Upton Warren (55 Viewers)

Gertatron said:

Excellent Tim. Are you on Twitter? By the way, I like crows even when I've not been to 3 pubs!B B

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Yes Gert,
TOwens333
joined this year felt I was a bit out of the loop.still haven't worked it out properly.

Phragmites solutions?

I came across this company the other day http://aquatic-solutions.co.uk/ who specialise in dealing with Phragmites and other aquatic weeds.

Interestingly they operate from within the water having, of all thing, floating diggers and bulldozers.

They have also operated in SSSI's so are aware of the many restrictions.

Given the problems of the Flashes this is well worth a look.:t:

Flashes birding

started at 7am with cool westerly showers.
As there was already a birder at the Flashes I decided to linger a bit more around scrubby areas and in the Hen pool and cuckoo hides.
In the bridge scrub some passerines braved the rain to catch the few insects on offer. This included lesser whitethroat, reed warbler, blackcap and goldcrest.
As the rain increased I moved on to the Hen pool hide. Here several reed warblers "chacked" and little grebe trilled - I think they are breeding here and have like elsewhere on the reserve have a late breeding season. A kingfisher also flew past, but most interesting was the characteristic pinging type call of juvenile Cetti's Warbler. This as far as I am aware is the first confirmed breeding at the Flashes.
On to the cuckoo hide but not a great deal happen ing other than 2 juv cetti's calling in the newly created habitat. This was previously dead leggy blackthorn, but in the winter we opened it up removed the blackthorn and planted 30 hawthorns. This is now ideal cetti's habitat and today the proof is in the pudding.
On to the main hide which was empty:eek!: I had assumed the car in the car park was a birders but maybe I was wrong.
Anyway sadly there wasn't a great deal of migration other than 2 new dunlin, some of these birds were probably of the large alpina race. On a sad note the badly limping avocet from the delta brood had finally succumbed to not only it's ailment, but also the affect of its severe beating at the hands or should I say feet of the neighbouring adult. It's body was floating off shore. One of it's sibblings also has a limp, so maybe some hereditary gene is present within the family.
On a good note the LRP chick is now 15 days old and far in advance of last year's chick at the same age. A movement of swifts and a large build up of house Martins abd the odd swallow was noticeable.
I opened the sluice for 6 hours and dropped 2 cm of the level. Now plenty of mud for passage waders.
Species count Flashes :
Little grebe.
Teal 19. Shoveler 8. Shelduck 7 juvs. tufted . Greylag 3.
Avocet 31 (21 juvs). Redshank 3 juvs. LRP 6 (5 juvs ) +chick. Curlew. Green sand 6. lapwing 90. dunlin 6 (1juv). Common tern 2. Kestrel. stock dove 45+. Green woodpecker. kingfisher . swift 40.
house martin 140. swallow.
sedge warbler family in front of hide being fed only just left nest as they were almost tailless. blackcap. Lesser whitethroat. Reed warbler 6. Cetti's Warbler 2 juvs. Willow warbler juv side of main hide. chiffchaff 2. goldcrest
Greenfinch 3. goldfinch. Linnet 5. pied wag 2.

Eight species of waders at the Flashes this evening: Avocet, Black-Tailed Godwit, Curlew, Dunlin, Green Sandpiper, Lapwing, Little Ringed Plover and Redshank. Also a Peregrine on the masts.

Record shot of the 6 Dunlin.

John Layj said:

Eight species of waders at the Flashes this evening: Avocet, Black-Tailed Godwit, Curlew, Dunlin, Green Sandpiper, Lapwing, Little Ringed Plover and Redshank. Also a Peregrine on the masts.

Record shot of the 6 Dunlin.

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How many Blackwits John?

Phil Andrews said:

How many Blackwits John?

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Two, still there when I left just before 8pm.

Today's highlights:

FLASHES/HEN POOL*
Dunlin (6)--------------------Green Sand (6)
Redshank (2 juvs)-----------LRP (6) + chick
Curlew (15)------------------Avocet (28)
Lapwing (c80)---------------Shelduck (7 juvs)
Teal (13)---------------------Gadwall (1)
Shoveler (3)-----------------Peregrine
Water Rail (juv)*------------B H Gull (c400)

MOORS/N MOORS*
Hobby (juv)-------------------Raven
Herring Gull (2)---------------Common Tern (7) inc 2 young
Kingfisher *-------------------L B B Gull (50+) inc 18 juvs
Shoveler (2)------------------Gadwall (1)
Cormorant (1)----------------Swift (8)
Egyptian Goose (2)-----------Greylag Goose (2)

Des.

With the increasing numbers of LBB Gulls in recent days hopefully we will get a Yellow-legged Gull soon (and maybe even a Caspian).

Phil Andrews said:

July closed with a very creditable monthly list 95 species (the same as July 2015) with some obvious omissions including Red Kite, Mistle Thrush, Pheasant, Yellow Wagtail, Garden Warbler and Willow Warbler. August should be far more productive with between 105 and 110 species likely.

There were no new additions to the year list of 134 but August brings with it potential for Spotted Redshank, Little Stint, Wood Sandpiper, Curlew Sandpiper, Turnstone, Yellow-legged Gull and Whinchat.

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I have now found a record of Pheasant late in the month so the July list is revised upwards to 96 species.

From the Flashes this morning Paul Rhodes reports:

19 Curlew, Dunlin 7 Green Sand, 1 Common Sand, 6 LR Plover + chick, 3 Redshank, 10 Swift, Peregrine over.

2 Egyptian Geese and 3 Common Tern on the Sailing Pool.

This evening on the Sailing Pool were 10 Common Terns (2 juvs), Grey Wagtail, 2 GC Grebes, 2 Egyptian Geese, female Tufted Duck with two well-grown chicks plus the usual Canadas, Greylags, BH Gulls. On the Flashes things were much the same as reported this morning, the differences being: LRP 6 juvs, female + chick, only two Redshank juvs, only five Green Sands. In addition there were a few large gulls - 8+ LBB & 2 Herring - but only BHGs in the roost, c.900. Fourteen Common Terns dropped on late on, not sure how many stayed to roost. The seven Shelduck juvs were still present plus 11 Teal, five Shovelers & a Gadwall. Finally a Kingfisher flew through.

Good morning so far at the flashes nuthatch on the boardwalk, grey wag sailing pool usual waders, kestrel and Buzzard too

Moors little Egret, E, geese, GSW,

Friday 5th August 0850-1210

SAILING POOL
65 Canada Geese, 4 Greylag Geese, 2 GC Grebe, c150 Mallard, 1 Tufted Duck with 1 young, 3 Common Tern, 1 Common Sand, 6 Coot, no Egyptian Geese

FLASHES
6 Green Sand, 2 Common Sand, 2 juv Redshank, 78 Lapwing, 1 adult + 1 young LRPs (the 6 juvs that Mike had on Thursday evening left overnight), 17 Avocet, 4 Shoveler, 7 juv Shelduck, 1 Gadwall, 3 Teal, c40 Mallard, 34 Moorhen, 36 Coot, 4 Canada Geese, 4 LBB Gull (2 adults + 2 juvs), c300 BH Gull, Sparrowhawk, Peregrine, 2 Ravens on small mast, juv Pied Wagtail, juv Redstart in usual hedge, Water Rail calling.
2 juv Water Rail reported at the Hen Pool.
Good numbers of passerines feeding between the steps and first bridge - particularly abundant were Wren, Dunnock, Reed Warbler, all 3 common tit species and Chiffchaff. Also Willow Warbler present.

NORTH MOORS
1 juv Little Grebe (fledged), 3 Teal, 2 Mallard, 2 Coot, 1 Grey Heron.

MOORS POOL
4 Mute Swans + 5 cygnets, 21 Greylag Geese, 105 Canada Geese, c70 Mallard, 31 Tufted Duck plus good numbers of ducklings still, 1 adult + 2 fledged juv GC Grebe, 4 Little Grebe + 1 young in south-west marsh, 1 Cormorant, 162 Coot, 5 Moorhen, Water Rail, 1 Grey Heron, Kingfisher, 18 LBB Gull, 3 Common Tern, family party of Jay calling from the Education Reserve, Sparrowhawk, Hobby performing well - often perching up in dead tree on southern boundary or on telegraph pole south of the west hide.
A single Tufted duckling in Amy's Marsh was being fostered by a female Mallard.

Late news of 2 Ruff (male and female) at the Flashes on the 31st July as per Jason Turner and a juvenile Spotted Flycatcher at the Moors Pool on the 28th July.

July list gets revised upwards again to 98 species.

Three Little Egret at the Moors Pool yesterday as per Annette Phillips, also Dunlin at the Flashes.

Work party Moors Tuesday 9th August

The area in front of the concrete (water rail) hide.
Also the feeding station in front of the west hide will be altered to try and minimize the squirrel problem that we are suffering at the moment.
👍

Dave J reports from the Flashes this morning:

Juv Dunlin, 7 Green Sand, Common Sand, Curlew, 22 Avocet (9 adults + 13 juvs), Snipe, 2 juv Redshank, 2 LRP (adult + juv), 12+ Teal, Lesser Whitethroat, 7 juv Shelduck, 2 Egyptian Geese, 2 Shoveler, Gadwall

From the Moors Pool Dave J updates:

Juv Hobby, Little Egret, 18 Little Grebe (10 adults, 5 juv, 3 chicks. 5 ours), 8 Common Tern (6 adults, 2 juveniles), 2 Mute Swan (+ 5 juvs), 3 Shoveler, Gadwall, Teal, 2 juv GC Grebe

Phil Andrews said:

Dave J reports from the Flashes this morning:

Juv Dunlin, 7 Green Sand, Common Sand, Curlew, 22 Avocet (9 adults + 13 juvs), Snipe, 2 juv Redshank, 2 LRP (adult + juv), 12+ Teal, Lesser Whitethroat, 7 juv Shelduck, 2 Egyptian Geese, 2 Shoveler, Gadwall

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Also 3 Ringed Plover at the Flashes when I arrived at 13.00.

Chris.T.