“Established in 2014 , with various events held at locations from Northern Ireland to inside the M25 and from the south coast of England to the highlands of Scotland. Hen Harrier Day is now a recognised part of the ornithological and conservation scene and continues to raise awareness of the persistent illegal persecution by the grouse shooting industry of this beautiful, important and iconic bird………..”.
For more information, see the links below…….
Around a dozen new and existing Club members joined a Warbler Walk, led by Simon Roddis, the aim being to see and hear several warbler species which can be found at Carsington in the spring. We started with a walk around Stones Island and soon located and, with a bit of perseverance, saw five species: Blackcap, Chiffchaff, Garden, Sedge and Willow Warblers. The songs of all of them are pretty distinctive, although there can be overlap between Garden Warbler and Blackcap; as it happened, all the birds that we found performed as per the text book! After being a bit secretive for a few minutes, a Sedge Warbler performed its song flight and settled in view – if a bit obscured – in a patch of bushes. Sedge Warblers seem to be having a good year at Carsington, with several singing birds on Stones and another near the Wildlife Centre. A little surprisingly, we failed to find a Common Whitethroat on Stones Island although they have been there this spring – perhaps they are just in a quiet spell.
After Stones Island we made our way towards the Wildlife Centre and to the top of the creek. We heard more Chiffchaffs, Blackcaps and Garden Warblers but not for the hoped-for Common and Lesser Whitethroats or Reed Warbler. Again, they have all been seen and heard in the area in the last two or three weeks, but not today. Lesser Whitethroats do go rather quiet once they are established on territory and their breeding cycle is underway, so they may well still be there. Reed Warblers are still arriving, and there are several in patches of reed in the northern half of the reservoir, so there is still time for one or two to take up residence in the reed-beds close to the Wildlife Centre. Our failure to find Common Whitethroat is less easy to explain – just one of those days.
We didn’t just look at warblers, and in total saw or heard 35 species, including a Willow Tit singing on Stones Island, Oystercatchers, Redshanks, our three breeding geese species – Canada, Barnacle and Greylag – and the Mute Swan still sitting on her nest on Horseshoe Island.
Simon Roddis
Rutland Water was the destination for our latest CBC outing on Sunday 28th April, with a healthy turnout of nine members making the journey to this impressive and extensive Leicestershire and Rutland Wildlife Trust reserve.
We had only just parked up when we were welcomed by the distant ‘yaffle’ of a Green Woodpecker, before a number of common species were seen on the feeders in front of the Visitor Centre.
Walking along the paths surrounded by trees and reedbeds to our first hide, we were soon picking out the songs of Chiffchaffs and Willow Warblers, but had to re-acquaint ourselves with the songs of those typically more difficult to separate: Blackcap and Garden Warbler, and Reed and Sedge Warblers.
We were then treated to a glorious concert by that famous songster, a Nightingale, which true to form remained firmly hidden in the bushes, but was unmistakable even though its song is less often heard than most. Later on a second one performed for us, but also escaped our detection.
From the Dunlin hide, overlooking Lagoon 4, we added several species of wildfowl to our rapidly growing list, including at least 2-3 Wigeon which hadn’t yet departed for their breeding grounds. A solitary Little Ringed Plover and a Bar-tailed Godwit were found, along with much larger numbers of Oystercatchers, Lapwings and Redshanks.
We returned to the Visitor Centre to enjoy our packed lunches overlooking Lagoon 1 and were rewarded with good views of an Osprey making several high-level passes over the water, followed by a Red Kite being chased by a number of corvids. Perhaps surprisingly, three Pink-footed Geese were also sighted still lingering before making their journey north for the summer. Very large numbers of Sand Martins, well outnumbering Swallows, were hawking insects over the water and flying to and from their specially erected nest bank.
Continuing after lunch, singing Cetti’s Warbler and Lesser Whitethroats were added to the count of those heard but not seen, and a growing number of species were steadily ticked off with an impressive total of 69 recorded by the group as a whole.
Special thanks go to John and Fay Follett, who have visited the reserve a number of times, and were able to offer invaluable advice on the best way of making use of our time, which hides to visit and which paths to follow.
The full list accumulated on the day is as follows: Green Woodpecker, House Sparrow, Great Tit, Chaffinch, Rook, Woodpigeon, Robin, Goldfinch, Blackbird, Swallow, Jackdaw, Carrion Crow, Canada Goose, Black-headed Gull, Mallard, Song Thrush, Garden Warbler, Chiffchaff, Sedge Warbler, Willow Warbler, Blue Tit, Wren, Coot, Lapwing, Wigeon, Bar-tailed Godwit, Oystercatcher, Gt Crested Grebe, Greylag Goose, Mute Swan, Redshank, Egyptian Goose, Little Egret, Common Tern, Little Ringed Plover, Cormorant, Common Gull, Nightingale, Gadwall, Sand Martin, Tufted Duck, Buzzard, Red Kite, Teal, Cetti’s Warbler, Shelduck, Shoveler, Moorhen, Grey Heron, Blackcap, Whitethroat, Pochard, Osprey, Gt Black-backed Gull, Little Grebe, Pink-footed Goose, Ruddy Duck, Reed Warbler, Stock Dove, Magpie, Pheasant, Collared Dove, Starling, Mistle Thrush, Long-tailed Tit, Reed Bunting, Dunnock, Linnet, Lesser Whitethroat and Greenfinch
Chris Lamb
