Wednesday 3 September 2014

South Easterlies !

Weather: SE-2. overcast and warm.

Many of yesterdays warblers had moved out overnight as numbers were clearly lower ; that said diversity remained high and again Lingham Lane was the place to be holding Blackcap (9), Garden Warbler (2), Lesser Whitethroat (2) Chiffchaff (5), Willow Warbler (1) and a  Goldcrest.  Numbers of Spotted Flycatchers remained with 2 at Lingham bridge and 2 between the kissing gates.

A Reed warbler gave a short burst of sub-song near the nature trail whilst a Water Rail was seen swimming along the River Birkett.

Overhead migration was steady with most birds heading South. By mid morning we had a number of species over including Snipe (2), Grey Wagtail (6) Siskin (1) Jay (1) Jackdaw (2) and a single Skylark.

As the heat of the day increased so the hatching of ants began and this saw a flock of approximately 500 Black headed Gulls all eagerly snapping them up. Amongst the flock two Mediterranean Gulls were picked out wheeling higher and higher with the ever increasing flock. Something smaller and darker was picked out amongst the flock getting ever higher. A Hobby ! Incredibly an adult hobby had joined the gull flock and was also catching ants. Only our second of the year the hobby eventually drifted off south but not before getting a couple of record shots.

Other birds today included large numbers of finches a Great spotted woodpecker and the regular Greenshank had been joined by an additional two juvenile birds at the groyne. 

AMC, KD,LH. DH, and EW

Hobby. This bird was very very high up so a record shot was the best that  could be achieved (AMC)

Getting higher ! (AMC)

Juvenile Willow Warbler  (AMC)

Spotted Flycatcher (KD)





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