One good Tern deserves another

OK, I can hear the groans from here and I know it must have been used a thousand times, But I couldn't think of anything else.

After terning in for work at 04:00 ,(see what I did there),and being told my holiday for today had been granted I was up and about as the sun came up.
Decided to call into Broomey Croft and check Cliff Pool and after a quick initial scan almost fell off the hide seat when I saw a Sandwich Tern sitting on the furthest spit.
Managed to grab a few record shots that are blurred enough to be called Martin Yapp old stylie.
The bird took flight towards Shustoke after only a couple of minutes of viewing being harried by the ever present Black headed Gulls.Also present were 4 Common Terns and also nice to see was a Kingfisher that has been missing since the cold snap.
From there I nipped over the M42 to see if the Sandwich Tern had dropped onto Bodymoor or Hemlingford Water but there was no sign of it.
There was however 8+ Common Terns on Bodymoor.

All quiet on Cliff pool

The good weather has seen most migrating birds pass straight over the Tame valley.
On Cliff pool there was a Green Sandpiper, no excuses for the photo as it was at very long range, along with a single Common sandpiper.
I also tried to get a better photo of the Grasshopper Warbler and sat for over an hour being eaten by midges for the bird to only show briefly and then only from the front.
The weather helped, as did the amount of butterflies being seen with Small tortoiseshell, Brimstone,Orangetip,Peacock and Comma all making an appearance.

Birds are passing through so I really think its time for a good bird, wasn't it about this time last year we had the Cattle Egret at Middleton?

Grasshopper Warbler in the Tame Valley

After recieving a report of a Grasshopper warbler at a site quite off the beaten track in the Tame Valley, I got up there as soon as possible after work yesterday.
The area might have been off the beaten track but it was still getting quite a bit of traffic in the form of joggers and dog walkers.
During a lull in the foot traffic I heard the tell tale sound of a Grasshopper Warbler sounding more like a fishermans reel than a Grasshopper!
The bird showed quite well, if at a distance and I resisted the urge to try and get closer incase I disturbed the bird.
From there a quick visit to Broomey Croft yielded nothing more than one Common Tern over Cliff Pool.

Artic Tern in artic conditions

A call in at Hemlingford waters after the reported Artic Tern and Yellow Wagtails from last night drew a blank, so I was glad to get a text from Tame Valley Communications inc telling me that there had been another Artic tern reported at Shustoke only half an hour previous.
Shot over there to find the wind blowing straight off the water with a wind chill of -10, well it felt like that after the last few days!
The Tern however was sitting on a buoy in the middle of the lake until being moved on by a lone yachtsman.
The bird then moved from buoy to buoy as the yacht did the same.
Having seen Common Tern only last week the differences were quite apparent, longer tail, shorter stumpier body (in flight),white cheek and slightly shorter and darker bill.
Hopefully I'll be able to tell one from the other next time I see them.

Cliff Pools on a roll

Cliff Pool has pulled another couple of cracking birds today in the shape of two 2nd summer Mediterranean Gulls.
The birds were sitting on the left hand end of "the horseshoe" preening.
Special thanks to Julial Allen who gave me a quick run down in how to tell 2nd summer from adult birds. Adults have no black in the primaries where a the second summer are as you see in the photo.
There was very little else of note with only a single Little ringed plover present amongst the everyday birds.

Common Tern

A glorious spring day saw my first Common Tern of the year on Cliff Pool.
Also present were two of yesterdays Common Sandpipers and a single Little ringed Plover.
The chances of the Terns breeding, as they used to, are getting more remote as the number of Black headed Gulls increases.Surely the ranger should think about putting in some Tern rafts to try and encourage the birds to stay or maybe go as far as a limited cull?

Cliff Pool update

No sign today (7th) of the Avocets which left at around 4 ish yesterday afternoon.
This was not the first sighting this year, so keep searching, you never know what you might find!
There were new arrivals in the shape of 3 Common Sandpipers today, But they were very twitchy moving and feeding from island to island.

Cliff Pool does it again!

After a week of seeing very little at Broomey Croft, Cliff Pool came up with the goods again today by way of not one, But two Avocets.
I first spotted them in mid water and as soon as I had got a couple of record shots I put the news out to Tom Perrins, Bobby D & John Harris.
Luckily Tom was quite close and was on site within fifteen minutes and put the news out onto the pagers.
The birds then proceeded to the small island behind "the horseshoe" where they started to look quite settled.(Could there be a possibility of them breeding?)
Hopefully these birds will stat around a little longer than most Avocets which are usually one day wonders.
This is also good news as Avocet was a bogey bird for me in the Valley!