Local Marshes

Stayed mostly local this through the week. On Wednesday I was at Shasun  (permit only) at Dudley doing some work for them at their wildlife area.

Two Tree Sparrows were in the trees bordering the pools amongst a flock of House Sparrow. Whilst taking measurements and photos I was dive bombed by a protective pair of LBB Gulls as I walked past the silo they breed on and a pair of Common Terns nesting on one of the floating islands also made their presence felt.

Mallard and Tufted Duck were the only duck on the pools and two pairs of Coot with 8 young amongst them swam around. Also a family of Canada Geese (two adults with four young) patrolled small areas of grass between silos and tankers.

Also on Wednesday I went to West Hartford but this time failed to avoid the heavy showers so only stayed a few minutes. Despite this I managed to see 12 young Mallard ducklings swim out from the now long grass bordering the NE corner of the bigger pool. Although with the amount of corvids and Grey Heron at WH I doubt the total will stay at 12.

On my way home an Oystercatcher was on the Horton Burn, probably grounded by the rain.

Back to WH on Thursday this time in sunnier conditions so stayed for a few hours early morning. The Coot have moved on with no sign of young. A Redshank circled the pools a few times before heading back towards the river and a Jay flew north.

Four singing Sedge Warbler had the pools surrounded by song but the highlight of the morning though was a squealing Water Rail heard only form the largest reed bed in the marshy field behind the fire station.

Yesterday I was at Big Waters in the morning with SH and at Hadston in the afternoon with JM.

No Marsh Warbler heard at Big Waters only a Reed Warbler making a few different notes. It was a different story at Hadston were a Marsh Warbler showed well and mimicked a range of different birds as it flew back and forth across the reeds into the sycamores.