A work visit to Budby Heath yesterday produced a nice Red Kite, only my second in Notts this year, plus a few fly-over Siskin and Lesser Redpoll - but no hoped-for Crossbills. In the evening, a thrash of the patch produced 2 eclipse drake Pintail on Mons Pool (one with an orange ring on its right leg, but no metal ring), a total of 11 Curlew, and a 2CY Yellow-legged Gull amongst 652 Lesser Black-backed Gulls; I was surprised to see this number of Lesser Black-backs as on my previous evening visit on 13th there were none whatsoever.
This morning, and a good few hours working Collingham yielded my third patch Spotted Fly of the year, this time a nice showy individual on Carlton Ferry Lane adjacent to the Silt Lagoon. Other bits and pieces included 4 Curlew and single Greenshank, Common Sand and Pintail on the Silt Lagoon, 4 Green Sands and a Hobby at Mons Pool, and 459 Coot, almost all on Ferry Lane Lake, where there was an adult Yellow-legged Gull in with 40-odd Lesser Black-backs.
Whilst at Mons Pool, I checked the sightings book (which I'm afraid to say I rarely fill in), and was a bit perplexed to see news of an immature Spoonbill "in flight and appearing to land at Mons Pool" back on Saturday 12th. I don't remember seeing this reported...
A visit to the Lincolnshire coast was the order of the day yesterday. I thought conditions looked promising, but after nearly seven hours in the dunes at Rimac, all I had to show for my efforts were brief views of single Pied Fly, Redstart and Whinchat. Other migrants were thin on the ground too, with 5+ Whitethroats, 3+ Lesser Whitethroats, 2 Garden Warblers, 12+ Chiffchaffs, 6+ Goldcrests, 47 Swallows (south in several parties), 11 House Martins (south), and 3 Meadow Pipits (not moving). A Peregrine and 2 Marsh Harriers enlivened proceedings.
More patching on Friday and today. On Friday I bumped into Mark Dawson and we looked round Collingham together; there wasn't a huge amount on offer, but I picked out a Garganey on Ferry Lane Lake - this had been one of only two species that I haven't self found this year on the patch (the other being Turnstone), with Mark having found the previous Garganey.
Today, and all I could manage was single Greenshank and Common Sand, and 2 Green Sands, with a few Chiffchaffs, Blackcaps and a Lesser Whitethroat still in the hedges, and a Yellow Wag, a few Meadow Pipits and a little group of Swallows over.
I spent a considerable amount of time this weekend working the hedgerows and scrub at Collingham and Besthorpe in the vain hope of a Redstart. It wasn't to be, although there were plenty of warblers around. The highlight of yesterday actually proved to be a 1st winter Med Gull with around 75 BHGs on the Silt Lagoon, whilst today it was a Lesser Redpoll - a patch tick for 2015, which flew in from the north west and dropped in to the scrub next to Meering Wood. A Siskin also flew over, only my second of the year, and a female Marsh Harrier made a brief appearance.
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| Med Gull |
The Lesser Redpoll puts me on 135 species for the year, equalling 2014's total, and one short of 2013, although I'm well down on Patchwork Challenge points compared to those years, due to the absence of any particularly notable species so far...
