Chiffchaff, Longham Lakes, 31/12/2018 (Roger Peart.)
31st December
I tried another ringing session this morning to round off the year. No definite sign of any Redwings. All rather quiet around the nets but I did catch 6 new birds and 3 re-traps. The latter were 2 Long-tailed Tits (ringed 27th September) and a Robin (ringed 16th October). The new birds were 3 more Long-tailed Tits, 1 Great Tit and 2 Chiffchaffs. The latest I have caught Chiffchaffs previously is 4th and 5th December at Longham – 5 on 4th December 2014 and 6 on 5th December 2016. The Chiffchaff total this year has just passed the 100 – 101 with these two birds. That is two better than last year, but still quite a bit below each of the other years’ totals (Roger Peart.)
29th December
3 Great White Egrets still present on island in South Lake, also a flock of 50+ Black-tailed Godwits flew over. Other observers had 3 Egyptian Geese and a Mediterranean Gull (scarce here in winter). (George Green.)
28th December
Around dawn there were 3 Great Egrets and the Whooper Swan on South Lake. Also 2 Kingfishers chasing each other near the north island.
27th December
There were 2 Great Egrets on South lake at dawn, while the Bar-headed Goose was briefly on south lake before flying east with a few Greylag Geese. Also 6 Joggers just after dawn 2 of them with lights and running hand lights so you can imagine what that did to the birds! Later on it was possible to see Teal, Wigeon and Shoveler in the gloom from the gap on the Causeway. Walking along the west side of South Lake I found 2 Bullfinch, 2 Goldcrest and heard three Cetti’s Warblers as I walked round. When the mist cleared I counted 95 Pochard, 4 Little Grebes, 2 Great Egrets and 2 Egyptian Geese on the large island. With the almost still condition the model plane fly boys were out with there planes buzzing round which pushed the duck up the sound end of the lake and one Great Egret went off east and another went west (Martin Wood.)
Goldeneyes, Longham Lakes, 26/12/2018 (Lorne Bissell).
26th December
A short ringing session this morning produced just two birds, both Redwings. Total for this year now 64 (Roger Peart.) Meanwhile, the escaped Bar-headed Goose was still on Hampreston Fields (David Foster) and there was also a Water Pipit, 2 Goldeneyes and 1 Cattle Egret (Hampreston Fields) (Lorne Bissell).
25th December
There was a Water Pipit on the main island on South Lake, the Whooper Swan on south lake at dawn, 4 Great Egrets and 2 Egyptian Geese (Lorne Bissell)
24th December
4 Great Egrets remain on the main island, while a Jack Snipe (observer’s 97th species of the year) was flushed from the Causeway. There were 80 Pochard and a good number of Wigeon, Teal, Mallard, Shoveler and Gadwall. Also nice to see 10 Fieldfares in the trees at the north west corner (Martin Wood.)
22nd December
There were 4 Great Egrets again showing well on South lake island this morning and there was a female-type Goldeneye on South Lake (Terry White, George Green.)
20th December
There were 3 Great White Egrets on the island on South Lake. The juvenile Whooper Swan was still with Mutes on Hampreston flooded fields, while there was a pair of Pintails on South Lake plus many other ducks of 7 species (Ian Lewis.)
Immature Whooper Swan (left front) with Mutes, Longham Lakes 19/12/2018 (Lorne Bissell)
19th December
There were 4 Great Egrets when I arrived, but by about 08:30 another Great Egret flew in from the south and joined the others, making it FIVE! Also the Whooper Swan was nice and visible (Hampreston Fields) although distant (Lorne Bissell.)
18th December
There were 4 Great Egrets and about 25 Little Egrets on South Lake today, in terrible weather. Also lots of wildfowl about: Gadwall, Shoveler, Teal, Wigeon, Tufted Ducks and Pochards. Also 40 Greylag Geese and 7 Black-tailed Godwits on Hampreston Fields, plus a Bullfinch about (Martin Wood.)
17th December
Just one Dunnock and then 3 new Blue Tits ringed today. In the lull while not catching I had a look across the lake from the south shore. Definitely saw 4 Great Egrets and at least 11 Little Egrets (Roger Peart.) Also 1 Yellow-legged Gull this morning.
16th December
Highlights today: Great White Egret – 4 together on the island off the causeway (also c25 Little Egrets scattered around south lake, but didn’t see any Cattles). Whooper Swan – 1st-Winter with c25 Mutes on Hampreston meadows (the herd are only clearly visible by walking along the footpath almost as far as the church.) Also on the meadows was a Bar-headed Goose with the Greylags/Canadas, 3 Black-tailed Godwits and a Kingfisher (Kevin Lane.)
Cattle Egret (top) with Little Egerts, Longham Lakes 14/12/2018 (Lorne Bissell)
14th December
It was another extraordinary morning for egrets on the Lakes, with 3 Cattle Egrets, 3 Great Egrets and about 25 Little Egrets, as well as a few Grey Herons. This is just incredible for “leggy” birds. There were also perhaps 30 Lapwings crowding on to the main island with 3 Black-tailed Godwits and numerous Cormorants, Greylag Geese and ducks. Pochards (80+) and Shovelers (20+) were present in decent numbers, while there were 2 Egyptian Geese early on and the immature Whooper Swan remains on the more distant of Hampreston Fields (most easily viewed from the public footpath by Hampreston Church.) (Lorne Bissell, George Green, Dominic Couzens.)
12th December
Ringing today produced just 6 new birds (no re-traps) – 3 Redwings, 1 Song Thrush, 1 Blackbird and, a bit surprisingly, 1 Blackcap, the first one ringed at Longham in December. Redwing totals ringed this year now 62 (Roger Peart.)
11th December
Ringing today produced newly-ringed birds in the form of 5 Redwings, 1 Cetti’s Warbler and 1 Long-tailed Tit, but there were a lot of re-traps, namely 7 Long-tailed Tits, 3 Blue Tits and one Great Tit. The Blue Tits and one Long-tailed Tit were from this year, the Great Tits and 3 Long-tailed Tit from July 2017 and the other 3 Long-tailed Tits were birds ringed in 2016 (Roger Peart.)
9th December
This afternoon the swans were out on the flooded Hampreston Fields, but there was no sign of the Whooper Swan with the 27 Mute Swans I counted. There were more than 110 Tufted Ducks and at least 20 Pochards on South Lake, probably many more. Also Gadwall 11, Shoveler 2, Wigeon 14, Teal 8. Meanwhile, 2 Great Egrets and 5 Little Egrets were on the island. Also seen was 2 Kestrel, male and female, and a very good view of a Cetti’s Warbler (Martin Wood.)
7th December
There were 2 Great Egrets on South Lake this lunchtime and immature Whooper Swan was viewable distantly on Hampreston Fields.
5th December
3 Great Egrets were on South Lake and there were 2 Mediterranean Gulls there, too.
4th December
This morning I had another session at Longham targeting Redwings/Fieldfares. It was the best one of the autumn, with 19 new birds ringed, all of which were Redwings, the largest catch of them I have had in a day. The Total this year is now 54, well over double the previous best. I also had a male Blackbird re-trap which was ringed in September 2014 as a 1st year, and then re-trapped again in April 2016. Will it still be around in 2020? (Roger Peart.) The 3 Great White Egrets were around this afternoon, but no sign of the Whooper Swan (George Green.)
3rd December
There were 3 Great Egrets on South Lake and the Whooper Swan was very distant near to Hampreston Church. A Water Pipit flushed from the west end of the Causeway and flew off far away. There were also 3 adult Mediterranean Gulls among mixed gull flock on Hampreston Fields.
2nd December
There were 2 Great Egrets still about. I counted 181 Black-headed Gulls and 4 Common Gulls, while there were 60 Pochards, 18 Shovelers and 30 Gadwalls out on South Lake (Martin Wood.)
1st December
Another session at Longham this morning – expected dry and windy from the forecast but turned out to be almost no wind. Only 9 birds ringed – 5 Redwings, 2 Robins, 1 Blackbird and 1 Fieldfare. Nice to have another of the latter. There was a flock of about 50 Redwings flying around the netting area (Roger Peart.)