Wednesday 18th July

Quiet today, but there was a fly over Raven and a single Tree Sparrow which was a first at the reservoir this year for me! This just goes to show how the status of this species has gone in the area. Living as I do on the edge of Shustoke it was not uncommon to have flocks of 50+ in the winter. Whilst I have had up to five pairs breeding in the nestboxes provided. This year the same nestboxes have had no success at all and last year a single pair were unsuccessful.
Other counts today were as follows: Common Tern 22, Lapwing 50, Great Crested Grebe 70+, Little Grebe 7 (there are a pair at the east end nesting), Linnet 2, Blackcap 3, Whitethroat 2.

The Weekend

Paid a couple of trips over the weekend, but the reservoir was very popular and the disturbance probably attributed to the lack of birds in what is a generally quiet time of year. However, Great Crested Grebe number well over 60 birds with at least three successful broods and a couple of pairs are still on eggs. There are at least six Little Grebe on the reservoir. Kingfisher appear to have bred as well with three birds seen. Lapwing numbers are on the rise with single figures until the weekend peak of around 25 individuals. There were also a couple of Common Sandpiper seen on Saturday evening.

Thursday 22nd July

Again quiet, which is to be expected at this time of year. However, the word seems to be spreading amongst the regions Common Tern with 31 present this evening. There was also a single Common Sandpiper.

Tuesday 20th July

A quieter night tonight with the Common Tern numbering 16. Warbler corner again produced with 3 Blackcap, Willow Warbler, Chiffchaff, Whitethroat and a juvenile Bullfinch. The Kingfisher was again seen carrying food.

Saturday 17th July

Not a bad day with 50 species recorded. Common Tern numbered 24 this morning. Other birds of note were Kingfisher and Sparrowhawk. Warbler corner produced good numbers of Blackcap, Willow Warbler and Chiffchaff plus a single Marsh Tit.

Wednesday 14th July

This morning there was an increase in the number of Common Tern to an impressive 21. An immature female Peregrine visited briefly before being seen off by the Common Tern. A family party of four Green Woodpecker were seen on arrival in the car park.

13 July

A quick visit this evening in rain produced 19 Common Tern but not a lot else.

Cloudy Wednesday

Had a quick walk around the reservoir tonight after work turning up just eight Common Tern (two juveniles), and a single Common Sandpiper otherwise it was rather quiet.

Pete Forbes