Little Marlow Again

A visit about 9am to see if any new migrants had dropped in.  The sand spit pretty much only held the regular species but there was a Ringed Plover again.  Apparently it had not been present earlier in the morning (per Adam Bassett), so is considered to be a new arrival.  Good numbers had been seen in the county in the past few days including a flock of over 40 at Gallows Bridge BBOWT Reserve.

A Grey Heron is under those feathers somewhere. 
Also rather insignificant at the bottom is the Ringed Plover.

About a dozen sitting Common Terns on the rafts.  All appears peaceful here.......

However it was not long before a fight broke out.  Sharp beaks!!

Migrant Ringed Plover

The day was overcast with rain and the occasional thunderstorm.  Coupled with an easterly breeze it looked  good for migrating waders and Terns.  Adam Bassett found three Black Terns about 7:30am and I had a look at these from the east bank about 9:00am after first having visited Marlow Low Grounds, which only held Little Ringed Plovers.

I decided to revisit the site late afternoon after Ringed Plover and two Redshank had been reported, with the hope that something else might also drop in.  As it happened a storm rolled in with thunder and heavy rain and no further migrants.  The Redshanks were present on the sand spit but distant however the Ringed Plover did move closer.  The Black Terns were still present along with about 40 Common Terns, most of which were trying to breed on the rafts.

Ringed Plover - Note the orange legs and bill (with black tip)

The Common Terns nesting on the new rafts.  Taken a few days earlier in brighter conditions.  About 11 sitting birds.

Stonechat at Stoke Common

At walk around Stoke in search of heathland birds was difficult.  There were certainly quite a few Whitethroats and Skylarks around, plus a couple of Willow Warblers along the west side of the common.  However I did come across two Stonechats, one a male shown below and another bird which could have been a female or a juvenile.  It seems likely that the birds have bred here or are attempting to.

A short video clip of the male.

Jubilee River Walk

A late afternoon with my wife and Alfie the dog and hoping to see a Hobby or two. Unfortunately none were around so I had to be content with listening to the Reed, Sedge and Cetti's Warblers.  This Grey Heron was posing nicely on the far bank.  A few Swift were also feeding along the river.

Grey Heron

Gallows Bridge Cranes

Having dipped on Cranes at Otmoor the previous day, it was a bit ironical that two Common Cranes should turn up at Gallows Bridge Farm BBOWT reserve, Bucks.  Although not very far from Otmoor these are different individuals as the Otmoor birds are ringed and the Gallows Bridge birds are not ringed.

I arrived at Gallows Bridge Farm at about 8am bumping into Warren Claydon, who found them the previous day and who was about to leave.  The birds were still present but very distant at the far end of the reserve but could be seen from the far hide.  I was present about an hour and a half and the pair wandered around apparently feeding and avoiding the Lapwings which took exception to their presence.

The distance and the heat haze made photography extremely difficult as you can see below:-

Gallows Bridge Farm - View from the far hide.  The Cranes are in the distance where the trees are!!

Cranes - Phone-scoped

Cranes - Nikon P6000 camera

Otmoor Visit

A morning visit with Bourne End U3A group was quite productive with about 60 species seen or heard.  Most notably were a Bittern in flight, a drake Garganey, Marsh Harriers and Hobby.  We also saw or heard  a wide range of Warblers. Unfortunately we could only hear Turtle Dove and Cuckoo and they remained well hidden.  I only manged to get photos of a couple of birds.

Drake Garganey on Big Otmoor.

Redshank - Seen from the Watchpoint.

A Surprise Knot at Little Marlow GP

Knot are a scarce bird in Buckinghamshire with only a handful of records in the county, so even less at Little Marlow.  What makes this individual even better is the fact that it was in summer plumage making it a stunning individual.  It was found by Adam Basset on 12th May and admired by many observers over two days.
When I first saw it, early on 12th, it was very distant on the east side of the sand spit.  However the following evening it had moved to the west side and coupled with the low evening sun, it made photography much easier.

Knot - 1 have had less than five sightings of this species in Bucks over the past 40 years!

A short video of the bird.

The Knot was not present on 14th May.

Sea Watch at Portland Bill

We had stayed at Weymouth all week and had amazing holiday weather with it sunny and warm all week and not great for birding.  Unfortunately no new migrant birds arrived, that I could find.  Visits to Lodmoor and Radipole Lake  produced the expected breeding birds such as Reed Warbler, Sedge Warbler, Bearded Tit, Marsh Harrier, Common Terns, etc but little else.
Finally on the morning we were due to leave for home, the winds changed to the SE and was fairly brisk, so a 6am visit to Portland Bill was called for.  No real scarce birds but nice to see some of the commoner seabirds on the move.  These included Hundreds of Gannets, 100+ Manx Shearwaters, 30+ Common Scoter, 30+ Kittiwakes, 15 Razorbills and lots of locally breeding Guillimots and a single Puffin.  On the bill was a couple of  Wheatears, the usual Raven and Rock Pipits.

Gannets - A steady flow during the 1.5 hours seawatch.

Fulmar - The only one seen and presumably breeding nearby.

Manx Shearwaters - Small birds and rather distant.

Kittiwake - A reasonable number all flying east.