Black-tailed Godwits and other things

A walk around the lake just after 9am was intended to beat the forecast rain.  I failed in that and after having got 2/3 of the way round the rain came in.  However ever cloud has a silver lining and in this case it was in the form of seven Black-tailed Godwit which had been forced down by the rain.

Black-tailed Godwits with Lapwings etc.  on the sand spit.

Also seen along the southern edge of the lake were three Warblers fledglings (below).  Two were huddled together and were calling regularly.  I waited at a distance for some time but did not see the adult.  The youngsters then all disappeared inside the thick undergrowth and I suspect the adult had called to them.

Warbler species, thought to be Chiffchaff but unfortunately adult not seen.

A quick look at the Terns in the rain showed up two swimming birds, one perched on a stump (the same unringed bird as per my previous post and still being guarded by an adult) and one in the reeds at the side of the lake (below). I later heard that one youngster was seen dead on the water but not sure if this is one of the ones I saw or another.

Common Tern chick - Hiding in the vegetation along the west bank.  One of the ringed birds.
The adults should continue to feed as long as it keeps calling..

Little Marlow Terns (and Grebes)

A quick visit to check on the Common Terns and to see if anything else was around.  Rather surprised to find that three Tern chicks had "jumped ship".  Two were swimming close to the rafts and one was perched on a tree stump close to the west bank.

Two fish are in the photos below.  Can anyone ID the fish.  Click on the photos to enlarge.

Two of the swimmers.  They were just a few feet from the rafts.
There was a lot of floating weed in the water.

Despite having left the rafts, they were still being fed.
I thought this fish was too large but the youngster soon devoured it. 

Close to the west bank.  An adult Tern guarding a youngster (close to the water).
While I was watching another adult brought in food for the youngster.

The same youngster as in the photo above.  Interestingly this bird was unringed so it has to be the swimmer that escaped when the young Terns were ringed on Friday.  This particular Tern jumped ship and swam to an overgrown island, so we were unable to retrieve it. Good to see that it has survived and is being well looked after.

A fish being delivered and soon swallowed. 

Feeding over. 

Great Crested Grebes - The adult in the water bringing in more weed to build up the nest.

Little Marlow GP

The four Little Egrets nests are doing well.  Below is the nest on the north side of the island as viewed from the north bank (quite a distance).

Adult top left with three youngsters close to the nest.

Common Tern - adult perched on one of the raft posts

Common Tern chicks - Now well grown.  (Yes the raft is lending at that angle!).

Snapping Turtle - Released into the lake many years ago.  Now getting quite large. 

Exact species is unknown.

Scary Creature!

This Hornet decided to come into our conservatory.  Alfie the dog had to be restrained from snapping at it (he does often kill Wasps).  It was about 3cm long and not to be messed with! 
Can't remember the last time I saw a Hornet.

Bullfinches and Stock Dove in our Garden

From being a really scarce bird in our garden, a male Bullfinch recently found our feeders and today he brought his mate along for a treat.  Recently just the male appeared and I wondered if the female was incubating eggs.  This is very doubtful as the pair visited in very steady rain and any exposed nest would soon have got extremely wet.

Female Bullfinch - Preferring the Sunflower feeder

Male Bullfinch - Looking very bedraggled in steady rain in morning.

No doubt the same female visiting early evening when weather much improved. 

It spilled quite a bit of bird food under the feeder........

While directly under the Bullfinch this Stock Dove was feeding on the spilt food!

Little Marlow Breeding Birds

Little Egrets - Young birds perched on a branch close to the nest.

Great Crested Grebe - A rather colourful nest which has recently been constructed.

Great Crested Grebe - Possibly the mate of the bird on the nest as it was fairly near to the nest.

Common Terns - One of the five rafts with a couple of adults keeping an eye on the well grown young.

Wren - An adult keeping an eye on me as it was feeding 4-5 young in the nearby reedbed.

Black-headed Gull - Coloured ringed "White ?8P2".  This species does not breed at Little Marlow (yet!).  Although I could not read the first character of the ring, it is almost certainly the same bird that Adam Bassett saw recently "White 28P2". This was ringed at Hosehill LNR (near Reading) in June 2015.  It visited Little Marlow in July 2015, Ireland in December 2015 as well as being seen at Hosehill several times.

Little Egret Nest

This nest seems to face the north side of the main island (facing the sand spit) but can be viewed from fishing peg 39.  The adult was standing high in the nest and the young birds could just about be made out moving around deeper in the cup of the nest.  This is the third nest with young this year, with another sitting adult which may be on eggs or very young chicks.

Little Egret nest viewed from the south bank.