First Pochard for ages, and more winter Thrushes

A fine but overcast day, a light variable breeze.

Middleton Nature Reserve 

Ringing report by Alan:

The overnight mist had fortunately cleared when I arrived at 06:30 and a total of 38 birds caught by 11:00 was quite respectable.

Singles of Redwing, Blackbird, Cetti's Warbler, Treecreeper, Blue Tit, Robin (Retrap), Great Tit (retrap) and Coal Tit were caught together with:

Goldcrest  6

Reed Bunting  3 + 1 recovery from elsewhere.

Chiffchaff  4

Wren  2

Lesser Redpoll  12

Blackcap  2

 

A group of 22 thrush sp. flew very high southwest at around 09:00 followed by another group of c75  that circled around the reserve later in the morning.

Pochard 1 female on the main pond spotted by Pete, it was there all day. This is the first Pochard record since February 2023

Female Pochard - Kevin Eaves

Kevin also noted that the female Mute Swan was accompanied by 5 cygnets today, presumably she has accepted one back.

The wildfowl on the main pond has flourished since public access  has been restricted. There were 28 Tufted Duck and 10 Gadwall today, plus the Mallard, Coot and Moorhen. This clip focuses on the Pochard but opens out to show the wealth of activity here. This is taken while sat on the bench in the lower car park (Malcolm).

8 more Tufted Duck and 3 Teal on the "no swimming" pond.

Teal

Water Rail 2 calling from the central marshes

Cetti's warbler 4 singing

Chiffchaff 1 singing 

I checked the northern edge of the reserve this afternoon, this is where the highest density of tall hawthorns are. 

Thrushes c120 - they just looked dark against the light sky, but Redwings were calling and all the birds were a similar size.

This lot was just setting off to the east as I arrived 

These must have been feeding along the edge of the golf course. They circled a while then returned 

Redwing top, but the lower bird suggests Song Thrush 

Great Spotted Woodpecker 1 south

Red Admiral 1

Speckled Wood 1

South shore  

Pink-Footed goose c200 in two skeins south - Kevin Eaves 14:00

I had a walk from Red Nab to the saltmarsh at high water (Malcolm) 16:30 - 17:15. Back to neap tides now so the tide didn't reach the marsh.

Shelduck 120

Wigeon 38

Common Snipe 1 on Red Nab

Common Snipe

There were a lot of grounded passerines and some regulars missing.

Wren 4 - 2 on Red Nab (not normally seen here) plus 2 along the foreshore

Dunnock 1 on the foreshore 

Dunnock 

No Robins seen

Meadow Pipit 3

Meadow Pipit

No Rock Pipits seen

Pied and White Wagtails 13 - there was definitely some of each, but there was a lot of squabbling and hard to keep track of them. Possibly the Pied were the resident birds, the others quickly moved on.

Pied/White Wagtail 

No Linnets seen

Stonechat 2 males along the foreshore, only a few metres apart

Stonechat