Post breeding birds are beginning to build now, notably Lapwing of which there are regularly 100+ birds on the spit and gulls, both LWHG and BHG. Today's adult Yellow-legged Gull is the same bird I saw last Friday (20th) and no doubt will be the first of a few during the regular post breeding influx.
A single Oystercatcher has been around most days since the 7th and adult Little Ringed Plovers fluctuate between 1 and 3 - I'm sure this number will increase and hopefully with some juveniles as well.
A few unseasonal ducks have appeared during the month. Following the pair of Teal, which departed straight away, there has been a single one day male Pochard on the 9th, a single male Shoveler on the 11th, followed by a pair on the 16th and then 2 different males from the 19th, which are still there today. The Shelduck seem to have finally given up the ghost, as I last saw the regular pair on the 16th, when there in fact 2 pairs present.
The Common Tern rafts have been fairly successful this year - I counted 13 small juveniles on the 13th and there is still much feeding of larger juveniles today, but counting them whilst they also shelter from the sun is not easy!
Plenty of evidence of other successful breeding as well, Great Crested Grebes, Coots, Moorhens, Mallards, Cormorants, Grey Herons amongst others and I saw some young Reed Warblers chasing around a NW reed bed last week.
Anyway, as predicted, today's adult Green Sandpiper and Yellow-legged Gull mark the start of Autumn, as birds begin to move back through - Summer only lasts a couple of weeks in birding!
No comments:
Post a Comment