It's been a bit of a changeable week on the reserve and there's a distinct sense of bird life just slowing down a little as we approach the end of the breeding season for many species. The sight of c60 Lapwings flocking together - often disturbed by birds of prey such as Marsh Harriers passing over before settling again is one indicator of change. This could well be the most likely time you'll see them as they spend the rest of the time feeding in splashy areas between the 2 platforms.
Starlings are also beginning to gather together. Around 1000 birds are roosting on the reserve each night and on Saturday evening spent time resting up on the electric cables over the car park or feeding in the adjacent field. This was until a male Peregrine hurtled in causing mayhem before plucking one out of the air. In the confusion a second bird was taken by a Carrion Crow and then joined by 2 juveniles and another adult which devoured it on the ground in very little time.
The car park can be a good place to sit and watch a while. If you face the reserve, you've a great chance of seeing Marsh Harrier, Bittern and Great White Egret with the latter 2 often flying directly over the car park to Shapwick Heath. The car park pools are also developing well and will be teeming with life in a couple of years. Many dragonflies and damselflies have been egg laying in the waters and of course we have the very noisy (soon to be confirmed as.....) Iberian Water Frogs.
Bullfinches, Song Thrush and Treecreepers have all been seen and heard in and around the car park area of late (with juvenile Bullfinches x3 seen with parents last week).
There was a brief sighting of a Silver Washed Fritillary from the boardwalk at the Shapwick Heath end of the car park this week and in fact, it's been a good week for butterflies all round with quite a nice list built up: Peacock, Red Admiral, Small Tortoiseshell, Speckled Wood, Meadow Brown, Ringlets, Small Skipper, Comma, Green Veined White, Brimstone and the first Gatekeepers of the season.
We also been seeing plenty of Scarlet Tiger Moths over the last couple of weeks too - so worth keeping your eyes open for them.
Dragonflies too are very busy and this week saw the first Ruddy Darters of the season. There are also plenty of Emperors, Black Tailed Skimmers and 4 Spotted Chasers to see as well as Broad Bodied Chaser and Common Darter. Banded Demoiselles can still be seen too - one of my favourites. Other Damselflies include: Red eyed, possibly small Red Eyed, Azure, Common Blue, Variable and Blue Tailed.
Ruddy Darter
A few Bitterns are still active on the reserve with a few nests still going. Some activity from the 1st platform and within Waltons suggests anything going on here is nearly over, while a Loxtons nest is still going strong. Juvenile bitterns were seen twice this week as you walk up to the Loxtons screen up the channel on the right. One of these birds was clinging to the reeds and panicked when it saw one of our volunteers looking at it and dropped into the water before scrabbling to the edge. Nice to know we got juveniles in the area.
Night Heron were again spotted throughout this past week. Saturday, Sunday and Thursday all brought reports with Waltons the most likely place to see it. Purple Heron was again seen early on Saturday morning again over Waltons before dropping in - not reported again so far this week until now - just had another possible sighting reported to me by volunteer Paul Marsh, as I write this blog - seen down the large drain to the right of the old rail bridge as you come onto the reserve - was quite distant.
We also had a brief visit (unless they are well hidden somewhere) of 2 Spoonbill which dropped into the splashy section (although out of sight) between the 2 platforms. Also seen the same day was a single Green Sandpiper. We are moving just a little water back into this section from the area in front of the 2nd platform. A few bare areas may begin to show here over the next couple of weeks and a Spotted Redshank was seen in this area on Monday by a visitor. A Great White Egret made good use of the area this week and these birds can be seen daily on the reserve.
Also this week: Roe deer which frightened the life out of me as it hid in the grass as I checked our eel pass on Monday, 2 Cuckoo flying over 1st platform on Tuesday and 2 Hobbies seen here on Monday, Kingfishers seen at Waltons and Loxtons but also still active left of the old rail bridge flying into the wood (on a second brood by now), Barn Owls active from 1st platform during the evenings if you're lucky, Adder seen at Waltons but also plenty of Grass Snakes and Slow worms, Spotted Flycatcher seen last weekend, Great Crested Grebe and Little Grebe with youngsters in Waltons from the screens and plenty of Mute Swan families showing well:
Mute Swans at Waltons
Cygnets on the South Drain.
Finally this week, I had an e-mail from an RSPB colleague, Rob Hughes, who had photographed this Teal on the reserve on Wednesday morning. The unusual this about it as you will notice from the photograph is that it has a nasal saddle as a form of identification:
The sighting was reported by Rob and the following information sent back:
The teal was marked by Luis at EVOA project Lagoons – Tagus River Nature Reserve (www.evoa.pt, 38º50’51’’N 08º58’19’’W – at about 1449km from your resighting place. I enclose a GoogleEarth marker or use https://www.google.com/maps/@38.8399711,-8.9708529,1105m/data=!3m1!1e3 ), and the other data are:
Anas crecca V6blue, metal ring J15418, Male, Adult (EURING code 4), 323g, 191mm of wing - marked on 29-10-2014 and never resighted. This is the first resight for UK from a duck marked at EVOA!
So it looks as though we have a Portuguese resident. It was Wednesday morning when I was stood at the 1st platform with some volunteers and we thought we had a brief sighting of a Teal - so maybe we did! Thanks for sending through the information Rob.
That's it for this week - have a good weekend!