Having spent quite a bit of last week making the point that access to the natural environment is good for you, I thought I ought to get some. So Sunday was a day for chilling out – although it was a lovely warm early September day.
I started having breakfast in the garden and a Grey Wagtail flew over – it was a sign of autumn in itself.
At Stanwick Lakes the Wigeon and Teal were loafing around, looking as though they were settling in for the winter, whereas the few Sand Martins and Swallows were all pelting up (or sometimes down) the valley looking as though they were going somewhere – Senegal and South Africa I guess.
There were Chiffchaffs calling everywhere and the odd Blackcap too. But it would be easy to think that there weren’t many birds about because, apart from some song and lots of ‘tick’-ing from Robins, there were few calls. But keeping an eye on the bushes, particularly those in the sunshine (and it was a lovely morning) showed that there were birds feeding everywhere. It’s just that they were a bit difficult to see and identify.
I thought of the report from further west in the county earlier in the week that at Stanford Reservoir 222 Blackcaps were caught and ringed. That’s an awful lot of Blackcaps! I wonder how many there were here at Stanwick.
I saw a couple of Spotted Flycatchers which is a bit of a star bird for me at Stanwick. Spotted Flycatcher means it is migration time. My previous two records were in late August 2005 and 2012.
The Cetti’s Warblers were singing in the warm sunshine. It was a lovely morning. Sunny and still.
I stopped to watch the hedge pictured above and found another couple of Spotted Flycatchers – there might have been quite a few more than that actually. And there were Whitethroats and Chiffchaffs and Blackcaps feeding on berries and insects in the sheltered sunshine of this hedge.
Five Red Kites – a family? – circled overhead.
As I crossed an open field with long grass and scattered bushes I was looking out for more migrants. This has always seemed to me to be the perfect place for Wheatears, Whinchats, Redstarts and other migrants passerines. That’s how it has always seemed to me, but never to them. Would I be lucky today?
Luck had nothing to do with it! There was a small party of Whinchats in this field – at least six of them perched on top of the bushes, sometimes with Reed Buntings, sometimes with Whitethroats, sometimes with Chiffchaffs. My first Stanwick Whinchats – and six of them!
They were nice to see. Good to see because they were new, for me, for my local patch. Good to see because they were just where I would have predicted seeing them. Good to see because they were against the light at first and so it felt a bit of a triumph once I was completely sure that they were Whinchats. Good to see because I found them myself. Good to see because they showed that migration was underway and Stanwick was playing its part. And good to see because Whinchats are always good to see. But, they were, good to see!
My guess would be that if there are 6 Whinchats on my local patch then the north Norfolk coast is full of Wrynecks, Bluethroats, Barred Warblers, Icterines Warblers, Scarlet Rosefinches etc. I wish them well but the 6 Whinchats on my local patch mean more to me than rarities a couple of hours away.
In another sunny patch there were Commas, Red Admirals and Brimstones feeding on the watermint in preparation for hibernation and a Brown Argus (my first for Stanwick, I think) was also enjoying the sun.
Back home for lunch in the garden and another Grey Wagtail overhead. A snooze and then a cornet from the ice-cream van.
And then picking blackberries.
A 2l ice-cream container filled in half an hour results in purple fingers and a feeling of triumph. There are plenty more ripening for next weekend too. Unless a massive flock of Blackcaps get them first.
A sunny day spent chilling.
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I see your personal Hen Harrier has flown the nest Mark!
Richard – indeed!
I should yesterday have been out early ringing with colleagues but a Saturday evening migraine put paid to the early start. However I joined them at about 08:45 two hours after the start of things. Plenty of sun, plenty of common darter, brown and migrant hawker dragonflies, lots of speckled woods and a young hobby overhead. Without the 43 meadow pipits ringing would have been very slow but we caught 83 birds and packed up at lunch time. Yes its migration time with chiffchaffs and blackcaps in a feeding frenzy but the best bird for Nathaniel our about to depart to uni trainee was a rather splendid adult male Jay. Its going to very very odd and quiet this winter with Alex already gone to Aberdeen, Nathaniel going to Sheffield and just Jonny still here—– migration of a different sort.
It often looks greener somewhere else!! You had more wildlife in Northants than on the N Norfolk coast yesterday…certainly more butterflies which have more or less vanished here [last weeks lack of sun no doubt]. More Small Torts roosting in our old house now than outside! We had more than 20 indoors over wintering last year. Makes doing the hovering a bit tricky! Yes, lots of Whinchats, some Wrynecks and a couple of Barred Warblers, even a Red backed Shrike or two but no Rosefinches, Icterines or Bluethroats. The Western Bonelli’s did slightly make up for that though!!!!
But yes – it was a stunning day if a bit chilly.
I never expect to hear warblers in September but last Saturday I think I heard a garden warbler in Turville, can’t be sure but it was a very long, melodious song. Haven’t heard them for some years here. Also a chiffchaff singing in the garden, like spring all over again!
A beautiful day too in Bedfordshire and to my astonishment as I looked up at a small flock of martins I saw the unmistakeable flight of two swifts among them – a full week later than I have ever seen them before.
Your buddleia was looking fantastic the other day. After the hot end to July I thought mine was all done but it’s having a bit of a second flowering. Just the odd white and small tort now but very welcome nonetheless.
There seem to be a bumper crop of hawthorn berries. Shame there are fewer greenfinches to eat the blacberries.
You might have to put the blackberries in the past tense soon – the hedge slayers are out around here already and lots of blackberries are now rotting on the roads and in the fields. What I like most about farmers is their generous community spirit.
Hi Stella – the hedge slayers are out and about here too. Of course as we know civilization would collapse instantly if our hedges weren’t flayed to within an inch of their lives every year…
Kate – warblers singing at this time of the year are nearly always young of the year making a territory ready for next year with no adults to fight off. Whether they are the same birds next year remains to be seen. The song is often called sub-song.