At Chevington last night, I saw my first Reed and Sedge Warblers of the year as well as a dark morph Arctic Skua offshore.
PWC 15
Species: 122
Points: 155
120. Sedge Warbler
121. Reed Warbler
122. Arctic Skua
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| American Wigeon |
Friday, 24 April 2015
American Wigeon...
Here's a couple of photos of the drake American Wigeon in fading light at Holywell Pond on Wednesday...
At Chevington last night, I saw my first Reed and Sedge Warblers of the year as well as a dark morph Arctic Skua offshore.
PWC 15
Species: 122
Points: 155
120. Sedge Warbler
121. Reed Warbler
122. Arctic Skua
At Chevington last night, I saw my first Reed and Sedge Warblers of the year as well as a dark morph Arctic Skua offshore.
PWC 15
Species: 122
Points: 155
120. Sedge Warbler
121. Reed Warbler
122. Arctic Skua
Sunday, 12 April 2015
Back to patch...
I had quite a successful return to my patch at Chevington over the weekend...
On Saturday the Great White Egret was showing quite well on the west side of the North Pool. My second 3-pointer of the year for Patchwork Challenge. A few Swallows, 3 Pintail and 7 Red-breasted Merganser were also present with 3+ Sandwich Terns offshore.
I finally added Bearded Tit to the patch list with brief view of a male in flight on Sunday. Nice to see after six years spent trying! A Barn Owl was nearby and 2 Pintail remained along with 4 Red-breasted Mergansers. There were good numbers of hirundines about as well.
Also on Saturday, a Little Ringed Plover and a White Wagtail were at the north end of Cresswell Pond, with a Wheatear at Snab Point on Sunday.
On Saturday the Great White Egret was showing quite well on the west side of the North Pool. My second 3-pointer of the year for Patchwork Challenge. A few Swallows, 3 Pintail and 7 Red-breasted Merganser were also present with 3+ Sandwich Terns offshore.
I finally added Bearded Tit to the patch list with brief view of a male in flight on Sunday. Nice to see after six years spent trying! A Barn Owl was nearby and 2 Pintail remained along with 4 Red-breasted Mergansers. There were good numbers of hirundines about as well.
Also on Saturday, a Little Ringed Plover and a White Wagtail were at the north end of Cresswell Pond, with a Wheatear at Snab Point on Sunday.
PWC 15
Species: 114
Points: 148
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| Great White Egret |
Devon Sound Recordings (including Penduline Tits)
Penduline Tits, Darts Farm, calls and song. Note this is a quiet recording, because I have had to remove some of the wind noise. The bird sounds haven't changed.
Cirl Bunting, Strete, song
Cirl Bunting, Prawle Point, calls
Cetti's Warbler, Slapton Ley, song
Cirl Bunting, Strete, song
Cirl Bunting, Prawle Point, calls
Cetti's Warbler, Slapton Ley, song
Devon, April 2015
Here's some of my highlights from an enjoyable week spent in Devon (excluding the Peduline Tits)...
Black-tailed Godwits
Bee Fly (?)
Cirl Buntings
Cetti's Warblers
Peregrine
Stonechat
Bee Fly (?)
ISS (with Iridum Flare from Irdium satellite 54 on the left in the first photo)
Wednesday, 8 April 2015
Penduline Tits in Devon...
I got lucky and saw the two brilliant Penduline Tits on their last day at RSPB Darts Farm. They showed absolutely brilliantly, down to just a few metres and were quite vocal, both calling and singing. I'll try and add a windy sound recording in the next few days. Here's quite a few photos...
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| Penduline Tits |
Sunday, 29 March 2015
Patching...
An early start this morning resulted in a great morning on my patch despite again not seeing the Bearded Tits. First up was a Red-legged Partridge on the approach road at Chevington. My first time I've ever seen a Red-legged on my patch. A female Pintail accompanied two drakes on the north pool, and 3 Sand Martin were there along with 4 Red-breasted Mergansers and a Water Rail.
Briefly two Avocets dropped on to the North Pool calling, but stayed less than thirty seconds before flying off north. Back at the parking spaces the male Marsh Harrier was performing brilliantly, as were two Barn Owls. A single Pink-footed Goose remained on the South Pool.
Finally at the beach 4 Snow Buntings were present at the burn mouth and a Shag and a Kittiwake was offshore.
PWC 15
Species: 110
Points: 137
104. Snow Bunting
105. Red-legged Partridge
106. Barn Owl
107. Marsh Harrier
108. Avocet
109. Shag
110. Kittiwake
Briefly two Avocets dropped on to the North Pool calling, but stayed less than thirty seconds before flying off north. Back at the parking spaces the male Marsh Harrier was performing brilliantly, as were two Barn Owls. A single Pink-footed Goose remained on the South Pool.
Finally at the beach 4 Snow Buntings were present at the burn mouth and a Shag and a Kittiwake was offshore.
PWC 15
Species: 110
Points: 137
104. Snow Bunting
105. Red-legged Partridge
106. Barn Owl
107. Marsh Harrier
108. Avocet
109. Shag
110. Kittiwake
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| Marsh Harrier |
Sunday, 15 March 2015
Catch up...
Over the past couple of weeks I've had a couple of trips to the patch.
Last weekend the highlight was the number of Whooper Swans around, with 73 at Chevington, 60 at Widdrington Moor Lake (along with my 3rd Northumberland Bewick's Swan), 20 off Hadston and 11 at Warkworth Lane. The Ross's Goose was also at Widdrington Moor Lake. Back on my patch the first Lesser Black-backed Gulls started to appear last weekend, and the Black-necked Grebe remained at Chevington.
Today it was even quieter around the bay. At least 2 obvious Scandinavian Rock Pipits were on the beach at Hadston. For some reason they looked more obvious in the field than in my photos...
The Black-necked Grebe was still at Chevington along with a drake Pintail.
On a different note here's a photo of Uranus which was visible just to the left of Venus through the telescope on the 4th.
Last weekend the highlight was the number of Whooper Swans around, with 73 at Chevington, 60 at Widdrington Moor Lake (along with my 3rd Northumberland Bewick's Swan), 20 off Hadston and 11 at Warkworth Lane. The Ross's Goose was also at Widdrington Moor Lake. Back on my patch the first Lesser Black-backed Gulls started to appear last weekend, and the Black-necked Grebe remained at Chevington.
Today it was even quieter around the bay. At least 2 obvious Scandinavian Rock Pipits were on the beach at Hadston. For some reason they looked more obvious in the field than in my photos...
The Black-necked Grebe was still at Chevington along with a drake Pintail.
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| Bewick's Swan with Whoopers |
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| Ross's Goose |
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| Whooper Swans |
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| Scandinavian Rock Pipits - the bird in the first five photos is perhaps the most striking littoralis that I've ever seen. |
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| British Rock Pipit |
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