July 31st. Rain until late morning. Hundreds of waders continue to arrive from the north. A good variety again today, with maxima of 472 Knot and 101 Redshank in two hours.
In the evening there were 14 Spoonbill on Tennyson's Sands along with 2 Curlew Sandpiper, 5 Greenshank, 2 Common Sandpiper, 2 Little Ringed Plover and 2 Green Sandpiper. The Mere held a solitary skulking Water Rail, 11 Little Egret, a single Green Sandpiper and 5 Black Tailed Godwit. Whilst 5, possibly 6, Cetti's Warbler were observed at close quarters along the West Dunes just before sundown.
July 30th. On Jackson's Marsh were a Common Sandpiper and 7 Spoonbill; and on Tennyson's Sands 3 Dunlin, 3 Common Sandpiper, 4 Green Sandpiper, 4 Snipe, 3 Spotted Redshank, a Greenshank, 2 Little Ringed Plover and 9 Spoonbill.
In the evening the Mere held a Wood Sandpiper, a Common Sandpiper and 3 Snipe whilst a very dark juvenile Marsh Harrier flew over quartering southwards. Meanwhile on Tennyson's Sands there were 18 Spoonbill, 4 Common Sandpiper, 3 Green Sandpiper and 8 Black tailed Godwit. A feeding flock of around 85 Swift built up over the West Dunes late evening accompanied by smaller numbers of Swallow (40) and House Martin (20).
A morning ringing session in East Dunes produced 5 new birds: 2 Wren, a Whitethroat, a Linnet and a Dunnock; and 3 retraps: a Dunnock, a Chiffchaff and a Robin.
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| Spotted Redshank, 29 July 2022. Photo - Tom Baker |
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| Fledgling Linnet, ringed 30 July 2022. Photo - George Gregory |
An evening walk around the reserve revealed 4 Black tailed Godwit and 7 Little Egret on the Mere, whilst Tennyson's Sands still held 10 Spoonbill, along with a very skulking Water Rail along the reed bed edge, 4 Common Sandpiper, 6 Green Sandpiper, 4 Spotted Redshank, 3 Greenshank, 4 Little Ringed Plover, 28 Avocet and 8 Black tailed Godwit.
A morning ringing session in East Dunes, with Liam Andrews, yielded 4 new birds: a Grasshopper Warbler, a Linnet, a Dunnock and a Song Thrush; and a retrap Dunnock.
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| Grasshopper Warbler, ringed 29 July 2022. Photo - George Gregory |
In the evening 100 Avocet, 4 Black tailed Godwit, 3 Green Sandpiper and 3 Spoonbill were on Jackson's Marsh. The Mere held 2 Black tailed Godwit, a single Snipe and 12 Little Egrets.
A morning ringing session in East Dunes, with Liam Andrews, provided 8 new birds: a Wren, a Goldfinch, a Blackcap, 2 Whitethroat, a Dunnock and 2 Song Thrush; and 2 retraps: a Wren and a Whitethroat.
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| Kestrel, 28 July 2022. Photo - Tom Baker  Photo - Tom Baker  Photo - Tom Baker  Photo - Tom Baker |
July 27th. Around were 2 Marsh Harrier and a singing Grasshopper Warbler. On the Mere were 3 Spoonbill; and on Tennyson's Sands 2 Common Sandpiper and 2 Greenshank. Heading south were 14 Sand Martin and 24 Swallow.
A morning ringing session in East Dunes, with Liam Andrews, produced 7 new birds: 2 Chiffchaff, a Robin, a Lesser Whitethroat, a Linnet and 2 Dunnock; and 5 retraps: a Song Thrush, a Robin, 2 Dunnock and a Whitethroat.
A walk around the reserve in the evening revealed 8 Green sandpiper, 2 Common Sandpiper, 4 Little Ringed Plover and a Spotted Redshank on Tennyson's Sands. Whilst on the West Dunes and the Old Saltmarsh 5 Kestrels hunted.
July 26th. Birds around included a Sparrowhawk and a Marsh Harrier. On Tennyson's Sands were a Common Sandpiper, 2 Greenshank and a Spoonbill. Flying south were 42 Curlew.
A morning ringing session in East Dunes resulted in 8 new birds: 3 Wren, a Blackcap, a Reed Warbler, a Reed Bunting, a Dunnock and a Woodpigeon; and 7 retraps: 2 Dunnock, 3 Linnet and 2 Whitethroat.
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| Woodpigeon, ringed 26 July 2022. Photo - George Gregory |
July 25th. Fairly strong south-westerly wind.
There was another impressive movement of Swift this morning with an average of 120 passing per minute between 0530 and 0630hrs, with reduced sample counts thereafter, averaging 30 per minute between 0800 and 0900hrs. A feeding flock of up to 600 gathered over the Plantation. Again this morning, regular parties of superb summer-plumaged waders were moving south down the tideline: Knot, Sanderling, Black-tailed Godwit, Dunlin and Turnstone, whilst 250 Sandwich Tern were in a big feeding flock with Gulls offshore. On Jackson's Marsh was a Green Sandpiper; and on Tennyson's Sands were 4 Little Ringed Plover, 2 Common Sandpiper, 6 Greenshank and 6 Spoonbill.
Later on in the evening Swift were again moving through in big numbers with 5 one minutes counts revealing over 60 a minute still going south through both East and West Dunes along with birds flying over Old Saltmarsh. This passage was watched for around an hour from 7.40-8.40hrs with at least 3000 birds going south (But only being able to observe one of the dunes systems at any one go meant that the real number moving through the reserve in that hour may have been over 5000 birds.) A Red Kite was also lingering in West Dunes for most of this hour. There were 28 Little Egret pre-roost preening on the Mere with 2 Black tailed Godwit and a lone Grasshopper Warbler sang from the borrow pits along Bulldog Bank.
July 24th. Quite strong south-westerly wind, with early morning rain.
There was some excellent passage this morning, recorded between 0600 and 0900hrs, although there were so many Swift going through on the west side in the first 30 minutes that the single observer was not able to record anything else; total 6920 up till 0900hrs. There were also small numbers of Swallow, Sand Martin, and Yellow and Alba Wagtails. An Arctic Skua patrolled the beach whilst another went south. A feeding flock offshore involved 120 Sandwich Tern, 10 Gannet and 300 Herring Gull. A further 1500 Sandwich Tern moved south, with a beach roost of 900. Small numbers of Little and Common Tern also moved south with 6 Arctic Tern and 4 Mediterranean Gull.
Regular parties of incoming waders totalled around 550 birds, mostly Knot, Sanderling and Dunlin with Bar-tailed Godwit, Turnstone, Redshank, Curlew, Oystercatcher and Whimbrel. On Tennyson's Sands were 4 Pink-footed Goose, a Greenshank, a Whimbrel, 2 Common Sandpiper, a Snipe, 4 Little Ringed Plover and a Spoonbill.
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| Whimbrel, 24 July 2022. Photo - Tom Baker  Photo - Tom Baker  Photo - Tom Baker |
July 23rd. Birds around included a Green Woodpecker and a Grasshopper Warbler. On Tennyson's Sands were 3 Pink-footed Goose, a Greenshank, 3 Common Sandpiper, 2 Snipe and a Spoonbill. Flying south were 9 Curlew and a Whimbrel. Swift passage picked up in the evening with a sample count of 300 south in 40 minutes.
A morning ringing session in East Dunes provided 7 new birds: a Wren, a Chiffchaff, a Blackcap, a Sedge Warbler, a Whitethroat and 2 Linnet; and 8 retraps: 2 Whitethroat, 2 Dunnock, a Blackbird, a Great Tit, a Blackcap and a Linnet.
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| Spoonbill, Black-tailed Godwits, Avocets, Lapwing and Black-headed Gull, 23 July 2022. Photo - Tom Baker  Photo - Tom Baker
Photo - Tom Baker
House Martin, 23rd July 2022. Photo - Tom Baker  Photo - Tom Baker  Photo - Tom Baker |
July 22nd. On Jackson's Marsh was a Spoonbill; and on Tennyson's Sands were a Greenshank, a Green Sandpiper and a Knot. A juvenile Water rail was at the mere.
The ninth session of CES was done this morning. The 74 new birds were 8 Chiffchaff, 3 Wren, 3 Goldcrest, a Willow Warbler, 3 Long-tailed Tit, 2 Robin, 10 Blackcap, 7 Whitethroat, 2 Chaffinch, 9 Blue Tit, 8 Great Tit, a Reed Warbler, a Lesser Whitethroat, a Goldfinch, 8 Dunnock, a House Sparrow, 2 Yellowhammer, a Song Thrush and 3 Blackbird; and the 21 retraps were a Blackbird, a Whitethroat, 2 Wren, 2 Dunnock, 3 Sedge Warbler, 2 Blackcap, a Great Tit, a Blue Tit, a Chiffchaff, 6 Long-tailed Tit and a Robin.
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| Green Sandpiper, 22 July 2022. Photo - Tom Baker .JPG) Photo - Nige Lound |
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| Worn adult male Yellowhammer, ringed 22 July 2022. Photo - George Gregory |
Ringing Control: Whitethroat, ringed GPBO 17 September 2021, controlled near North Somercotes, Lincolnshire 16 July 2022.
July 21st. Moderately strong northerly winds.
On Jackson's Marsh were 2 Common Sandpiper; and on Tennyson's Sands a Greenshank and a Snipe. Going south were 24 Curlew.
A wind-restricted morning ringing session in East Dunes produced 2 new birds: a Robin and a Whitethroat; and 3 retraps: 2 Whitethroat and a Dunnock.
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| Kestrel, 21 July 2022. Photo - Tom Baker  Photo - Tom Baker  Photo - Tom Baker |
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| Harebell, 21 July 2022. Photo - George Gregory |
