Rock On

This morning started inauspiciously when a search with Jamie 'I only do Gulls' P for the on/off Firecrest drew a blank, perhaps it serves us right for straying (technically) off patch and into the Middlesex FB in order to view the bank of the erstwhile Essex FB! 

There were a couple of Goldcrests in there, I had a flyover Siskin and earlier Jamie had a Redpoll and Reed Bunting in the Waterworks NR. A pair of Peregrines were on the pylon by the power station, one flying off with prey. From then on things picked up when I joined Dave @porthkillier B on the reservoirs, though it very nearly didn’t as I missed two messages from him; 1) "Redshank on the Lockwood, looking settled"…WooHoo! Followed quickly by 2) "Just flown off North"…D’oh!

All was not lost however as, when we hit the East Warwick I found two Redshank feeding along the edge by the hide. I have always classified Redshank as the Rarest of our common Waders, though maybe they need reclassifying as the commonest of our rare Waders. Either way, for a Wader that is annual on the patch, these were my first in just short of three years.

We strolled round the West Warwick and, despite a flyover Jackdaw, new for DB for the year, and five Reed Buntings (where were they a few weeks ago!!) there was little to show for the effort. Back on the East Warwick a silent bird, which we flushed from the Western edge and then landed on the rocks resolved itself into a ‘scandinavian’ Rock Pipit. It later flew off East.

A pair of Peregrines (presumably different to the Middlesex birds, on the pylon at the bottom of the East Warwick, the female with prey, showed the sexual size difference off to an amazing degree, the male looking to be about half the bulk of the female, let’s hope he was a diplomat.

No.5 was pretty dull but No.4 held a Common Sandpiper and a flyover Rock Pipit (who knows if it was the previous bird or another?).

The patch yearlist creeps up to 89 and Birds on the move, but not what you would call proper migrants, maybe next week.

@birdingprof