Summary : June 2015
New Species added to 2015 Year List in June= 17
Running Total for the 2015 UK So Far = 146
New UK Life List Birds In June = 2
Our Garden
The garden continues to be full of ravenous young Starlings. A Robin visits now and again but the neighbours House Sparrows seem to have decided that the gras is greener over our side. A pair of Dunnocks is seen and a few Blue Tits. A Great Tit and a Coal Tit have been seen. Woodpigeons, Collared Doves and Stock Doves can’t be kept away and the evenings are full of Blackbird song. It seems like there are many more than usual this year. We have seen a couple of juvenile Goldfinches as well as a few adults; this may be the first ones in two years and hopefully we will more soon. Swifts are occasionally seen overhead but nowhere as many as there were a few years ago; it is quite a worry. Locally the House Martins seem less common as well.
Birding Days Out
The first birding group outing of the month was supposed to be at Neumann’s Flash or Brockholes but the weather forecast was poor at both those sites so we plumped for RSPB Burton Mere Wetlands, where the forecast was better. It rained a little and was very windy but, in general, we had a good day with the final bird of the day being the finest – a female Red-necked Phalarope – only my second, the first being at the same site in September of 2014 but that was a juvenile.
On the 5th June we went for a walk at Moore Nature Reserve, where we had a very pleasant walk and even though we did not see our target birds, Yellowhammer and Grey Partridge, we still managed to knock up forty-one species and had lovely views of warblers and the air was full o song on a rather sultry, humid morning. Walking up by the farm in those temperatures reminded me of the many long country walks I took as a child.
On the 7th we made an evening trip to Carr Lane, Hale, Merseyside, where we had heard of a singing Corncrake. It may be too early to say this but surely this is the bird of the month for us, regardless of the Red-necked Phalarope of a few days before, indeed it may be the bird of the year since we had only ever heard Corncrakes on Iona before and never seen one. And what views they were too; full body, singing and even posturing toward a Grey Partridge in desperation for a partner.
The birding group visit on the 8th June was to WWT Martin Mere, Merseyside, where a number of interesting birds had been sighted recently, including Little Stint and Red-necked Phalarope. We didn’t see either of these birds but we did get a species count of forty-six in just a few hours.
The following weeks birding group outing was a two-day event. The first day we went to RSPB Blacktoft Sands, where, amongst other delights, we saw a UK life first, Montagu’s Harrier and also a year first, Bearded Tit as well as the greatest number of Marsh Harriers I think I have ever seen at the one site and certainly the most I have ever seen in the air at one time.
From here we went to North Cave, where we had a great walk and added a few more species to our trip list including Common Tern, Little Ringed Plover and Sand Martins. We had a great walk on a beautiful afternoon before heading off to our overnight accommodation.
The following day we went to RSPB Bempton Cliffs, where, on a scorching day, we had a classic cliff-nesting seabird experience getting Gannet, Guillemot, Razorbill, Kittiwake, Shag, Fulmar and Puffins for our year list. Although extremely busy it takes a lot to spoil this place where the views, especially of Gannets, are wonderful.
Over the two days we had seen sixty-eight species including lots of year ticks and the fantastic UK life tick, Montagu’s Harrier. See end for a full list
Holiday Birding
This was the last birding group outing of hte term that we were able to attend because we had a pre-arranged commitment to attend the wedding anniversary of some friends who lived in Maidenhead. We decided to add on a bit of a short holiday after this and whilst some of it was visiting gardens, some was also more birding oriented. The first birding experience was an extraordinary one involving Red Kites near Stokenchurch.
A couple of days after this we headed off for our base at the Premier Inn in the centre of Canterbury which turned out to be a nicely located and pleasant Premier Inn – it even had a mini-supermarket underneath it (reception is one the first floor). While we were there we did a number of tourist things around Canterbury but also spread out a little bit to a couple of surrounding birding sites including RSPB Blean Woods where we had a great walk even though we did not see or hear any of the Nightingales the site is famous for.
From there we went to Whitstable and Herne Bay but this wasn’t for birding reasons which was just as well for apart from Herring Gulls there was a distinct shortage of them. From there we went to Sandwich Bay Bird Observatory where we met a delightful volunteer who could not have been more helpful to us. We visited their scrape hide and spent a bit of time there before exploring the general area. Again, nothing spectacular but a nice walk and an interesting place to return to when we had more time. It wasn’t really a birding holiday so the birding was a bit casual and haphazard.
The following day, the 25th, we had a more focused morning with a couple of hours visit to the Natural England site Stodmarsh NNR where we had lovely views of a small flock of juvenile Bearded Tits. We only scratched the surface of this site but, again, it was a good taster and a definite return visit should be on the books – perhaps a little earlier in the year. We continued our day with stops at the towns of Sandwich and Deal and then we dropped in at the Rye Harbour Nature Reserve where we got good views of Common Terns but not the Little Terns we were hoping for.
Late in the afternoon of the 25th we settled in at the New Inn at Winchelsea where we had really nice views of nesting Swifts in the ruins of the old abbey opposite. After a good meal and a sleep (despite the extreme heat) we we had breakfast and off we went to another place I have long wanted to got to, RSPB Dungeness. Here we got a nice year tick of Common Gull as well as excellent views of several Hobbies and a couple of Marsh Harriers. A Cuckoo was heard and we got brief views of a Green Woodpecker on a telegraph pole.
After we left there we spent a while having lunch and walking around the old town of Rye. By the time we had done that we had just a small amount of time left so we made a return visit to Rye Harbour Nature Reserve where we took a different track and were able to add Sandwich Tern to our annual list but not, alas, Little Tern.
We checked out of the New Inn at Winchelsea the following morning and Anne had a morning at Great Dixter gardens. We ended up the day at the Premier Inn at Sevenoaks which had no redeeming merit except that it was near where we needed to be for a family dinner that evening.
Normal service was resumed the day after that, the 28th when we stopped off for the night on our way back to Manchester. We again stopped at Chris’s Cafe and Motel and got some views of Red Kites though not in the numbers we previously saw. Food was not put out for them, perhaps because it was a Sunday, but we fared better when we discovered the nearby Studley Green Garden Store, just a quarter of a mile back up the A40 towards the motorway where they have one of the best cafes in the whole area and its open seven days a week !
Anyway, after about an hour in the car park at Chris’s Cafe and Motel we went for a walk at Aston Rowant NNR. where we again got nice views of Red Kites. In all honesty, though, you could be anywhere in this area and see Red Kites without even trying. In fact the pub we stayed at the Fat Fox in Watlington where we have stayed before is a great place for splendid views of Red Kites from the back garden of the pub !
We stayed at the Fat Fox for the one evening before returning to Manchester but there was one place we really wanted to go back to and that was RSPB Otmoor, where we had a wonderful view of a juvenile Cuckoo being fed by a Reed Warbler. We also got a life tick in the shape of a Lesser Whitethroat; both Lesser and Common are both easily seen at this site. We also got Red Kite, Marsh Harrier and Kestrel.
All in all it had been a fantastic month with seventeen “year” ticks and two “life ticks” making our year list up to 146 species.
New Species for the Year in June 2015
- Bearded Tit
- Common Gull
- Common Tern
- Corncrake
- Cuckoo
- Fulmar
- Gannet
- Grey Partridge
- Guillemot
- Kittiwake
- Montagu’s Harrier
- Puffin
- Razorbill
- Red Kite
- Red-necked Phalarope
- Sandwich Tern
- Shag
UK Life Ticks in June 2015
- Montagu’s Harrier
- Lesser Whitethroat
Full List of Birds Seen At Blacktoft Sands and RSPB Bempton Cliffs June 2015
- Greylag Goose (Anser anser)
- Mute Swan (Cygnus olor)
- Common Shelduck (Tadorna tadorna)
- Eurasian Wigeon (Anas penelope)
- Mallard (Anas platyrhynchos)
- Northern Shoveler (Anas clypeata)
- Common Pochard (Aythya ferina)
- Tufted Duck (Aythya fuligula)
- Common Pheasant (Phasianus colchicus)
- Little Grebe (Tachybaptus ruficollis)
- Great Crested Grebe (Podiceps cristatus)
- Northern Fulmar (Fulmarus glacialis)
- Northern Gannet (Morus bassanus)
- Great Cormorant (Phalacrocorax carbo)
- European Shag (Phalacrocorax aristotelis)
- Grey Heron (Ardea cinerea)
- Little Egret (Egretta garzetta)
- Eurasian Marsh Harrier (Circus aeruginosus)
- Montagu’s Harrier (Circus pygargus)
- Common Buzzard (Buteo buteo)
- Common Moorhen (Gallinula chloropus)
- Common Coot (Fulica atra)
- Pied Avocet (Recurvirostra avosetta)
- Eurasian Oystercatcher (Haematopus ostralegus)
- Northern Lapwing (Vanellus vanellus)
- Little Ringed Plover (Charadrius dubius)
- Spotted Redshank (Tringa erythropus)
- Common Redshank (Tringa totanus)
- Common Guillemot (Uria aalge)
- Razorbill (Alca torda)
- Atlantic Puffin (Fratercula arctica)
- Black-legged Kittiwake (Rissa tridactyla)
- Black-headed Gull (Chroicocephalus ridibundus)
- Great Black-backed Gull (Larus marinus)
- Common Tern (Sterna hirundo)
- Rock Dove (Columba livia)
- Stock Dove (Columba oenas)
- Common Wood Pigeon (Columba palumbus)
- Eurasian Collared Dove (Streptopelia decaocto)
- Common Swift (Apus apus)
- Common Kestrel (Falco tinnunculus)
- Eurasian Magpie (Pica pica)
- Eurasian Jackdaw (Corvus monedula)
- Carrion Crow (Corvus corone)
- Bearded Tit (Panurus biarmicus)
- Sky Lark (Alauda arvensis)
- Sand Martin (Riparia riparia)
- Barn Swallow (Hirundo rustica)
- Common House Martin (Delichon urbicum)
- Great Tit (Parus major)
- Eurasian Blue Tit (Cyanistes caeruleus)
- Eurasian Wren (Troglodytes troglodytes)
- Willow Warbler (Phylloscopus trochilus)
- Common Chiffchaff (Phylloscopus collybita)
- Sedge Warbler (Acrocephalus schoenobaenus)
- Eurasian Reed Warbler (Acrocephalus scirpaceus)
- Blackcap (Sylvia atricapilla)
- European Robin (Erithacus rubecula)
- Eurasian Blackbird (Turdus merula)
- Common Starling (Sturnus vulgaris)
- Dunnock (Prunella modularis)
- White Wagtail (Motacilla alba)
- Meadow Pipit (Anthus pratensis)
- Reed Bunting (Emberiza schoeniclus)
- Common Chaffinch (Fringilla coelebs)
- European Goldfinch (Carduelis carduelis)
- Common Linnet (Carduelis cannabina)
- Eurasian Tree Sparrow (Passer montanus)