Seems like the summer migrant plug has been pulled this week! Every time I go out on site there has been a new warbler singing from a different corner of the reserve or more hirundines hawking over the wetlands. House martins, sand martins and swallows are all daily occurrences and surely it won’t be long before the first swifts make an appearance. If you drive down our access track and look at the old quarry yard, the sand martins are prospecting the sand banks that have been left there. About 10 pairs nested here last year and it looks like there might be more this season.
The first whitethroats are back along with sedge and reed warblers which are increasing in number every day. At the moment there are more sedge warblers on site, singing their scratchy hurried song from the reedbed area. The first grasshopper warblers turned up this week, with at least 4 on site at the time of writing. I really enjoy hearing my first groppers of the season, and because they are hard to see, when one does decide to sing in the open it’s a real privilege to witness. The better places on site to hear (and maybe see) them are between fishers mill bridge and the canal side screen and the river side of jubilee. Not to be out done by the migrating songsters, what we consider our resident birds are busily singing away and chasing off potential rivals. The reed buntings are (I feel) over looked birds at this time of year as their singing ability is no match for the warblers, however their visibility makes for excellent photo opportunities!
Reed Bunting by Fergus Mosey
Out on the wetlands, there are more common terns prospecting the gravel islands and fishing along the river. A smart pair of garganey have been playing hide n seek on the north pit. Yellow and white wagtails have been spotted around the wetland fringes – fingers crossed the very showy male yellow wagtail turns up again as he was a photographers dream last year! Choosing to perch in the open on an old gate post.
Last years showy yellow wagtail - will he return?
14 species of waders have visited Middleton this week. Our breeding lapwing, redshank, little-ringed plovers, ringed plovers and oystercatchers have been joined by passing dunlin (including some smart black-bellied breeding plumaged birds), black-tailed godwit, green sandpiper, whimbrel, curlew, avocet, snipe, common sandpiper and greenshank. It feels like anything can turn up at the moment, so scanning the scrape edges is always an exciting affair!
It's a really good time to see little-ringed plovers. They can also be quite close!
The lesser-spotted woodpecker is occasionally making an appearance around the farm and heronry area. Although, he can turn up anywhere is the woodland. Last week I tracked him from one end of the woods to the other, he is very mobile and still single. The woodland edges are still a really good place to see butterflies, with holly blues now on the wing and the first speckled woods too. This week we've had some really good butterfly counts, peacocks, brimstones and small tortoiseshells the majority with more orange tips being spotted, commas and green veined whites increasing. As well as butterflies around the woodland edge, if you overlook our silt pond view points, then you maybe lucky enough to see a great-crested newt swimming about. Or even a grass snake, which I have yet to see this year but it’s been warm enough for them to begin emerging.
One of the many small tortoiseshells along the bridleway.
So why not pop down to Middleton Lakes this weekend? Get out and do some spring birding!
We will endeavor to keep this blog updated on a weekly basis, but to keep your finger on the Middleton Lakes pulse check out our RSPB Birmingham, Black Country and Warwickshire facebook page and follow us on Twitter @RSPBMiddleton. If you enjoy taking photos, we would love for you to add them to our Community page. To keep up to date with other sightings in the valley check out the tame valley birding blog http://tamevalleybirding.blogspot.co.uk/