The beginning of June is always a time of year when the reserves focus is on the breeding birds and summertime insects and plants, but round about the 10th onward there is often the first sign of southward wader migration. This weekend proved the point with at least one possibly two green sandpipers seen on site, wader numbers can be slow to build up but we expect the first spotted redshank, ruff and black tailed godwits to start appearing on the lagoons over the next two to three weeks, yes the Northern breeding season can see a very quick turn around for some species!
Of course we still have a few pairs of avocet particularly on Marshland lagoon while there are from time to time lapwing, redshank and little ringed plover still using the site to roost and feed.
Another surprise over the weekend and on Monday was the first sighting in quite a while of the female Montagu's harrier, not sure where she's been and if she'll be seen regularly at all but interesting all the same that she is still feeding in the area. I clocked her on the way to work being mobbed by two very angry lapwings that must have had chicks somewhere out on the arable.
Distant female Montagu's being mobbed by lapwings
The marsh harrier chicks must be getting quite large now with both males and females bringing in lots of food for their hungry broods. Barn owls are showing regularly particularly on the evenings as they too try and raise their broods despite the fairly poor weather conditions recently.
Male marsh harrier bringing in food straight to the nest
Barn owl also doing likewise
The odd bittern is still being seen particularly around First lagoon while it seems spoonbill is visiting us albeit briefly almost every day, little egrets and grey herons however seem to be resident on the pools now that their young have fledged or in some cases birds have had a failed nesting attempt.
Young grey heron on Townend still with chick fluff on its head
Notable wildfowl included a single brent goose on Saturday, a most odd date for this species, apparently this bird which is quite distinctive has toured around the areas wetlands, quite amazingly this is our first new species for the year for over three weeks so lets hope this is a catalyst to get the ball rolling again for the coming months.
Dark bellied brent goose with droopy wing
Tufted duck looking very nice in the sunshine on first lagoon - don't forget to look at some of the other wildfowl
Still a few bearded tits flighting over the reedbed but notice how the reed is infested with wainscot's this year indicated by the number of dead stems there is making the reedbed look as though its sickly. This is good news for the second and third bearded tit broods but as food is so abundant it often means both the adults and young can become very secretive, mainly because they are probably too stuffed full to move! This over abundance though can have a double edged sword for the beardies as it can ultimately affect the production of reed panicles that produce the seed that feeds them in the winter.
Plenty of cettis warblers about and still showing but only low numbers of migrant warblers at the moment as they also feed their broods, however with all this inclement weather its difficult to see how many species of open nesting birds can be having a very productive year, there is a little light at the end of the tunnel though with the possibility of second broods doing better if the weather improves for the rest of June and July.
Robin from this morning feeding their second brood near reception
We certainly need a little better weather too and hopefully the first sign of an improvement are the first on the wing meadow brown, large skipper and ringlet butterflies seen in the last couple of days.
Meadow brown
Ringlet
Large skipper