MAY 2011 BIRD NOTES

May Highlights: Black-throated and Great Northern Divers, Red Kite, Osprey, Hobby, Sanderling, Ruff, Turnstone, first summer Arctic Tern, Black Tern and Waxwing.

The month started with an adult Great Northern Diver in summer plumage (check out photos on website!) and 2 first summer GND, only the adult and 1 immature on 3^rd and, on 7^th, the adult was displaying to the immature which fled site. The adult stayed on until 18^th, the day a first summer Black-throated Diver arrived. A photo of the BTD revealed a few moulted flight feathers and it was still present on 31^st. Will it summer moult here like one in 2003? Only 4 Little Grebe on site, so 2 chicks on 23^rd were welcome. Great Crested Grebe totalled 41 on 17^th but breeding success will be limited by falling water levels leaving nests high, dry and likely to fail at egg stage. There was a further brood of Mallard, taking the total to 9 and the first Coot brood, of 2, was noted on 23^rd. Significant wildfowl counts were 4 Greylag on 9^th, 15 Barnacle including wild ‘ADZ’ on 7^th, 2 Shelduck on 25^th, 2 Mandarin on 13^th and 29^th, a drake Wigeon from 12^th, 4 Gadwall on 31^st, 2 Teal on 11^th, 66 Mallard, excluding young, on 17^th, a pair of Red-crested Pochard from 12^th, 2 Pochard on 30^th, 80 Tufted Duck on 17^th, a female Goosander on 24^th and 68 Coot on 17^th.

Raptors were active with a Red Kite over Sheepwash on 15^th and Ospreys on 5-6^th, 9^th, 19^th and 23^rd. The bird on 5^th landed on the new Osprey platforms, where it consumed a fish and roosted overnight. Photographs of this Osprey on the perch featured in several local newspapers, but subsequent tracing of its ring identification showed it to be a Scottish bird just passing through northbound. Sparrowhawk were noted carrying prey on 9^th, 15^th and 16^th and 5 Buzzards were in the air on 9^th. Hobby was noted on 9^th and 23^rd and 2 on 26^th. A female Peregrine posed in front of Sheepwash Hide on 3^rd, others were noted on 15^th and 22^nd, then, on 24^th, one took a Common Tern which was peacefully perched with its mate in front of Sheepwash Hide.

Wader breeding so far is 2 broods from Oystercatchers, 3 from Lapwing and 2 from Redshank. A good selection of passage waders included 7 Little Ringed Plover on 25^th, 1 Ringed Plover from 15^th, 2 Sanderling on 18^th, 9 Dunlin on 18^th, 1 Ruff on 21^st, 2 Snipe on 1^st, a Black-tailed Godwit on 3^rd, 2 Bar-tailed Godwit on 3-4^th, 3 Whimbrel on 17^th, 3 Curlew on 10^th, a Greenshank on 5^th, a Green Sandpiper on 4^th, 4 Common Sandpiper on 3^rd and 2 Turnstone on 31^st.

The Black-headed Gull colony at the Wildlife Centre eventually took over the tern raft on 12^th, following them abandoning it, leaving a dead gull there last month. Some started nesting in front of Sheepwash and on Flat Island. The local breeding pair of Common Tern were mating, then took up residence on Flat Island on 14^th. A flock of 27 Common Terns flew through high north on 15^th. The maximum number of Arctic Terns was 6 through east on 1^st and a first summer Arctic landed at Sheepwash for a while on 21^st, a rare event for this age group to be seen in Derbyshire. A Black Tern went through on 3^rd.

The first Swift arrived on 1^st, Reed Warbler on 7^th and the first Spotted Flycatcher seen was already nest building on 24^th. A wintering Waxwing calling for a few minutes from a treetop on 1^st was a late surprise and a Marsh Tit in Tail Bay is the first since July 2008. There were a welcome number of records of common breeding birds including 10 nests of Tree Sparrow all being fed in a multi-nest box on 12^th.

111 Species compared with 106 in May 2010, 108 in 2009, 112 in 2008, 103 in 2007 and 107 in 2006