May 31, 2016 archive

May 31 2016

Summary May 2016

Summary May 2016

Species this month = 132

New Species added to 2016 Year List in May= 41

Barn Owl at Thornham on 8th May, Bar-tailed Godwit at Minsmere on 3rd May, Bearded Tit at Titchwell on 7th, Blackcap and Common Tern at Rutland Water on 13th, Black-throated Diver and Common Sandpiper at Lochindorb on 31st, Common Crane at Horsey Mere on the 6th, Common Cuckoo at Upper Goyt Valley on 20th May and on 30th May at Laggan but lots of them heard at various locations. Dipper also at Goyt Valley on 20th, Dotterel at Chosely Drying Barns on the 9th and 11th May. Egytian Goose at Holkham Hall on 9th, Fulmar at Hunstanton Cliffs on 8th, Grasshopper Warbler heard at Thornham on 8th but surely just a mattter of a foot or so away, Also heard Green Woodpecker at Thornham on 7th. Grey Plover at Titchwell on 7th and 11th. Hobby at Lakenheath on 2nd, Minsmere on 3rd and Horsey Mere on 6th. Lesser Whitethroat on 5th at VCovehithe and 9th at Holkham NNR, Little Tern at Blakeney Point on 11th, Mediterranean Gull at Minsmere on the 3rd,Osprey at Rutland Water on 1st, Red Kite around Norfolk, Red-crested Pochard at Titchwell on 7th, Red Grouse at the Cat and Fiddle on 20th, Red-legged Partridge on 9th and 11th at Choseley Drying Brns but also at Fring on 10th, Redstart at Goyt Valley on 20th, Ring Ouzel at Cairngorm on 31st, Ringed Plover at Covehithe and other places, Sandwich Terns at Minsmere on 3rd and other places later in the month, Slavonian Grebe at Avielochan on 31st, Spotted Flycatcher at Upper Goyt Valley on 20t, Stone Curlew at Weeting Heath on the 10th, Swifts first at Rutland Water on the 13th, Whimbrel at Thornham on the 7th, Whitethroat at Thornham on the 8th and Yellowhammer at Weeting Heath on the 4th.

New UK Life List Birds In May = 5

Temminck’s Stint at RSPB Titchwell

Corn Bunting at Chosely Drying Barns

Turtle Dove at NWT Holmes Dunes

Black Tern at Rutland Water

Icterine Warbler at Laggan

Running Total for the 2016 UK So Far = 165

 

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May 31 2016

Scotland Holiday Day 3: Anagach Forest, Lochindorb, Carrbridge, Avielochan and Cairngorm, 31st May 2016

Scotland Holiday Day 3: Anagach Forest, Lochindorb, Carrbridge, Avielochan and Cairngorm, 31st May 2016

I started off the day with an early walk from 5.45am – 7.15am in the Anagach Forest. This time the first animal I encountered was a Roe Deer and in the woods the bird feeders were dominated by Red Squirrels – I saw around six of them. Still no Crested Tits but a few birds in the woods and on the golf course next to it.
We decided to head to Lochindorb to look for Divers, one of my favourite birds. En route to Lochindorb , on the Old Military Road, we got Red Grouse and a very large flock of Common Gulls. At Lochindorb we got of a Black-throated Diver and also got Oystercatcher, Common Sandpiper and Buzzard.
We took a drive from Lochindorb to the little loch on the left of Loch Allan where we had previously seen Red-throated Divers but we had no luck. We continued down that road until we found the left turn cut through that leads to the road that runs past the other side of Lochindorb and ends up at Carrbridge. There we found a Siskin and Swallows and House Martins and a Dunnock but not much else.
At Avielochan we got just the one Slavonian Grebe but there were other attractions including Goldeneye, Little Grebe and some Common Gulls amongst the Herring Gulls. The bird feeders had plenty of Siskins and other finches and tits. Willow Warblers were singing all the time.
Our next port of call as we headed off for Cairngorm was Craigelachie Nature Trail at Aviemore. Unfortunately we didn’t get the Peregrines we expected but we did, at least, get Spotted Flycatcher.
At Cairgorm we eventually managed to meet up with John Poyner who was heading up a hotel sponsored couple of hours bird watching at Cairngorm. We got the funicular railway up (now about £12 concessions each!) and the last trip back is 4.30pm. Anyway we met up with him and some other hotel guests, one for whom said he had seen a Ptarmigan on the train up but he was the only one. John said he had heard at least one calling but we didn’t see anything except a very cute young Mountain Hare right in front of the viewing platform. When it came to birds, however it was more disappointing and a couple of Meadow Pipits was the lot. It was made all the more difficult by the fact that a heavy fog came down at the observation deck level and this came and went making viewing hard work.
This was slightly compensated for when we saw Ring Ouzel at the bottom. In fact a pair had taken to nesting in a tree in the formal garden at the back of the train station. We walked round there and got views of both a male and a female. I also got probably my first actual view this holiday of a Willow Warbler singing right in front of us.
We returned home via Loch Morlich which was very quite (no Divers) and Nethy Bridge (only a Grey Wagtail) and got home pretty tired. After dinner I sat down to write up the last three days of birding and was thoroughly beat at the end of it.

Bird Sightings : Anagach Forest

Species Count
Common Pheasant 1
Eurasian Oystercatcher 2
Common Wood Pigeon 8
Eurasian Jackdaw 6
Coal Tit 1
Great Tit 2
Eurasian Blue Tit 1
Eurasian Wren 1
Willow Warbler 3
European Robin 2
Eurasian Blackbird 4
Mistle Thrush 1
Common Chaffinch 10

Bird Sightings : Lochindorb

Species Count
Greylag Goose 40
Mallard 8
Red Grouse 6
Black-throated Diver 1
Common Buzzard 1
Northern Lapwing 2
Common Sandpiper 1
Common Gull 100
Eurasian Jackdaw 10

Bird Sightings : Carrbridge

Species Count
Great Tit 1
Barn Swallow 4
Common House Martin 8
Dunnock 1
Eurasian Siskin 1
House Sparrow 10

Bird Sightings : Avielochan

Species Count
Greylag Goose 12
Common Goldeneye 2
Little Grebe 1
Slavonian Grebe 1
Northern Lapwing 6
Black-headed Gull 6
Mew Gull 2
Herring Gull 20
Sand Martin 20
Barn Swallow 6
Willow Warbler 2
Song Thrush 1
Common Starling 2
Common Chaffinch 6
European Greenfinch 1
Eurasian Siskin 10
European Goldfinch 2

Bird Sightings : Craigelachie Nature Trail, Aviemore

Species Count
Common Sandpiper 1
Willow Warbler 1
Spotted Flycatcher 2
European Robin 1

Bird Sightings : Cairngorm

Species Count
Willow Warbler 1
Ring Ouzel 2
Meadow Pipit 2