April 2017 Summary
UK Species Year List to April: 129
Total UK Species in April: 92
New “Year Ticks” in April: 25
New “Life Ticks” in April: 0
April 2017 archive
Apr 30 2017
April 2017 Summary
Apr 30 2017
Rutland Water 30th April 2017
We started a holiday at Rutland Water where we broke up our journey to Halesworth in Suffolk. This was part of a fortnight taking in Suffolk and Norfolk but having as “bookends” stopovers that allowed us to visit Rutland Water twice – a fortnight apart. “Bookends doesn’t quite cover it as on this first visit we managed to add twelve year ticks and saw fifty-three species in total, some of which were pretty spectacular.
Apr 25 2017
Woolston Eyes 25th April 2017
After our visit to Moore Nature Reserve with the birding group (actually just six of us) we went to a local pub for kunch before heading off to the nearby Woolston Eyes Reserve where we managed to get a couple of examples of our target bird, Black-necked Grebe, which was a “year tick” for us.
Apr 25 2017
Birding Group Visit to Moore Nature Reserve : 25th April 2017
On the 25th April we had intended to go to Etherow but David decided that we should not go there, in part because rain (had we had any ?) had washed away some of the path up the hill to the top of the site. Instead we changed our schedule to Moore Nature Reserve.
Apr 19 2017
Burton Mere Wetlands : 19th April 2017
After a bit of a break from birding due to having a (non-birding) visitor staying with us, we managed to get back out on the 19th for a day at Burton Mere Wetlands. One way and another we seem to have missed early spring this year so this was a chance to catch up with things and we managed to get seven year ticks including a great view of a Cetti’s Warbler.
We started out at the main reception hide where we could see some Barnacle Geese (year tick) and Black Swans over in Shotwick fields. It was an incredibly clear day though not a particularly sunny one. It was low tide – in fact the low tide was officially 0 metres ! There was a single Ruff looking like it was getting into breeding plumage and lots of Avocets.
Walking down to the Marsh Covert hide we could hear lots of Reed Warblers in the reedbed but sidn’t see the Little Gull that has supposedly been around there recently. Neither did we see the the single Spoonbill that has been roosting in the Little Egrey / Grey Heron roost. There were Swallows (year first) and Sand Martins and in the bushes we saw a vouple of Blackcaps and heard even more.
Down at Inner Marsh Farm there were four Spotted Redshanks among a large group of Black tailed Godwits. There were also a fair number of Avocets.
Up at the fort there was surprisingly little to see – perhaps because the tide was so low but walking back towards the reception hide we did get Buzzard, Kestrel and Sparrowhawk, the last, briefly. Near where the toilets are I managed to get a good view of a Cetti’s Warbler – one of several we heard during the morning. A single Reed Bunting and a Great Spotted Woodpecker made for a trio of year ticks.
Back at reception and out the other side, near the blind we saw a single Linnet perched atop a gorse bush; it was so unconcerned with us that we got withing about 8 feet of it at eye level and it did not fly off.
So the total “year ticks” for us were Barnacle Goose, Cetti’s Warbler, Reed Warbler, Linnet, Swallow, Great Spotted Woodpecker and Sparrowhawk. A nice addition to a bit of a slow start to the year. We now stand at 114.
Apr 04 2017
Birding Group Visit to the Marshside and Mere Sands Woods 4 April 2017
The first birding group outing in April was to Marshside where we had a good day, with fair weather (but still impossibly windy) and managed to get two good “year ticks” in the shape of a pair of Mediterranean Gulls and a large flock of Golden Plover.