[JohnnyH]

Hi Kevin,

I could only see 2 but I'm sure there were more under the adult. I thought Richard said he saw 5.

Cheers,

John.

[JohnnyH]

Two Green Sands on the floods beyond the Bike Pool this morning along with a LRP. Lapwing & 2 Little Grebe in the workings, 8 Common Terns inc the 2 fledglings which are growing juvenile feathers now, & the BHG family with 2 chicks. At least 7 juvenile BHG's seen on the shingle bank in the workings as well.

John.

[mattytheduke]

Little to add to John's tally from my mid-morning trip. Bullfinch in the bushes. Two juvenile Green Woodpeckers. Sparrowhawk over the workings. Buzzard over the A31 carrying large prey, not one of our chicks though thankfully! Great to see the water level looking higher still, can really start to imagine hoards of winter waders and wildfowl in the workings come the end of the year if it stays so high (hopefully!).

Matt.

[JohnnyH]

1 Green Sandpiper still present on the meadow this morning, 6 Warbler species seen with a single Willow Warbler seen in addition to the Summer regulars. Black Headed Gull no's increasing with 80+ noted this morning, YLG should be seen soon & possibly Med.

John.

[RJSeargent]

Chaps, a slight change to plan. Anyone up for a day out on Thursday 2nd August? My first few days of R&R are already booked up.

[DaveBaker]

Hi Rich, that date is ok with me so count me in. Will it be Norfolk? Look forward to seeing you again. Take care mate.

[RTHORTON]

Originally Posted by RJSeargent

Chaps, a slight change to plan. Anyone up for a day out on Thursday 2nd August? My first few days of R&R are already booked up.

Rich,
Good to hear from you mate . Well up for 2nd August. Have left most days free while your on R&R so i can taxi . Dont forget 4th August 9pm moth trapping with Sean if you can. Have not aranged Tices Walk as i thought it would be better Oct time?
All the best .
Rich.

[RTHORTON]

Chaps,
Just keeping you updated , met up with Collin Wilson who would like to start ringing at Tices. Looked at various spots. I need to get the ok from Hansons at the next meeting on 17th July but cant see there will be a problem as Collin wishes to start low key out side of the workings. Terns and BH gulls next year i hope.
If there are any points you feel need to be raised do let me know and i shall put forward.
Rich H.

[JohnnyH]

Originally Posted by RJSeargent

Chaps, a slight change to plan. Anyone up for a day out on Thursday 2nd August? My first few days of R&R are already booked up.

Hi Rich,

I'm on leave that week so can make that day, however I appreciate that these "days out" have become very popular & meant that not everyone can be accomodated. I'm planning a trip up to Norfolk myself in August to go optics shopping at Cley Spy so no biggie if a seat isn't available.

ATB & see you soon,

John.

[mattytheduke]

Rich, I'm definitely up for 2nd August trip. Exciting news about the ringing, Rich H!

Matt.

[RJSeargent]

That's it then - car full! Great. Rich, Dave, Matt and John - see you there. Norfolk again?

[JohnnyH]

An Adult Yellow Legged Gull in the workings at midday along with at least 100 BHG's & a couple of LBB's. The BHG chicks are still ok although their island is fast disappearing beneath the rising water level. The Terns are now almost juvs & will be airborne pretty soon I reckon. Other species seen - 4 Lapwing, Reed Bunting, Skylark, Kestrel, Chiffchaff, Whitethroat, & LRP.

John.

[mattytheduke]

An adult YL Gull was on the island with most of the BH Gulls when I arrived at c.18:15 this evening. At 18:45 all the gulls went skyward and I was unable to relocate the YLG. 3 Green Sandpiper in the workings, along with 1 Common and 2 Lapwing. Also a Common Sand in the bike pool. 2 LRP. At least 5 adult Common Terns in addition to the rapidly growing youngsters. Yellowhammer, Kestrel and Sparrowhawk over.

Matt.

[mattytheduke]

Originally Posted by RJSeargent

That's it then - car full! Great. Rich, Dave, Matt and John - see you there. Norfolk again?

More than happy with Norfolk, Rich. Will book the day off this week, can't wait!

Matt.

[JohnnyH]

Day off today so spent most of it at Tices, Common, & Green Sandpipers, (1 of each), still present along with the Redshank which was seen in flight in the workings. Three adult Yellow Legged Gulls were present on the shingle bank, along with c150 BHG's, 6 LBB Gulls, & 4 Herring Gulls.
The 2 juv Common Terns are now airborne, albeit flying between islands in the workings. The BHG chicks are ok, & the Coots now have 3 chicks.

John.

[bbsbirder]

At the weekend I checked the workings water level. It has risen by 175mm (7 inches) in the past 22 days. Water is still draining in from the meadow and with the jet stream still in northern France more rain is forecast. If the level does rise by the same amount or by 12 inches (would be nice) it will flood a large area in the southeast corner to a depth of a few inches. Still a way to go before it's full!

Kevin

[RTHORTON]

Originally Posted by bbsbirder

At the weekend I checked the workings water level. It has risen by 175mm (7 inches) in the past 22 days. Water is still draining in from the meadow and with the jet stream still in northern France more rain is forecast. If the level does rise by the same amount or by 12 inches (would be nice) it will flood a large area in the southeast corner to a depth of a few inches. Still a way to go before it's full!

Kevin

Kev do you or any one know if water levels have reached the white marker in workings yet as i m away at the moment.
Rich.

[Tufted Duck]

Originally Posted by bbsbirder

Hi Colin,

Tices has changed alot since November 2004 when you reported 2000+ Golden Plover and a Redshank on the slit ponds. Since then I've made 100's of visits and birds are now being reported that I only dreamed about back then.
You still have the only record of Avocet at Tices!

It will be great to do some ringing at Tices and I will come along to observe.

Regards
Kevin

Hi Kevin
Sorry about the delay. Richard will meet with various parties and ask for the necessary permission and then we'll arrange preliminary sessions with a few ringers. Once we've got the hang of the site and got some good catching rides going we'll invite local birders on this blog along, it should be good for ringing in the autumn although with the failure of so many nests this year population numbers will be lower than normal.
We've already started lining up the appropriate ringers for doing terns and gulls next year so that looks promising.
All we need now is permission!

Cheers
Colin

[mattytheduke]

Good to spend a few hours at Tice's this morning with Kevin, who was already four hours into his dawn-dusk watch when I arrived! Highlights of my visit (c.9:00-12:30) included 1 adult Yellow-legged Gull on the shingle bank, which again disappeared without trace! Also 1 Herring Gull and at least 2 LBB. 2 Green Sand, 1 Common Sand (though I know Kev had 2 earlier), 1 LRP (also 2 seen earlier), 1 each of Buzzard, Kestrel, Sparrowhawk, a fair few Swifts (25+) and a scattering of House and Sand Martin. At least 10 Lapwing in the workings. 1 Reed Warbler and at least 2 Reed Bunting singing. 2+ Stock Dove. Plenty of action from the Common Terns, with at least six adult birds flying about and perching on the bike pool fence. Also a couple of passes from a low-flying Osprey, but sadly the plane not the bird! Kev reports a Greenshank in the workings c.15:00 but I dare say he'll give a full report in due course.

Matt.

[bbsbirder]

Originally Posted by RTHORTON

Kev do you or any one know if water levels have reached the white marker in workings yet as i m away at the moment.
Rich.

The water level has reached around the concrete base of the marker. Still about a foot to go before a depth can be measured.
Over the pass week the level has increased but I did not take a measurement today.

Kevin.

[bbsbirder]

As predicted on May 15th (post 608) July 13th always looked good for migrants (from previous records). So took the day off to see what would turn up..
First a Little Egret flew over the workings heading North early am. In the workings 2 Common Sandpiper chased each other and just before 12 Matt found the 2 Green Sandpiper in the workings. It wasn't till after I had my lunch that the new migrants appeared. A Greenshank flew into workings at 15:00. Several times it flew to the flooded meadow to feed in the eastern flood and was still present at 20:00 when I left. At 18:40 I scanned the BHGulls on the gravel bank for the first time in several hours and found an adult Med Gull amongst them. This is only the fourth autumn record, all of which have been in July. It could have been present a while but flew off north at 18:55.

Kevin

[JohnnyH]

No sign of the Greenshank this morning, Common & Green Sandpiper still both present in the workings with at least 6 Lapwing. The BHG chicks are growing quickly & were seen exercising their wings, on a sadder note the Coots only appear to have 1 chick remaining.

John.

[JohnnyH]

This morning 07:30-09:00: 3 Green Sandpiper, 1 Common Sandpiper, 6+ Lapwing, 2 LRP, 2 Blackcap, 3+ Chiffchaff, 30+ Sand Martin, 2 House Martin, 3 Skylark, Stock Dove, 3 Reed Warbler, Reed Bunting, 6 Common Tern, 50+ BHG.
Kev's going to be around most of the day so I'm sure he will update if anything good turns up!

John.

[mattytheduke]

Little to add to your tally, John, from my afternoon visit, aside from 3 Whitethroats in the large Elder on the bank opposite the reedbed, and 1 ad. Y-L Gull on the shingle bank which was gone by the time I left at 17:00. Female Sparrowhawk over towards the A31 clutching prey.

Matt.

[JohnnyH]

The YLG was present again this evening at the Western end of the workings along with an adult Herring. Two Green Sandpipers on the bike pool, & another in the workings with 2 LRP's.

John.