October Sightings 2018

In the first week of October great white egrets dominate the news with at least seven on site most of the time. The dry weather remains and  there is no sign of a good north-easter that might blow us some birds. You might have noticed that the number of jays is building up rapidly across the country as they flood in from Europe in search of acorns.

The Heron Trail near the Hayden Hide.

Great white egret numbers appear to fluctuate but in reality 3 to five stay around every day and the maximum was seven.

October: Not too late for a grass snake.

1st:  Chiffchaff on Heron Trail, small copper on Meadow Trail. (PS)

2nd:  Red kite, sparrow hawk, great white egret x 5, g.s.woodpecker,
         yellowhammer, g.c.grebe. (SD)

3rd:  Hayden Hide: Great white egret x 3, little egret x x 6, heron x 6
        lapwing x 20 (AT)

4th:  Heronry Lakes: Green sandpiper, great white egret, kingfisher. (CM)

5th  Looking out of the ranger's office window I noticed thousands
       of ladybirds in the wildlife garden and swarming over the building.
       On my walk to empty the dog bin I noticed that they were all over the
       reserve and then I was told by the BBC that this is a national (and natural)
       phenomenon.
       They were all harlequin ladybirds; a recent arrival from Asia.
       The swarm was still continuing on the 11th.

Harlequin ladybird.

6th:   Visitor Centre: Black squirrel, grey squirrel, wood pigeon, great tit, blue tit,
         dunnock, robin, blackbird, collared dove, goldfinch, chaffinch, magpie, crow.

7th:   Snipe x 2, great white egret x 7, green sandpiper x 2 (+),  (PC and RCU)

8th:   Green sandpiper x 2, common snipe x 2, Great white egret x 4, little egret x 7,
         grey heron x 7, dunnock, chaffinch, great tit, blue tit, green woodpecker,
         gadwall, tufted duck, shoveller, widgeon, teal, mallard, lapwing, greylag,
         mute swan, canada goose. (BF)

Long-tailed tit.

9th:   Spotted flycatcher reported from Bill's Bench.

11th: Heronry Lakes: Great white egret x 5, little egret x 15, snipe, green sandpiper x 6,
         bullfinches, a small flock of redwings, buzzard, red kite, sparrow hawk,
         kingfisher x 3, wren. Willow emerald at Bill's Bench (Post 2), common darter,
         migrant hawker, red admiral, green veined white, speckled wood.

        Kingfisher seen fleeing from heron, green sandpiper x 4, common snipe,
        buzzard x2, green woodpecker, white wagtail, great white egret, jay,
        kingfisher flew into Cobham hide briefly! Teal, shoveller, pintail! Partridge, lapwing

   ….41 spp seen..(JC+JG)

Large red underwing moth. Hayden Hide.

12^th Female ruff (reeve) Hayden hide. (CB)

16th Red kite x 2, gadwallx50, widgeon x 42, teal x 80, shoveller x 34,
        tufted duck x 55, great white egret x 3, green sandpiper x 6, little egret x 8,
        grey wagtail, yellowhammer x 2, cormorant x 110, greylag goose x 140,
        snipe, jay, little grebe, common gull x 9, bh gull x 90, treecreeper x 2,
        water rail, lapwing x 15, linnet x 6, Cetti's warbler, kingfisher,
        skylark x 6.(Terry Brown)

Third Thursday Walk: (Margaret Bailey

 18th Black-headed Gull x 10,  Blue Tit x 5, Canada Goose x 4, Chaffinch x 2, 
         Cormorant x 14, Gadwall x 4, Great Crested Grebe, Great White Egret x 6,
         Green Woodpecker, Grey Wagtail x 2,  Jackdaw, Lesser Black-backed Gull, 
         Long-tailed Tit x 3, Mallard x 10, Mute Swan x 7, Robin x 2, Shoveler x 8, 
         Starling x 15, Tufted Duck x 7+, Woodpigeon x 8. Blackbird, Buzzard x 2,
         Carrion Crow, Collared Dove x 2, Dunnock x 5, Goldfinch, Great Tit x 3, 
         Green Sandpiper x 6,  Grey Heron x 6, Greylag Goose x 25, Lapwing, 
         Little Egret x 7, Magpie, Moorhen x 5, Pied/White Wagtail, Rook x 2, Snipe, 
         Teal x 5+, Wigeon x 2, Wren.
         Total number of species 40. Why not come along next time?

22nd Sparrow, great tit at the VC (Leo)

23rd Seen in Heronry Lake: Great White Egret 6, Little Egret 8, Heron 10+,
        Lapwing 1, Common Snipe 2, Green Sandpiper at least 3 (very mobile),
        Gadwall 40+, Shoveler, Teal, Widgeon,  Goldeneye 2 male,
        Green Woodpecker 1, Bullfinch 1, Buzzard 1 etc. Common Darter 1
        (Andrew Lee)
        Widgeon x 38, gadwall x 37, bh gull x 400, tufted duck x 90,
        little egret x 7, shoveler x 26, teal x 46, great white egret x 4,
        green sandpiper x 6, common gull x 9, goldeneye x 2, pintail x 3, goldcrest x 2,
        siskin, Cetti's  warbler, yellowhammer, buzzard field fare. (Terry Brown)

24th Grey heron, widgeon, robin, blue tit, grey squirrel, mute swan, magpie,
        great white egret at the Kingfisher Hide (L Brooks, TWC and MWC)

25th Great white egret x 2, grey wagtail, green sandpiper x 7, pintail x 4,
        red-crested pochard (fm), buzzard x 2. (Heronry Pits M Dawes.)

26th Mute swan, gadwall, mallard, crow, cormorant, bh gull, shoveler,
        magpie, coot, teal, common sandpiper, moorhen, pheasant, lapwing,
        great white egret x 4, green sandpiper x 3, widgeon x 2, great tit,
        blue tit, robin, pied wagtail, chaffinch, dunnock, wood pigeon,
        snipe pintail x 2, kestrel x 2 (Heronry, R Mackey)

27th Great white egret, green sandpiper, lapwing (Heronry Lakes)
        Blue tit, great tits (coal tit?), house sparrow, dunnock, robin
        at the bird-table. (CM.)

28th Bullfinch, reed bunting at the moorings. (PC) 

30th Sparrowhawk, red kite, cormorant, little egret x 3 at the VC. (JAS)

31st Tufted duck x 90, widgeon x 39, gadwall x 29, shoveller x 23, teal x 43, green sandpiper x 6, snipe, buzzard, red kite, jay x 2, goldcrest, kingfisher, redwing x 4, bullfinch.