gadwall, mallard and tufted duck. A heron , mute swan, coot and moorhen from bridge. Brown hawker dragonfly and some other dragons around the meadows which I haven’t identified, not yet anyway!! Small white , gatekeeper and speckled wood butterfly’s.

Wood Sandpiper - Only a record shot I’m afraid, taken at distance which I had to hard crop.

More good wader-watching on No.3 bed this morning, with: 3 Greenshanks, 3 Green Sandpipers, 121 Black-tailed Godwits, 14 Snipe and 230 Lapwings. Raptors also made their presence felt with the wader flock flushing nervously when first a Sparrowhawk and then the resident juvenile female Peregrine came skimming through, while 8 Buzzards were soaring in the distance. Hirundines passed through in small numbers, with 31 Swallows, 27 House Martins and just 1 Sand Martin counted. Finally,Kieran Foster’s ringing team turned up their third juvenile Cetti’s Warbler of the year.

Photo of the Cetti’s Watbler

Cheers David Bowman (with Dave Steel, David Spencer, Alan Warford, Helen Allan, Kelly Ainsworth, Sue Haddock and Les Jones.)

An evening visit to No.3 bed on Monday 22nd August produced 62 Shoveler, 1 Water Rail,3 Green Sandpiper, 1 Common Sandpiper, 1 Redshank and 1 Snipe. Today was a lovely late summer day and a pleasant change from the recent rain. 6 Buzzards were soaring over Butchersfield Tip whilst on No.3 bed were 66 Black-tailed Godwit, 66 Teal, and 282 Lapwing. A Little Egret dropped in but only stayed a few minutes. A reserve-wide count of Mallard was 86 which is my highest total recently. Butterflies were present in smallish numbers but a reserve total of 45 Speckled Wood was reasonable. Other counts were 39 Meadow Brown and 7 Common Blue. Only 8 Gatekeeper remained and by the end of the month they will probably have disappeared with only the odd one or two surviving into September. A Painted Lady on No.1 bed was a pleasant surprise.

A 5.30am start on No.3 bed produced the goods this morning, with a Wood Sandpiper feeding a fair way out from the South Screen, with 3 Green Sandpipers for comparison. From the Morgan Hide 116 Black-tailed Godwits, 1 Common Sandpiper, another Green Sandpiper and 255 Lapwings were roosting or feeding in the shallows, silhouetted by the rising sun. A Kingfisher came and fished for a while from the perch in front of the hide and a few Swallows and Sand Martins moved through. The peace was eventually disturbed when a large, juvenile female Peregrine arrived (probably from the brood which fledged on the Reserve), skimming to flush the whole wader flock and then making determined but unsuccessful efforts to catch one of the Godwits. Most of the waders then flew west, hopefully to land and feed on the Loop of No.4 bed, rather than to leave the Reserve for safer pastures. From the Rotary Hide a single juvenile Black-necked Grebe was still present.

The link is to a video clip showing the Kingfisher and the Peregrine skimming round the bed after its failed hunt.

Click here to watch Dave’s video clip of Kingfisher and Peregrine or cut and paste the link below into your browser

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=osumZ8BH7K0

Cheers David Bowman (with John Haddock and David Spencer)

On No.3 Bed this morning,110 Black-tailed Godwits, 1 Greenshank,2 Green Sandpipers, 2 Common Sandpipers and a Juvenile Little ringed Plover. Lots of Lapwings but not counted. At 1130 hrs a female Goosander dropped on to bed in front of Morgan hide. It did not stay long but long enough to be seen by several permit holders. A single Black-necked Grebe juvenile still present feeding well on north-west pool. A Willow Tit calling by Rotary hide and another on Morgan hide feeders. At least 10 Common Snipe seen but probably more in cover.

Photo of a Ruddy Darter present on No.1 Bed yesterday

Black-tailed Godwit (Limosa limosa) from The John Morgan Hide

Black-tailed Godwit (Limos mimosa for The John Morgan Hide

After yesterday’s reports of Marsh Harrier, Tree Pipit and Hobby, it was back to wader watching this morning, with No.3 bed producing: 3 Green Sandpipers (though the 7 counted last night by David Spencer were probably still present), 2 Common Sandpipers, 72 Black-tailed Godwits, 14 Snipe and 55 Lapwings. Two juvenile Black-necked Grebes are late stayers and look ready to go south any day soon. In the middle of the day I went to do a dragonfly survey on the “New Pool” on No.1 bed. Totals were (brackets for counts on No.3 bed): Common Darter 43 (5), Ruddy Darter 3 (0), Migrant Hawker 0 (1), Brown Hawker 4 (9), Southern Hawker 3 (1), Emperor Dragonfly 2 (0). There were also small numbers of Blue-tailed, Common Blue and Blue-tailed Damselflies. I had a bash at flight photography of dragonflies, which is every bit as hard as it sounds. The photo is of two Common Darters.

Cheers David

Green Sandpiper (Tringa ocherous) from The John Morgan Hide

Common Sandpiper (Actitis hypoleucos) from The John Morgan Hide

Black-tailed Godwit (Limosa mimosa) from The John Morgan Hide

Not too much moving through No.3 bed this morning. Still a few waders around, though, with 3 Dunlin, 7 Green Sandpipers, 2 Common Sandpipers, 13 Black-tailed Godwits, 5 Snipe and 155 Lapwings. After a week or so of scanning, finally managed to see a colour-ringed Green Sandpiper only for the orange Darvic ring to be coated in mud and completely unreadable. Finished off the morning with a nice hour’s insect photography. The photo is of a Migrant Hawker (I think!) taken on the south bank of No.3 bed this morning - no doubt Mr.Baird will put me right if it’s not!

Cheers David Bowman (wth David Spencer, Paul Hazlehurst, Brian Baird and Les Jones)

No sign of the Bittern on No.3 bed this morning but, hopefully it’s still around. Decent numbers of waders included: 2 Dunlin, 7 Green Sandpipers, 3 Common Sandpipers, 13 Black-tailed Godwits, 8 Snipe and 65 Lapwings. Other sightings of interest included: 1 Water Rail, 1 Kingfisher, 1 Peregrine, 3 Sparrowhawks, 2 Willow Tits, 25 Shoveler and still, 3 young Black-necked Grebes, all looking ready to fly. As an aside about the Green Sandpipers, despite 5 having been colour ringed in the last week or so, all seven of today’s weren’t colour ringed, suggesting a high level of movement through the bed. Finished off with an hour’s macro photography.

Photo of a Hoverfly sp.

Cheers David Bowman (with David Spencer)

Pied Wagtail (Motacilla alba) from the John Morgan Hide

Common Sandpiper (Actitis hypoleucos) from John Morgan Hide

A bit of birding luck this afternoon. I had a meeting to discuss the forthcoming maintenance work on the No.3 bed reed-bed. We walked up to the south screen and were chatting, over-looking the reed bed when I picked up a large bird rising out of the reeds about half-way down the bed. We all then had great views of a Bittern as it flew straight towards us before veering to our right and dropping down into the reeds. We didn’t re-find it but, hopefully, it’ll stay around. Other sightings included: 5 Green Sandpipers (again from the South Screen) plus 8 Black-tailed Godwits and a Common Sandpiper from the Morgan Hide.

Cheers David Bowman (with John Langley, Colin Wells and Robin Horner)

A really good variety of birds on No.3 bed this morning. Waders were in the forefront with 1 Curlew, 5 Green Sandpipers, 2 Common Sandpipers, 3 Snipe, 5 Black-tailed Godwits and 160 Lapwings. Interestingly, even though Kieran Foster and his team have colour-ringed 5 different Green Sandpipers this week, none of the 3 we saw well were colour-ringed, which gives an idea of the numbers passing through/using the bed. Highlight, though was a nice juvenile Tree Pipit trapped by Kieran et al - a very scarce bird on No.3 bed. Other sightings of interest were of 2 Hobbies, which showed on and off for most of the morning, 1 Peregrine, 1 Common Tern, 7 Grey Wagtails, 1 Kingfisher, 1 Garden Warbler, 2 Willow Tits, 1 Water Rail and a pair of Tawny Owls calling at dawn (per KF).

Cheers David Bowman (with Dave Steel, David Spencer, Alan Warford, Paul Hazlehurst, Brian Baird and Les Jones)

Juvenile Sedge Warbler

Juvenile Sedge Warbler (photo) seen on pathway close to Morgan Hide.

Here’s a link to a brief clip of the juvenile Little Egret (identified as such by the yellowish legs and bill, rather than the black of an adult)which turned up on No.3 bed earlier this week. Intrigued to know where it originated from. Maybe the colony at Burton Wetlands?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iSVvEYcYAq4

Cheers David Bowman

Common Sandpiper seen from the John Morgan hide this morning

With the water levels dropping nicely on No.3 bed, wader numbers should start to increase as autumn passage gains pace. This morning, 3 Green Sandpipers, 1 Common Sandpiper and 7 Black-tailed Godwits were present, along with a juvenile Little Egret and a Common Tern. There were still 3 adult Black-necked Grebes present, along with a few fully grown young, while nearly 300 Swifts went west in a couple of hours.

The photo is of the Little Egret

Cheers David Bowman (with David Spencer and Bert Lloyd)

Omitted to mention the very inquisitive Sedge Warbler that’s in the photo - was flitting in circles around me just near Morgan Hide.

Alone on the reserve for a couple of hours on a damp Tuesday! Plenty going on in spite of initial quiet appearances. A Grey Heron provided some drama attemtping to swallow a juvenile Great Crested Grebe - quite a well grown bird that I hope escaped by repeatedly diving - but the drama finished behind some reeds so I’m not sure! Otherwise I saw 3 adult Black Necked Grebe and 2 juv, 7 Black Tailed Godwit, 33 Lapwing, a single common and a single green Sandpiper, plenty of juvenile Willow Warbler and several Chiffchaff, a Great Spotted Woodpecker flying over, a single Jay, 2 Common Whitethroat and a Willow Tit, and 5 Cormorants over.

A lunchtime/afternoon visit to No.3 bed today was rewarding, despite the odd shower. Most of the remaining Black-necked Grebe young are now independent, with five feeding actively in front of the Morgan Hide and another with two adults in front of the Lindley Hide. The heaviest shower brought down 2 Common Terns, which didn’t hang around. Wader totals were: 5 Black-tailed Godwits, 2 Green Sandpipers, 2 Common Sandpipers, 4 Snipe and 12 Lapwings. Other notable sightings were 2 Kingfishers and a Water Rail, briefly from the South Screen.

Photo of a Goldfinch.

Cheers David Bowman