Summary May 2016

Summary May 2016

Species this month = 132

New Species added to 2016 Year List in May= 41

Barn Owl at Thornham on 8th May, Bar-tailed Godwit at Minsmere on 3rd May, Bearded Tit at Titchwell on 7th, Blackcap and Common Tern at Rutland Water on 13th, Black-throated Diver and Common Sandpiper at Lochindorb on 31st, Common Crane at Horsey Mere on the 6th, Common Cuckoo at Upper Goyt Valley on 20th May and on 30th May at Laggan but lots of them heard at various locations. Dipper also at Goyt Valley on 20th, Dotterel at Chosely Drying Barns on the 9th and 11th May. Egytian Goose at Holkham Hall on 9th, Fulmar at Hunstanton Cliffs on 8th, Grasshopper Warbler heard at Thornham on 8th but surely just a mattter of a foot or so away, Also heard Green Woodpecker at Thornham on 7th. Grey Plover at Titchwell on 7th and 11th. Hobby at Lakenheath on 2nd, Minsmere on 3rd and Horsey Mere on 6th. Lesser Whitethroat on 5th at VCovehithe and 9th at Holkham NNR, Little Tern at Blakeney Point on 11th, Mediterranean Gull at Minsmere on the 3rd,Osprey at Rutland Water on 1st, Red Kite around Norfolk, Red-crested Pochard at Titchwell on 7th, Red Grouse at the Cat and Fiddle on 20th, Red-legged Partridge on 9th and 11th at Choseley Drying Brns but also at Fring on 10th, Redstart at Goyt Valley on 20th, Ring Ouzel at Cairngorm on 31st, Ringed Plover at Covehithe and other places, Sandwich Terns at Minsmere on 3rd and other places later in the month, Slavonian Grebe at Avielochan on 31st, Spotted Flycatcher at Upper Goyt Valley on 20t, Stone Curlew at Weeting Heath on the 10th, Swifts first at Rutland Water on the 13th, Whimbrel at Thornham on the 7th, Whitethroat at Thornham on the 8th and Yellowhammer at Weeting Heath on the 4th.

New UK Life List Birds In May = 5

Temminck’s Stint at RSPB Titchwell

Corn Bunting at Chosely Drying Barns

Turtle Dove at NWT Holmes Dunes

Black Tern at Rutland Water

Icterine Warbler at Laggan

Running Total for the 2016 UK So Far = 165

 

Garden Birding

After we got back from East Anglia, we discovered the new generation of ravenous Starlings. We had left food with a neighbour with the request to just throw some meal worms over the wall into our back door area and by the time we got back they had taken up residence just outside our back door looking for meal worms. The Wren had also continued feeding there but this time with a fledgling. Much to our gratification, we actually saw the fledgling return to his nest a couple of times and this was just where we had seen the parent bird root around earlier in the year. We had decided that it had given upo nesting there but clearly it had not. I think it has another nest in the house opposite ours across teh ginnel which has a lot of ivy over the back door.

Other sightings include a few Tits and Goldfinches. There is a Robin and a couple of Blackbirds and I saw a single Coal Tit. Admittedly we have not had much chance to observe the garden since we have been away the whole first half of the month

Birding Group

We have missed the first few birding group days of this month due to being in East Anglia. We are also likely to miss all the rest of them because we will not have time in between coming back from East Anglia and going to Scotland. The dates in May have been 3rd Macclesfield Forest, 10th Stayley Brushes, 17th RSPB Dove Stones, 24th RSPB Old Moor, 31st  Goyt Valley and Dane Bower Quarry and in June are : 7th Neumann’s & Haydn’s Flashes, 14th/15th Anglesey, 21st Marbury and 28th Tittesworth Reservoir + RSPB Coombes valley

Solo Days Out

Solo days out have largely been those on our holiday in East Anglia which is summaried in this post and shows that we had 119 Species over the two weeks and four “life ticks” We were going to miss the birding group visit to Upper Goyt Valley so me managed to squeeze in a visit on our own to Upper Goyt Valley and Dane Bower Quarry where we failed to get Ring Ouzel but we did get a fantastic Cuckoo sighting and added Common Redstart, Red Grouse and Dipper to our “year list” After that we were in Scotland but this straddled the month so it is summarised under June rather than May.