not much going on

 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.

Little Grebe

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.

Shelduck

Sedge Warbler

Roseate Tern among the Black-headed Gulls

Sandwich Tern

Shelduck

Kittiwake

Avocet

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. 

Grey Heron

Mallards

Five Raven

Raven

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. 

Grey Wagtail

Little Egret

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.

Sand Martins

Coot 

Year list now 215 with the addition of Sandwich Tern, Roseate Tern and Stone Curlew from the Minsmere trip.

King George V reservoir

 As we move into June I maintain my interest in walking the patch and looking for anything and everything. I'm counted all the birds I see or hear and find it interesting to watch the numbers and species move. The strange thing for me is how the Great Crested Grebes that wintered remain on the reservoir, they do a lot of display and several look to be paired up and do the weed dance etc but I can't figure out why if they want to breed why don't they move on and get on with it? Are they youngsters practicing the finer parts?

Today I started my June list with 56 species with the clear highlight being a Redshank that dropped onto the causeway right in front of me as I was counting Coots on the far bank. This is my third Redshank of the year and a birds that annual but not easy to connect with up on the George. I made an effort to hear both the Garden Warbler and Lesser Whitethroat from yesterday with success and had a big Swift count as large numbers hawked both basins. Having not seen the Ravens for a while it was nice to have one over the pump house today calling loudly so I didn't miss it. The Carp have started to get restless too and some sizeable fish can be seen breaching around the edges of the reservoir.

A hybrid Greylag /Canada Goose

Two Grey Herons

Tufted Ducks

Heron

Herons

Common Tern

Common Tern

Common Tern

Redshank

Redshank

Redshank

Cormorant

Cormorant

Cormorant

Egyptian Goose

Coot

London looking from the George over the Girling

Stock Dove

More of the George at the end of May.

My visits to the King George V reservoir continue and at this point I'm still enjoying it mostly because I can get in and out early before Suzanne even thinks about getting up for breakfast, it's close to home so the driving is very limited allowing more of my precious time for birding and to my surprise I'm still enjoying the Ebird thing too.

The 29th saw my visit reach a species total of 58 with the highlight a Great White Egret that flew in from the south and tried to land under the bridge in the north east corner before the Little Egrets chased it off. A Common Sandpiper was a nice reward for the 4 mile walk too. 

Grey Heron

Great White Egret and Little Egret

Great White Egret

The 31st saw another visit and the highlight here was when Neville found two summer plumaged Black-necked Grebes on south basin. We do get wintering birds on the reservoir regularly with most preffering the Girling but birds in breeding plumage this late in the year are exceptional. I enjoyed watching them for an hour and managed a few images despite them being a little distant for my 400mm lens.

I had a House Martin through which I haven't seen for a while now over the reservoir and managed to hear both the Garden Warbler in East wood and the Lesser Whitethroat by the sailing club both of which I haven't heard for some time. A Reed Warbler on the east side was a first for the year too, they're easily found on the West side but not so much on the east channel. A pair of Great spotted Woodpecker seen on the west side was also a little unexpected but welcomed. My May list ended on 82 with two species reported by others that I didn't connect with in the month. (Great black-backed Gull and Whinchat) 

Pied Wagtail

Common Tern

Fox cubs

Sleepy Fox in the garden

It's been great to see all the successful breeding on and around the reservoir. So far this year I've seen baby birds from the following species......

Mallard, Canada Goose, Egyptian Goose, Heron, Raven, Whitethroat, House Sparrow, Blue Tit, Great Tit, Greenfinch, Goldfinch, Linnet, Grey Wagtail, Pied Wagtail, Starling, Blackbird, Song Thrush, Wood Pigeon, Moorhen, Coot, Cormorant and Magpie. I'm sure there are others that haven't been as generous with evidence of their breeding too.

Catching up

Just realised I haven't written a diary post on the blog since 18th May so here's a little catch up post....

A busy day on 19th meant I didn't get any time for birding but a trip to drop the grandchildren to school on 20th gave an opportunity for an hour at Rainham whilst letting the traffic die down a little. The walk from the top car park to the visitor centre and back gave up 52 species without highlight.

The 21st saw me back over the George for a couple of hours and a count of 54 species with the highlight being 3 Sanderling found by Ian L before I arrived. The birds lingered until the contractors took the mower on to the causeway and flushed them. Also present was the a single Common Sandpiper and 3 Raven with one showing on the footpath and two up on the pilons.

Raven

Raven

Raven

Mowing the causeway

On the 22nd I headed down to Thursley Common with Dad and Jim arriving around 6am we walked out to find the common alive with bird song. We had good views of multiple Wood Lark. Tree Pipit and Dartford Warbler and managed a short view of a female Common Redstart before we headed back to the car for the 15mile journey to our chosen Honey Buzzard watchpoint. Again we were hearing Wood Lark, Tree Pipit and Yellowhammers as we watched the regular Red Kites and Buzzards. Eventually we had good views of a couple of Honey Buzzard, a Goshawk and a Sparrowhawk but all remained distant and having left my camera battery at home I was quite pleased I hadn't missed too many opportunities today although the Dartfords did show really well at Thursley.

The 23rd saw me walk the George again finding a single Whimbrel, Common Sandpiper and Oystercatcher for my trouble. A single Raven was seen but it appears the youngsters have moved on to better feeding grounds now.

Whimbrel

Common Sandpiper

Sand Martin (or Bank Swallow if you like)

I didn't get any birding on 24th but was back on the George first thing on 25th. I found 2 Little ringed Plover on the causeway and a Whimbrel still lingering with 3 Common Sandpipers. On south basin I found both Oystercatchers resting and managed a picture which isn't easy as they're usually very flighty.

Oystercatchers

Great crested Grebe

South basin

Mallard

Yesterday (the 26th May) I headed up to Wallington and enjoyed a nice walk around the local fields. I enjoyed a brief view of a single Spotted Flycatcher for a year tick and then had a brief view of a Little Owl which was lost to view (and on private land) before I could get the camera on it. Red Kites flew around me and a walk further down the road delivered great views of numerous Corn Bunting and Skylarks but proved a tad early to pick up any calling Quail. I enjoyed watching the local Hares too.

Spotted Flycatcher

Red Kite

Corn Bunting

Skylark

Skylark

Corn Bunting

Meadow pipit

Today I walked the reservoir again but it was very quiet with no waders and no Raven but I still logged 55 species on my quick visit.

Hybrids with the Canadas

Gadwall

Barn Owl

Coot

So that's a full catch up and I'll try not to leave it so long between updates going forward.