Saturday 24 April 2010

Black tern at Draycote water

Black tern, Draycote water

Great northern Diver

Saturday 24th April 2010

An early morning visit to Caldecote meadows provided some excellent local birding to start the day. The 4 wheatears seen 2 days earlier were still there and the numbers of Yellow wagtails had increased. Other birds seen or heard included: Tree Sparrow, Greater spotted Woodpecker, Green Woodpecker, Swallow, Blackcap, Kingfisher, Raven and Mistle Thrush. A call from Dave Hutton had me scurrying off to Draycote water after throwing a small Sainsbury's pork pie and packet of Cheesy nibbles into the boot. Even though its a place I try to avoid on sunny weekends it sounded as though some good birds were passing through on southerly winds. When I got there a number a terns and some Little gulls out in the centre of the reservoir. A Black tern (140)was easy enough to pick out and I was happy to ID a single Arctic tern and a few Common terns (141) but the majority would be best described as 'commic' terns. The 'Blue headed wagtail' proved very elusive as did the Garganey largely due to the 'tourist masses' but both were seen by some birders present but not yours truely. A Cuckoo flew across the res seen by Martyn Yapp and at one point one of the two Great northern Divers still present popped up very close to Toft bank.

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