Sunday 26 April 2015

Members Day

 Two Whinchats- firsts of the year
Common Sandpiper (one of four ), A good influx of waders today (see below).  
Male Wheatear. All the males (3 of five birds) looked like first-summers. These birds looked like they had more extensive peach tones on the underparts than birds earlier on in the month (see here) but it could have been due to different light. Good to see the ploughed area working to plan. 
 Swallow- about 60+ birds today, hawking low over the lakes and resting on the new tree planting
 Common Tern (probably)- the inner primary window (is just visible)
Photo by Lukas Becker

Good visible migration conditions today for the Beddington Farmlands associate members spring walk (More here). A north-easterly airflow, low cloud and light rain produced ideal fall conditions. We saw 1 Hobby, 2 Whinchat, 3 Wheatear, 10+ Yellow Wagtail, 30+ Swallow. 3-4 House Martin, 2 Common Sandpiper and 1 Skylark. We also had Shelducks, Gadwall, Teal and Lapwing and heard Lesser Whitethroats, Whitethroats and Sedge Warblers singing.  

The full Bird Group counts for the day were as follows : 1 Hobby, 3 Little Ringed Plover, 1 Ringed Plover, 14 Dunlin, 4 Common Sandpiper, 2 Greenshank, 1 Whimbrel, 1 Snipe, 2 'Commic Tern', 2 Skylark, 4 Sand Martin, 60+ Swallow, 6 House Martin, 6 Meadow Pipit, 3 Tree Pipit, 4 White Wagtail, 1 Blue-headed Wagtail, 37 Yellow Wagtail, 5 Wheatear and 2 Whinchat.

The moth trap was relatively busy (first mild night in a long time)- 10 species- the highlight being a Least Black Arches (only a few site records).

 Least Black Arches
 Platyedra subcinerea (Thanks Martin for id) 
 Brimstone Moth
 Brindled Pug
Eudonia angustea

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