Repairs and renovations

This morning, time was well spent repairing the benches in the hide on the Spit. They have been broken and unsafe for several weeks but as the Swallows were nesting it didn't matter. Now, with the 'interesting' season fast appoaching more birders will be visiting, so service is now 'back to normal'. The door actually stays closed too!
2 Peregrines were sitting on 'their ' island this morning and a flock of c150 Turnstones whistled over my head as I was heading back past the Little Lagoon..the biggest flock to date.

A Clouded Yellow butterfly.

This is the first time this year I have seen a Clouded Yellow ....plenty of Painted Ladies still about but this was a 'first' for this year for me.
A few Wheatears on the shingle and Greenshanks calling in the harbour. 4 Wigeon in the main channel looking from the Salt House.
A lot of holiday makers about!

Bird movements.

A few Wheatears on the beach today and many Linnets with young in the gorse...its been a good breeding season for Linnets. On the wader front numbers are increasing and a lot more Dunlin in various stages of plumage are now present. Greenshanks can be seen from the hide at low tide when the mud is exposed and Ringed Plovers and a few Grey Plovers are about. A few Sandwich Terns flew west and Sand Martins (and noticeably no House Martins) likewise. There was a report of a couple of Knot about and an Osprey was seen and reported on Birdguides!

Is it a bird? is it a plane?

Well actually no....it is a Hovercraft in the harbour at eight 0'clock this morning. Not many waders about for some reason...hovercraft are VERY noisy. I guess it was from the Environment Agency as it was stopping every so often to take water/mud samples.

Willow Warblers and a few Whitethroats were in the bushes but the highlight was a group of 8 Cormorants flying into the harbour peacefully when a Peregrine suddenly appeared and singled out one and gave chase. At the last moment it veered off as the remainder of the small flock turned back as if if to help and the Peregrine disappeared just as quickly as it had appeared.

I re-fixed the flap in the Spit hide as the Swallows have now gone and don't appear to be returning even at night as they have done since fledging last Monday. When returning home at 11.30am 5 Wheatears had arrived and were feeding along the path.

A Wheatear returns

I have seen returning Wheatears a a few days earlier than this most years but they always indicate to me that Autumn migration is underway. A few Willow Warblers were also present plus a Whitethroat lurking in the the gorse. The Spit is alive with Linnets at present with several family parties searching for food on the ground. The highlight for me today was the family of Swallows permitting a close enough approach for some reasonable photography...see www.flickr.com/photos/pagman/
2 Peregrines were sitting stationary on New Island; numbers of Curlew are steadily building. A number of moulting Mediteranean Gulls were roosting on a mud bank with a dozen or so Sandwich Terns.

They've fledged!!

The Swallows have successfully fledged and were flying in and out of the hide this morning.

Swallows again!

An early inspection of the nesting Swallows yesterday morning revealed that the door had been opened despite being wired up and the open observation flaps had been shut. Thankfully, I had removed one flap in case of such an eventuality. The swallow parents were flying round anxiously so I quickly opened the flaps and secured the door after first ascertaining the youngsters were still in the nest, took a record shot and beat a hasty retreat.

(The previous evening as it was getting dark I noticed 3 lads with fishing rods appoaching the end of the spit and in the gloaming saw them through binoculars fishing in front of the hide...)

The good news is that the parents were feeding them again this morning!