JULY 2011 BIRD NOTES

Highlights: Little Egret, Red Kite, Mediterranean Gull, Grasshopper Warbler and Crossbill.

By the end of July, this year’s numbers of broods totalled: Little Grebe 1 (1 last year), Great Crested Grebe 3 (8), Mallard 20 (20), Tufted Duck 4 (26), Moorhen 3 (7) and Coot 3 (12). Maximum counts, excluding young, were 5 Little Grebe on 25^th, 32 Great Crested Grebe on the official WeBS count carried out on 18^th, 24 Cormorant on 29^th, 1 Little Egret on 1-4^th and 25-31^st, 12 Heron on 27^th, 22 Mute Swan on 6^th plus 6 cygnets, 2 Greylag Geese on 10^th, 359 Canada Geese on 18^th, 1 juvenile Shelduck on 3^rd and 26^th, 1 Wigeon on 14^th and 23^rd, 5 Gadwall on 6^th, 4 Teal on 6^th, 267 Mallard on 22^nd, 4 Pochard on 20^th, 182 Tufted Duck on 18^th, 4 Common Scoter on 21^st and 30^th, 8 Goosander on 27^th and 408 Coot on 18^th.

Raptors included 2 Red Kite together over Fishtail Creek on 29^th at 1845hrs before gliding off northeast, Sparrow Hawk carrying prey on 6^th and 25^th, 6 Buzzards on 13^th and at least 2 young calling from woodland on 28^th, 2 Kestrel on 25^th and many records of Peregrines, with 3 together over Hopton Arm on 31^st.

Little Ringed Plover have taken advantage of the wide shore available this year and bred, showing a brood of 4 on 25^th and another brood of 4 on 26^th. Wader maximum numbers were 5 Oystercatchers on 23^rd, 8 Little Ringed Plover on 29^th excluding young, 3 well flighted juvenile Ringed Plover on 11^th, at least 50 Lapwing on 18^th, a Sanderling at the Wildlife Centre on 19^th, 7 Dunlin on 18^th, an early Snipe on 30^th, 3 Black-tailed Godwit on 11^th and singles on many dates, 1 Curlew on 11^th, 4 Redshank on 18^th, 5 Greenshank on 13^th, 2 Green Sandpiper on 28^th and a site record 18 Common Sandpipers on 18^th.

A well flighted juvenile Mediterranean Gull was at the Wildlife Centre on 19^th. This is the first juvenile recorded on site and one asks where has it travelled from. An adult Med Gull was also at the Wildlife Centre on 21^st. Black-headed Gull numbers totalled 270 on 20^th including 55 juveniles, but not all had hatched here. There were 4 Common Gulls on 20-22^nd and Lesser Black-backed Gull numbers were increasing, with 180 on 20^th. The winter resident adult Yellow-legged Gull was on site from 3^rd and seen devouring a smallish mammal on 4^th thought to be a mole, followed by a Little Grebe on 13^th, surprised it could find one! Other Yellow-legged Gulls were on site, with 5 recorded on 21^st. Common Terns were passing through in very small numbers, with a maximum of 5 on 23^rd and 1 Arctic Tern on 22^nd.

Swifts looked to be feeding young in the eaves of the Visitor Centre early in the month and 50 were noted passing through on 13^th. An adult and a juvenile Green Woodpecker were together at Millfields on 13^th. Early passage was noted with a Meadow Pipit on the dam wall on 22^nd, a Yellow Wagtail on Sheepwash Spit on 25^th and a Wheatear on the dam wall on 28^th. A Grasshopper Warbler was heard reeling near Millfields Island on 23^rd and remained until 27^th. A Reed Warbler family were seen in Hopton Arm Reedbed on 17^th and a pair of Spotted Flycatcher were feeding 3 just fledged youngsters in Penn Carr on 13^th. A nationwide Crossbill movement has been well noted here with fly-overs of 3 on 13^th, 6 on 22^nd, at least 1 on 23^rd, 2 on 24^th and 12 on 26^th. Finally one observer reported 2 bizarre predations occurring within one half hour on 30^th. A mole, crawling across the hard foreshore towards vegetation, in front of Sheepwash Hide, was attacked, killed and taken by 3 Magpies, only to be followed by a Southern Hawker dragonfly taken in mid-air by a Blackbird.

105 Species were recorded this month (well above the former July record of 102 in 2004), compared with 91 in July 2010, 95 in 2009, 97 in 2008, 94 in 2007, 94 in 2006 and 97 in 2005.