Whitemoor Haye and Thursday evening update

At Whitemoor Haye this evening it was a bit quite, the birds we saw was a count of about of 50 Sand Martins and a single flying Snipe but the star bird was a flock of about 10 Tree Sparrows which is a new bird to add to the year list of 2017, which takes my total up to 121 birds.

Todays Egyptian Geese

 

Over at Tucklesholme this evening there was still no new migrants in, I'm still waiting on the arrival of Common Whitethroat, Lesser Whitethroat, Willow Warbler, Sedge Warbler and Garden Warbler.

The birds that were present today include a count of six Little Ringed Plovers and a single Ringed Plover on the main pit. Along the river we had five Swallows, two Sand Martins and two Flying Little Egrets, but the main bird of today was a pair of Egyptian Geese which had five chicks which could be seen on the little pool on the Derbyshire side of the river opposite the second pit.

 

Have a good rest of the week all - Joe and Martyn

Tuesday Update

Photo: Scottish Wildlife Trust

Today was a successful trip there were good numbers of singing Chiffchaffs all over the site but still no Willow Warblers yet. We also had our first Swallows of the year with three bird flying around the main pit, on the main pit itself we had two Little Ringed Plovers, a single Redshank and one Ringed Plover also four Lapwing. In the woodland area we had many singing Chiffchaffs and four singing Blackcaps. On the second pit there was a adult and Juvenile Little Ringed Plovers which gave us good views because bird on the second pit are usually a bit distant. On the river there were only two Sand Martins present.

Today:

Little Ringed Plover (4) - Ringed Plover (1) - Swallow (3) - Sand Martin (2) - Redshank (1) - Blackcap (4) - Gadwall (2)

Joe and Martyn

A weekend on the East coast

This weekend there hasn't been an update from Tucklesholme because we have taken a short break over in Suffolk and were able to take a visit to Minsmere R.S.P.B.

Photo: Norfolk Wildlife Trust

The trip to Minsmere produced some good ticks for the year. The first tick was a Cetti's Warbler which provided us with great views because it was only in a small clump of reeds on a small pond out side the visitor centre. We weren't able to see the Stone Curlews but they are very hard to spot, on the sea provided the first Gannet of the year. When we reached the scrape we were able to find one of the Caspian Gulls, good numbers of Mediterranean Gulls, two Turnstones, a pair of Pochards, a single Swallow and a male Mandarin Duck. 

 

By the sluice we found a single Yellow Legged Gull sitting on a post on the beach. In the woodland gave us the delight of seeing a pair of Marsh Tits which are always nice to see because of there status in the UK. At the Bittern Hide we saw three displaying Marsh Harriers and one Bittern was seen briefly in flight but we didn't manage to see it, but we did hear one booming on the North Wall, We also manage to see two Snipe in flight.

Have a good week all - Joe and Martyn

Sunday Update and Riverside Restoration Works

 

We paid a visit to Tucklesholme this morning. On the main pit we had a count of four Little Ringed Plovers and two Shelducks. As we made are way to the are of woodland we were greeted by five Sand Martins and we also notice that a lot of earth has been pilled up but I will talk about that in a bit more detail later. In the woodland area we had our first male Blackcap which was singing in the hedge line and was accompanied by many singing Chiffchaffs.  

Now on to the pile of earth, over the last couple of weeks earth as been removed from the riverside to give it a more natural state. A notice has been put up around the site to inform people on what is going on and this is what it said;

Over the next few weeks, the topsoil will be removed, leaving a low-lying area of gravels with pools and shallows which will be a haven for wetland birds, fish and invertebrates.

I think this is the start of the creation of Tucklesholme and work is well under way to bring back breeding Bitterns to Staffordshire.

Hope you have a good Sunday all - Joe and Martyn

The first Hirundine arrives

 

Another evening visit to Tucklesholme today produced the first Sand Martin of the year, this was only a single bird which was following the river Trent. On the main pit the five Little Ringed Plovers were still present along with the five Ringed Plovers, also a single Redshank was on the west shore as well as two Shelduck.

On the main pit there have been large numbers of Pied Wagtails about 10 - 15 birds and on todays visit we managed to find two White Wagtails a subspecies of the Pied Wagtail with a all grey back not glossy black..

Todays List:
Sand Martin (1) - Little Ringed Plover (5) - Ringed Plover (5) - White Wagtail (2) - Stock Dove (3) - Wigeon (4) - Redshank (1) - Shelduck (2) - Chiffchaff (4) - Teal (1) - Lapwing (5)

Have a Good Sunday all -  Martyn and Joe

Friday Update

Its Friday, the end of the week and we thought we should take the opportunity to go and visit Tucklesholme. With the nice weather and high pressure we suspected that most migrating bird would just fly over. When we arrived we noticed that an area by the river Trent and been cleared and earth had be transported on to the main pit, I suspect to use in the creation of the reed bed.

Birds to note from this evening was five Little Ringed Plovers which were with six Ringed Plovers, also a Redshank was heard flying over head and two Little Egrets flying along the river Trent.

Tucklesholme - 18/3/17

Today the male Goldeneye and Great White Egret still present, most of the wintering ducks have cleared out just leaving 2 Wigeon, 4 Teal, 5 Gadwall and 6 Tufted Duck. The first Little Ringed Plovers (photos) of the year with a count of 3 birds, 5 Ringed Plovers still present. A Redshank flew through and a Peregrine circled over the main pit, also 2 chiffchaffs, Kingfisher, Mistle Thrush and 5 Goosander.