Hi,
Migrant birds continued to trickle into the country during the week and Saltholme managed to get its fair share of the action with a particular highlight being a herd of 26 Whooper Swans (24th). A single Swallow and Chiffchaff also sighted on the 24th were most likely birds from northern Europe as the vast majority of British breeders departed a few weeks ago.
A large movement of Whooper Swans took place on the 24th, 26 touched down at Saltholme to feed and snooze in the sunshine (Many Thanks to Ian F for the photograph).
The monthly wetland bird survey (WeBS) provides a perfect opportunity to take a snapshot of all the aquatic avian visitors currently utilising the reserve, highlights from the 20th included, 75x Gadwall, 11x Pintail, 61x Shoveler, 452x Wigeon, 139x Teal, 2x Goldeneye, 16x Little Grebe and 13x Cormorant.
Over a thousand geese are currently grazing on the wet grassland, the vast majority of these are Canada and Greylag Geese, however it is inevitable that a congregation of this size will attract a few goodies, this week they took the form of 16x Pink-footed Geese, 60+ Barnacle Geese and 4x Bar-headed Geese (the Barnacle and Bar-Headed Geese are most likely of feral origin).
The frequent showers of late seem to have provided excellent conditions for a fantastic assemblage of foraging wading birds including, 1000+ Golden Plover, 800+ Lapwing, 3x Dunlin, 5x Redshank, 1x Greenshank, 9x Black-tailed Godwit, 2x Bar-tailed Godwit, 247x Curlew, c.30 Snipe and 7x Ruff.
With so many birds around at present it is perhaps not surprising that the reserve is also playing host to a good number of birds of prey including, 2x Marsh Harrier, 1x Common Buzzard, 2x Sparrowhawk, Kestrel and Peregrine Falcon.
Once again soaring in the skies of Teesside this Common Buzzard has frequently been sighted near the Seal Viewpoint (Many thanks to Ian F for the photograph).
Other avian highlights this week included 5x Water Rail (with some particularly showy individuals at the Phil Stead Hide), 2x female Red-Breasted Merganser (Back Saltholme, 18th), 1x Long-tailed Duck (East Saltholme, 24th), Kingfisher (Wilderness Trail, 24th) and Great Spotted Woodpecker (Phil Stead Hide).
The not so elusive Water Rail at the Phil Stead Hide (Many Thanks to Ian F for the photograph).
Finally, the lack of frosts to date means we continue to enjoy sightings of late flying invertebrates including Common Darter dragonflies and butterflies such as Red Admiral and Small Tortoiseshell. Whilst an energetic weasel was a good find on the trail near to the Haverton Scrub.
Cheers,
Adam