At Spurn, but missing the patch

A couple of weeks ago I decided I'd have two nights at Spurn over the bank holiday weekend. So, finishing work at lunchtime on Friday (and after a sortie to Holme Pierrepont for the Red-rumped Swallow) I headed over there. In all honesty, the birding was slightly underwhelming, with migrants thin on the ground; Saturday's highlights were a reeling Savi's Warbler (only my second) and a lovely female Dotterel. There were also a couple of Cuckoos around, and a few Yellow Wags and Wheatears, plenty of Whimbrel, and small numbers of hirundines. A bird which flew over me unseen just south of Sammy's Point, twice giving a strong, almost shrill 'sree' call had to go into the one-that-got-away bin, frustratingly... 

Savi's twitch

Distant Dotterel

Sunday, and with a strong ESE winds, I walked to the point, but migrants remained sparse and the best I could find was a colour-ringed Wheatear. Worse, the fact that Spurn was in the process of recording its third highest passage ever of Arctic Terns, was being reflected inland, with Arctic Terns, Little Terns, Little Gulls and waders being recorded all over the place... So, come 1230, I decided to cut my losses and head home; it's not often that I've been birding on the coast but wishing I was inland!

Spurn Point

Colour-ringed Wheatear

Twenty minutes away from the patch I got a text from Mark Dawson to say there was a Grey Plover on Mons Pool. After a quick check of Ferry Lane Lake (not terns), I met Mark at Mons and soon had the Grey Plover in my sights. After a bit of dashing about I added a 1st summer Little Gull on Ferry Lane Lake (both the gull and the plover having been found first thing by John Ellis, who'd also had a small party of, yes you've guessed it, Arctic Terns fly straight through). 

Little Gull

It was then back to Mons Pool for 2 Dunlin which Mark had seen drop in with 5 Ringed Plover a little earlier. These were still present, along with another new wader, this time a Bar-tailed Godwit. This was exciting - birds were raining from the skies... almost! Single Common Tern and Swift were also present, along with my first White Wagtail of the year.

Bar-wit

Bar-wit and Grey Plover

It seemed only right to have an early start at Mons Pool this morning; there were no terns on passing Ferry Lane Lake (there or back), but I was greeted by an ongoing wader-fest at Mons - the Bar-wit was still present, with now two Grey Plovers and better still, a Wood Sandpiper, as well as a Dunlin, 2 Ringos, and a Common Sand. A quality selection. A Knot, Sanderling or Turnstone would've really topped things off, but perhaps I'm just being greedy... 

Wood Sand

Grey Plover no.2

The original Grey Plover

Dunlin

So all in all, despite missing out on the tern action, it was a pretty fantastic 24 hours on the patch, with 8 new Patchwork Challenge 2017 species - Wood Sand, Bar-wit, Grey Plover, Common Sand, Dunlin, Little Gull, Common Tern and Swift. 

I also had a quick look at Girton Pits later morning, to see if the BlackTerns reported there yesterday were lingering. They weren't, but the Cattle Egret was still in the sheep field at North Pit, now looking quite smart. 

Cattle Egret

Waxwing double-whammy!

The plan this morning was to have a quick scout round Collingham and Besthorpe to look for big white herons (see yesterday's post), and then do the gulls at Cotham. However, there seemed to be lots of birds around, and I ran out of time for any gulling!

At Collingham, yesterday's Dunlin had been joined by a second, and there were still 6 Redshank present, and the drake Pintail. Moving on to Mons Pool, there was a large group of Snipe on the 'scrape' - repeated counting eventally got their numbers up to 58.

Part of the group of 58 Snipe at Mons Pool

There were also two Little Egrets present, and a colour-ringed Cormorant bearing a yellow ring marked Z87 (or possible ZB7?) - I'll follow this up, but I imagine it's another bird from Rutland Water (see this post).

Colour-ringed Cormorant

I then heard a familiar call coming from the top of an ash tree  in the hedge along the southern boundary of the site - 5 Waxwings! Unfortunately, they couldn't have been more against the light if they'd tried, so I could only manage some pretty poor record shots - but great birds to catch up with at last! I watched then for about five minutes, around 9.50am, before they flew off north. A short time later a Crossbill flew over north as well.

Waxwing at Mons Pool

I then had a second Waxwing encounter in the afternoon - my hockey match at the Magnus School in Newark had just started, when 7 Waxwings flew in and landed in some trees next to the pitch - a bit of a distraction when playing striker!

Colour-ringed Cormorant - part 2

No birding tonight; however, I had a message back (already) from the BTO about the colour-ringed Cormorant that was on the Main Pit at Collingham yesterday. The bird was ringed as a chick in the nest at Rutland Water by the Rutland Ringing Group on 22nd May 2012. Apparently this is the first time it has been reported since then.

On the subject of colour-ringed birds, it is interesting that there haven't been any sightings of colour-ringed Little Egrets this summer/autumn; last year there were several sightings of multiple birds that had been ringed at a breeding site in Lincolnshire.

Cricket action and a colour-ringed Cormorant

I had quite a good orthoptera day today; a site visit to Langar Airfield produced loads of Roesel's Bush-crickets in the long grass on the western side of the airfield near the control tower, plus at least two female Long-winged Coneheads.

Long-winged Conehead at Langar Airfield

When I got home, I trimmed out buddleja (which was beginning to overhang the road a bit too much), and in the process found a green cricket nymph. By the time I'd gone to fetch my camera it had wandered off and I couldn't find it again, but I'm pretty sure it was an Oak Bush Cricket - the first cricket of any species I've had in the garden, which is only a small urban one. This page on the orthoptera.org.uk website shows what these beasts look like (or at least, the adults).

Whilst on the subject of my garden, I cut the mini-meadow at the weekend. This resulted in invertebrate Armageddon, about which I felt a bit guilty (especially as the chickens were out and had a field day in the cut grass...), and mainly I didn't know what I was looking at, but I saw a couple of 14-spot Ladybirds (yellow and black), and some shieldbugs, which I looked up on the very useful British Bugs website; they proved to be Common Green Shieldbug nymphs.


Common Green Shieldbug nymph in Newark

Anyway, back to birds. Once again not much at Collingham late PM. There was a Dunlin (still?) on the Main Pit, along with a colour-ringed juvenile Cormorant; I first thought the ring read '912', but a better angle showed it to actually read ZL6. A quick check here (accessed via the cr-birding.org website) suggests this bird was ringed at Rutland Water - but I will seek confirmation of this. Elsewhere, on the Silt Lagoon there was a party of 8 Shelduck - seemingly an adult female and 7 immatures. And that was about it!

Colour-ringed Cormorant (ZL6) at Collingham

Colour-ringed Glauc - Part 4

Euan at Grampian Ringing Group has provided an update of the most recent movements of the Glauc bearing the colour-ring T:193:

• Ugie Estuary, Peterhead  (hand-caught) - 03/08/2011
• Boldon Flats, Tyne and Wear - 23/12/2011
• Newburn Sewer, Seaton Carew - 15/01/2012
• Cotham Landfill Site, Nottinghamshire - 18/02/2012
• Cotham Landfill Site, Nottinghamshire - 27/02/2012
• Ogston Reservoir, Derbyshire - 08-12/03/2012
• Longnewton Reservoir, Cleveland - 24/03/2012
• Lingham Lake, Yorkshire - 03/04/2012
• Lingham Lake, Yorkshire - 07/04/2012

It's interesting that after heading up to Cleveland after its stay in the Midlands, it then turned south again to Yorkshire. Where next?

Colour-ringed Glauc - Part 3

Finally got round to reporting the colour-ringed Glauc from Cotham Landfill on the 27th Feb: apparently, it was most recently seen at Ogston Res in Derbyshire between 8th and 12th March (I'm not sure if it was seen anywhere else in the interim). Anyway, the colour-ringing has obviously served its purpose, illustrating how widely birds like this will roam. Good stuff.

Colour-ringed Little Egret

With only a half day at work today, I cruised home via Kilvington Lakes. There wasn't a huge amount there, although the West Lake held a pair of Egyptian Geese, two Ringed Plovers, and a single Oystercatcher, with a pair of Goosander on the East Lake. A kick round the 'Snipe Ponds' produced one Common Snipe, but no Jacks.

I popped home briefly, and had a superb Peregrine over the house - the first I've ever seen in Newark itself - before heading to Spalford Warren. There's been a Mealy Redpoll seen here on the feeders recently, but I could only find two Lesser Redpolls.

A quick drive along Trent Lane at Girton to scan in the hope of an early hirundine was fruitless, so Collingham Pits was next; there was little on the Main Pit, but 2 Little Egrets were on the Silt Lagoon; one of these was colour-ringed, with a yellow ring on its right leg marked 'V' and an orange ring on its left leg marked 'U'. This format was used on a number of birds that turned up here last summer, which had been ringed as nestlings that spring near North Sommercotes in Lincolnshire, so this was presumably one of these birds; however, I'll hopefully be able to confirm this.

Colour-ringed Little Egret at Collingham Pits

Mons Pool was quieter than last visit, although there was a gang of 10 Redshank and a Curlew, and another 2 Little Egrets, plus a very confiding Kestrel.

Kestrel at Mons Pool

Colour-ringed Glauc - Part 2

With a day off work, I drove the loop round Cotham Landfill and Cotham Flash/Pykett's Pond, but there were no readily accessible gulls, so I decided to try again later, and instead went up to Collingham Pits. A pair of Ringed Plovers were on the Main Pit along with 3 Shelduck, and a redhead Goosander flew north. Elsewhere, the 4 Whooper Swans were in their usual spot on the on the south side of the Trent. Continuing on to Mons Pool, highlights were a Little Egret, 3 Pintail (a pair plus a lone male), and a total of 23 Shelduck (of which just 6 were females).

A pair of Pintail on Mons Pool

Trying my luck again with the gulls after lunch, I had more success; viewing from the Hawton to Cotham road, a couple of hundred large gulls were loafing on the bare soil mound just north of the landfill, and amongst them was the colour-ringed 2nd W Glaucous Gull. I got a bit closer by walking along the northern edge of the former Cotham household waste site, and could confirm that the yellow ring on the Glauc's leg read T:193.

2nd W Glaucous Gull at Cotham Landfill (yellow ring on left leg)

2nd W Glaucous Gull at Cotham Landfill

At this point, all the gulls took flight (and it was apparent that a much larger number had been stood out of sight on the back of the soil mound), so I scoped the landfill site for a bit from the Sustrans Route, picking out the Glauc a couple of times, but I couldn't find anything else of note.

Colour-ringed Glauc

Carl has tracked down the colour-ringed Glauc (2nd W) that he found at Cotham Flash on saturday, with some help from Rob Johnson. This bird (T:193 in black text on yellow) was ringed by Grampian Ringing Group on the Ugie Estuary at Peterhead in August 2011, having been hanging around there for a few weeks. It was subsequently seen at Boldon Flats in Durham on 23 December, and then at Newton Sewer on Teesmouth on 15 January, before Carl located it here in Notts. See the following link for more details:

http://grampianringing.blogspot.com/2012/01/gulls-on-move.html

Apparently very few (if any) Glaucs have been colour-ringed in this country before, so great to learn a bit about this bird's movements!