I've had a day Minsmere with Jim and a few patch visits in the last week but otherwise a very quiet week.
2nd June: A nice four mile walk round the George resulted in a count of 49 species with the highlights being a pair of Shoveler on north basin, 2 Stock Dove which are not uncommon but I always like to see, Swift numbers were high and I counted 600 but there could have been double that. A Little Grebe by the pontoons was unexpected and it was great to see all five Ravens on the ground together for once.
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| Little Grebe |
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| A rather wet Fox checking me out |
3rd June: Minsmere! We set off early and arrived early, really early as we only saw six people the whole time we were there. We found four Stone Curlew to start the day list well and give us both a late year tick. Avocets totalled 157 plus lot's of new fledglings but wader species numbers were low with just seven species counted. We saw a Bittern and heard another too, a Tawny Owl was calling from the southern edge of the reserve and we managed to find the two Roseate Terns among the 96 Common and 26 Sandwich Terns. Black headed Gulls were everywhere and I counted 500 before giving up and that didn't include the fledglings of which there were probably at least that number again. Wood Lark and Nightingale probably the best of the rest among the 83 species seen.
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| Shelduck |
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| Sedge Warbler |
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| Roseate Tern among the Black-headed Gulls |
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| Sandwich Tern |
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| Shelduck |
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| Kittiwake |
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| Avocet |
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| Barnacle Goose |
4th June: Another 4 miles round the George with just 45 species counted mostly due to the wind and rain preventing me from hearing most birds on this visit. Highlights include the five Raven still in the NW corner and a high count of 70 Canada Geese which now includes 3 Greylag/Canada hybrids. Among the large flock of Swifts/Swallows and Sand Martins were a number of House Martins which aren't so regular on the reservoir.
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| Grey Heron |
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| Mallards |
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| Five Raven |
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| Raven |
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| Raven |
5th June: Yet another walk round the reservoir and a grand total of 55 species today. As I walked up towards the causeway a Ringed Plover flew past me calling giving me just enough time to grab a record shot. It appeared to land down by the pontoons but scoping from the causeway I couldn't refind it but was pleased as it was my first this year at the George. Still big numbers of Swift and hirundines about but they're so difficult to count so I tend to submit a modest estimate so as not to be accused of over egging the totals. The Barn Owl continues to make the odd appearance which is always nice but today I only saw two Raven.
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| Grey Wagtail |
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| Little Egret |
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| Ringed Plover |
Ringed plover is my 10th wader of the year at the George. Ringed Plover, Redshank, Whimbrel, Dunlin, Sanderling, Oystercatcher, Little ringed Plover, Common Sandpiper, Golden Plover and Greenshank.
Today (7th June) I had two choices, I could drive five hours upto north west Wales to see a Reed Heron or do the 3 mile drive down to the reservoir.....the reservoir won. A decent walk gave a few new ticks for June including Jay, Buzzard, Red Kite and Kestrel but nothing much of note. Swifts continue to be present in massive numbers and again two Raven were present but for the second visit I didn't see the youngsters. The Barn Owl came out to hunt for a while but otherwise it was pretty quiet although I did manage a day total of 57 species taking my months total to 69.
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| Sand Martins |
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| Coot |
Year list now 215 with the addition of Sandwich Tern, Roseate Tern and Stone Curlew from the Minsmere trip.
