A Slice of Fudge

Last week I nipped over to Paxton Pits in nearby Cambridgeshire. A drake Ferruginous (Fudge) Duck had been hanging around. I haven't sen too many of these before so I thought it was worth a look.
 From where you park the car to where the bird was being seen is quite a walk but it is through some bird rich countryside, with Yellowhammers, Reed Buntings, Blackcaps, Whitethroats, Sedge and Reed Warblers all seen.

 Arriving at Pumphouse Pit I had a good look around trying to decide where my target bird might be lurking.In the process notching up Little Grebe, Little Egret and a couple of Yellow-legged Gulls onto the day tally.

 I found a small flock of Tufted Ducks with a few Pochard amongst them and sort of guessed this might be the most likely area to find the Fudgie.

 After about an hour of 'Was that it that just dived ?', I finally managed a long enough look to identify the chestnut brown duck with the white eye as a drake Ferruginous Duck. Hard work but worth it in the end.

 A bonus while waiting was the constant 'purring' of 2 Turtle Doves on wires just a short distance away and a Hobby that flew by on the walk back.

 While in the area, I decided to take a look at nearby Grafham Water.

A walk along the dam produced a few birds. Lots of Wagtails, mainly Pied, but a reasonable number of Yellow, a few juvenile Gulls, Great Black-backed, Lesser Black-backed  and Black-headed, a lot of eclipse Mallard drakes and a family of Shelduck.

juvenile Lesser Black-backed Gull feeding on a dead Carp

juvenile Shelduck

 One bird on the dam was quite a surprise - a Juvenile Kittiwake - unfortunately deceased.

juvenile Kittiwake

 From here I took a walk around the Lagoons and was very pleased to see the pair of Avocet and their two youngsters that they had reared on site, also a Green Sandpiper and 3 Little Egrets prowled around on the mud.

Surrey Sunday

Our latest Bedford RSPB trip was to Thursley Common in Surrey.
Sadly this site is not quite what it used to be since the devastating fire that wiped out most of the Heathland in 2006.
 Dartford Warblers have yet to recolonise the site, so our best birds had to be 3 Woodlarks, one of which landed in a tree above our heads and gave us a version of its notable song, a Hobby, a family of Spotted Flycatchers and several  family parties of Stonechats.

                                                Juvenile Stonechat

 Thursley is noted for it's insect population, in particular Dragonflies, and I'm told we saw Emperor, Keeled and Black-tailed Skimmers, Brown Hawkers and several others.

                                                    Keeled Skimmer

An interested insect that is present at Thursley is the Beewolf. This is a large member of the wasp family that preys on Honey Bees. It paralyses them with it's sting before carrying them off to it's burrow where it's eggs are laid on it's helpless victim. The hatched larvae then feast on the still living Bee. I did see some  carrying Bees around, but this one is empty-handed. Click on the photo to see how ferocious it looks.

                                                            Beewolf

 Lizards are very common at this site  and many of the Common type were encountered , especially on the boardwalks over the marshland, including lots of young ones and several pregnant females.

pregnant Common Lizard

On our way home we decided to take a look at Staines Reservoirs.

A lot of waterfowl were seen but most were Mallards and Coots.Scanning through these we did find some Tufted Duck, a few Pochard, 3 Shoveler, a couple of juvenile Shelduck, a fly-through Common Sandpiper and the best bird of the day a smashing summer plumaged Black-necked Grebe.

Flycatcher Update

I've been checking on the Lathbury Spotted Flycatchers at least once a week since the first bird arrived at the beginning of June.
 Up until now I'd only ever seen one bird but assumed there must be a pair, as surely the lone bird just wouldn't stick around.

 Today this was confirmed as a pair were seen collecting insects and taking them off to feed young in a so far unseen nest.

The Young Ones

Gayhurst Quarry seemed to be full of young birds this morning. Walking down the track I saw family parties of Chiffchaffs, Blackcaps, Blue and Great Tits, young Blackbirds and Robins.                          

At the pits the theme continued with juveniles of Black-headed Gulls and still lots of young Common Terns.The Swans still have two fast growing Cygnets and there are 2 families of Great-crested Grebes.

New on site was a brood of 5 tiny Tufted Ducks following mum around on Motorway Pit, and 3 young Kingfishers chased one of the parents up the river.                                                                                   

I couldn't find the Oystercatchers on the island today, but on my walk back I could hear the piping calls of the adult birds on Reedy Pit.

 

 I didn't think this was a good sign, but as I sat and watched the two babies emerged out of the undergrowth. They can obviously swim from a very early age.

 Other good birds seen around the site included a Hobby that was harrassed by a large gang of Sand and House Martins, a Buzzard, 4 Little Egrets, one Green and one Common Sandpiper and a growing flock of just over a hundred Lapwings.

Vidye-vudya vu (how the heck are you ?)

It's often the case that the most non-descript birds have loud distinct songs. This is most certainly true of the Common Rosefinch.
 The Three Musketeers (Nik, Paul and Myself ) embarked on our latest Twitch into Cambridgeshire last night to try and see the said bird
 We had done our homework before we set off (lesson learned from this weeks Greater Yellowlegs debacle at Daventry Reservoir, where a few hundred  birders had happily ticked the above, only for someone to say 'Actually Guys it's  a Greenshank !!' (thank goodness I was waiting until the evening before going)), and studied all the features and call.
 The small village of Melbourn was our destination and following local directions we soon found the gardens, where the the little guy was hanging around.
 Luckily we had studied the call as this bird is a real typical little brown job  (well first summer males as this one is) and I'm sure we would never have found it on looks alone.
 Like I say the call is very noticeable and we were soon able to trace the bird in the conifers of the largest of the said gardens. We did enjoy good views for prolonged periods, before deciding it was time for  a beer and a curry at a nearby Indian

Now it starts

In amongst the heavy showers I took alook around Gayhurst Quarry this morning to see if any wader migration was taking place yet.
 I was not disappointed as I found 5 species around the site.
On Fishing Pit there were the usual Lapwings with a few well grown juveniles amongst their numbers. I had scanned the whole lake, seeing a few Coot, Mallard and Great-crested Grebe, when I noticed a Little-ringed Plover on the nearest exposed mud spit. Looking closer this became 2, then 5 and finally 7 - easily a site record as I had only ever seen the odd ones and twos here. They were all adults and amongst them was a Common Sandpiper so I would guess they were all returning migrants.
 The Swans on Spinney Pit have finally given up on their eggs and the family of Great-crested Grebes are still doing well.
 The Motorway Pit Mutes have now relocated to Reedy Pit with their surviving 2 young and these are growing fast. It was here that I noticed another small wader picking around the mud - a Green Sandpiper.
 Motorway Pit was alive with birds, very noticeably Common Terns, which seem to have had a very good year. I counted a minimum of 26 juveniles, most of which are flying around. It was here that I spotted yet another Little-ringed Plover, but my biggest surprise was the Oystercatchers. I had presumed they hadn't bred this year as I kept seeing two birds at opposite ends of the site, but was very pleased to see two adult birds on the edge of the island and then two fluffy balls appeared out of the grass. There were at least 5 Little Egrets around and another pair of Great-crested Grebes with their stripey hitchhikers.

 Up at Quarryhall, there was a lot of chirpinng coming from the bushes and closer inspection revealed probably a dozen Tree Sparrows, including several young birds. Also seen here were Linnets, Yellowhammer, Skylarks, Reed Buntings and Stock doves.
 A pair of ears kept popping up out of the Oatfield and eventually these revealed them to belong to a Roe Deer.

Still Quiet on the Birding Front

June and early July have always been quiet months regarding birds, especially in inland counties like Buckinghamshire. This year seems worse than ever, but at least there are a few interesting insects to look at.

When I came back from Mallorca I commented that there seemed to be an abundance of Hummingbird Hawk Moths over there, and wondered if we were in for an invasion year. It seems we could be, as a lot of people are reporting them lately and I have seen 3 myself in the last week including 2 together this morning. They are incredibly difficult to photograph as they are so active, but here are a few of my efforts. Click on the photos to see more details including the incredibly long proboscis.

I also came across this gathering of Green-veined and Small White Butterflies on the edge of a dried up pond.I haven't seen this many together for twenty years or so.