Rain first thing sunny and 17dg by lunch time. 13-30 / 15-30
Water levels rising slowly.
Snipe numbers also rising with 51 counted mid-afternoon . Wigeon x 4 , Lapwing x 35 , Siskin x 4 , L T Tit flock x 14 and a single Stock Dove.
Fungi noted
Fly Agaric
Sulpher Tuft
Common Earthball
Fairy's Bonnet
Waxcap sp
Clustered Bonnet photo below.
Some of today's count of 38 Common Snipe. During the past few weeks Snipe numbers have been varying from between 28 upto 63.
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David Collis sent me this photo of a Pochard taken on the lake 21/06/22. Unusual on two occasions the first being a June sighting. And the second as its the first reported sighting since 08/03/12.
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Misty start , clear skies warm 16dg. 9-15 / 11-30
Water levels are starting to rise .
Two Dunlin new in this morning feeding alongside 38 x Common Snipe , 12 x Lapwing and 6 x Wigeon. Two Willow Tit seen back on the bridge feeders early morning. A new fungi species for me on site Dewdrop Bonnet (Hemimycena tortuosa) .
Clear skies sunny , gentle breeze 14d 8-30 / 10-00
Water levels still the same very low.
Wigeon x 2 , Teal x 75 , Tufted Duck x 13 , Cormorant x 10 , Redwing x 6 , Nuthatch , Grey Wagtail , Siskin , Willow Tit , Gt S Woodpecker , Jay , Herring Gull x 10 and Raven.
Don't forget any sightings into Steve at
steveseal1957@gmail.com
A request for Pochard records please. If you have any sightings of Pochard over last 10 yrs could you please let me know. The database shows last record as being on 08-03-12.
Contact me on.... steveseal1957@gmail.com
Easterly winds have brought good numbers of winter thrushes to our east coast shores . We had good numbers of Redwing moving south west over Rudyard with a few Fieldfare in amongst them early morning. No change on the water with around 100 x Teal , 13 x Gt Crested Grebes , 57 x Mallard and a couple of Tufted Duck.
Water levels seem to be still dropping , highlight were 10 Tufted Duck . We usually only have upto 4 on here at a time. Two Grey Wagtail by the dam , single Raven over.
48 x Snipe
94 x Teal
40 x Lapwing
After the last two successful years of a pair of Reed Warbler breeding they did not appear back at all this year.
Dry sunny start cloud around midday 12dg.
A good count of 48 Snipe this morning very hard to find on the exposed muscle beds and mud. Also Teal numbers up slightly with 101 counted.
Little Ringed Plover x 2
Dunlin
Mandarin drake first for me this year.
Raven
L B B Gull x 4 adults
Herring Gull x 3
Black-headed Gull x 112
Chiffchaff calling
Willow Warbler
Grey Wagtail
Meadow Pipit x 24 counted possibly lots more.
Single Buzzard
Cormorant x 7.
Disturbance again while I was present a single boat had to go right upto the mud and flush all the Gulls and Teal off. When he had done that he turned around and paddled back. Photograph taken of the individual.
Below is a list of long overdue waders at this site.
Golden Plover last record 28/08/91
Grey Plover last record 02/06/92
Bar-tailed Godwit last record 01/07/84
Temminck's Stint last record 06/08/82
Turnstone last record 30/08/06
Curlew Sandpiper last record 06/09/10
Wood Sandpiper last record 22/09/95
Spotted Redshank last record 16/08/10
Sanderling last record 14/07/92
White-rumped Sandpiper last record 03/11/89
We definitely need more coverage at this site.
On the positive side two Waders were found this year that haven't been present for many years.
Little Stint ..............First record since 1995
Whimbrel ..............First record since 1992
Personally I don't think it's birds not turning up , I think it's a lack of coverage by birders. A lot of people these days wait for news instead of going out and finding there own. Look at the Golden Plover record above , you can't tell me that there as been no record since 1991 . They breed less than four miles away . More coverage more birds simple.
Overcast dry 14dg
It looks like the two Ruff have finally departed after a 23 day stay. Water levels seem to still be dropping . Today 23 x Snipe , 2 x L R Plover, Dunlin , 91 x Teal , 41 x Lapwing , 9 , Wigeon , Grey Wagtail , 18 x Meadow Pipit , 7 x Linnet , 3 x Mistle Thrush and 3 x Nuthatch.
Still two Ruff , enitialy 11 Ruff arrived on Sept 10th , so it's now over three weeks for these two. Also Common Snipe x 4.
7-30 / 9-00 Clear skies sunny 10dg
Good numbers of Common Snipe on the mud early morning with 28 noted. Also the two Ruff still present along with two Little Ringed Plover, Wigeon x 12 , Lapwing x 75 and around 79 x Teal.
Just received news and a photo of a Little Stint from Sept 14th found by David Collis. There have been 8 records between 1983 and 1995. But this is the first official sighting since August 22nd 1995.
