West End: 2 pairs Common Terns,5 Mandarin,1Kingfisher.
Whillets Meadows: 5 grass snakes;1 slow worm,2 Blue-Tail Damselfly;1Emperor Dragonfly; 2 Buzzards;1 Reed Bunting;1Blackcap;1Cinnabar Moth;1 Barn Owl;1 Reed Warbler,1 Whitethroat. All photos taken in Whillets during survey transect.
These are the highlights from the WeBS counts:
Reservoir Totals: 77 Great Crested Grebe, 13 Grey Heron + 1 Leucistic White Grey Heron, 8 Mute Swan, 10 Greylag, 23 + 1 chick Canada Geese, 3 + 1 young Mandarin, 40 Mallard.
Dam End: 1 Lesser Black-backed Gull, 1 Common Tern, Skylark heard, 1 + 2J Grey Wagtail, 2 + 4J Pied Wagtail, 2 Mistle Thrush, 1 Jay.
West End: 1 Green Sandpiper on Pintail Bank, 10 Lapwing, 5 Common Tern, 1 Kingfisher, 5 Swallow, 2J Pied Wagtail, 1J Robin, Garden Warbler + Blackcap + Reed Warbler singing in the car park area. 1 Mink swimming across in front of the viewing area.
Whillets: 2+ Reed Warbler at pool, 1M Reed Bunting, Song Thrush + Chiffchaff + Whitethroat heard, 2 Stock Dove
West End: 2 pairs of Common Terns, 38 Great Crested Grebes with at least 3 pairs building nests. Heronry now becoming quiet as most have fledged; but at least 8 Grey Herons still feeding around the slowly dropping water levels. 24 Greylag Geese, 2F Mandarin, 1 Lapwing, 1 Black-headed Gull, 2 Swallows, 2 juvenile Pied Wagtails on rafts. Songsters are still evident with singing Reed Warbler, Blackcap and Garden Warbler around the Car Park area.
Whillet’s Pool: Reed Warbler and Whitethroat with a Song Thrush heard in the meadows. My butterfly transect recording visit included an early Painted Lady; but butterfly numbers generally in the meadows are still low.
Dam End: Late afternoon – a pair of Pied Wagtails with at least 4 young, 1 Grey Wagtail, 4 Mute Swan, c.20 Swallow, c.20 House Martin, 4 Swifts, 2 pairs of Canada Geese with young, 1 Whitethroat.
West End: 2 Mute Swan, 5 Greylag Goose, 1M Mandarin, 8 Cormorant, the two rafts each had a sitting nesting Common Tern, 2 Swift, c.25 Swallow, 4+ House Martin, 1 Pied Wagtail, 1 Jay, c.30 Jackdaw.
West End: 24 Great Crested Grebe – no obvious signs of nesting yet; 17 Grey Heron – many of the young from the heronry have now fledged, they can be easily identified from the adults and can be seen around the reserve; 2 Mute Swan; 1 Buzzard which is usually mobbed by the 2 pairs of Common Terns on the rafts. 15 Swallow, 1 Moorhen, 1 Coot. A Blackcap is regularly singing in the Car Park and a Song Thrush is still singing loudly. Jackdaws are often flying over as a couple of pairs are nesting in the reserve.
Whillets: Alastair who is one of our official transect butterfly and dragonfly recorders reported the following from the meadows – 2 Dingy Skipper Butterfly, 1 Broad-bodied Chaser Dragonfly, 1 Red-eyed Damselfly and a Silver Ground Carpet Moth.
At the Dam End: 3 Garden Warbler, 2 Chiffchaff, 4 Whitethroat, 4 Pied Wagtail, 2 Swallow, 8 House Martin. (No waders on The Dam).
Whillets: Alastair who is one of our official transect butterfly and dragonfly recorders reported the following from the meadows – 4 Burnet Companion Moth, 1 Mother Shipton Moth (both day flying moths) and 1 Dingy Skipper Butterfly.
At the Dam End: We started the BTO WeBS survey at 8 am at the dam wall which produced 1 Little Ringed Plover, 1 Common Sandpiper, 2 each of Grey & Pied Wagtails and 10 Canada Geese including a family with 4 young (see photo below). On the water were: 2 Mute Swans, 2 Coot, 4 Moorhens, 2 male Tufted Ducks, 1 Mandarin, 32 GC Grebe, 1 Grey Heron and 20 Mallard. In the air were: 6 Swifts, 2 Swallows, 4 House Martins and a Buzzard being mobbed by a Crow. By the lagoon were 2 more Mallard and nice views of singing Garden Warbler. In the nearby bushes were: several Blackcaps, Whitethroat, Chiffchaff, Song Thrush and a male Bullfinch. A walk around the paddock added: a singing Skylark, a Green Woodpecker, several Goldfinch and a flyover Little Egret. Finally a Goldcrest was seen in the car park.
At the West End: Starting around 10 am we added: 25 GC Grebes, 2 Mute Swans, 1 Herring Gull, 2 Moorhen and 11 Mallard plus one pair with 4 ducklings. 2 pairs of Common Terns were on the rafts. Only 22 Grey Heron could be seen but these included a white-plumaged individual. On Pintail Bank were: 4 Cormorant, 7 Canada Geese and 1 Lapwing. 2 Buzzard and 2 Stock Dove were flying. A terrapin was sunning on a potential grebe nest near the water’s edge. Later 2 Kingfishers were seen. By lunch time the sailing boats had pushed most of the GC Grebes into the undisturbed nature reserve and a high count of 55 was taken.
At Whillets: From late morning: a Reed Warbler was seen and a pair of Canada Geese are nesting at the pool. The survey includes the restricted area meadows, which added: several Whitethroat, a male Reed Bunting, 5 LT Tit, Garden Warbler, Blackcap & Chiffchaff. A quick look under the corrugated metal sheets in the meadows revealed: 4 Slow Worms, 2 Grass Snakes and a Toad. A Beautiful Demoiselle damselfly was seen flying.
