Low Moor and Oakenshaw Wildlife

I have been unable to work the patch other the last week so I was looking forward to what was about this morning.  Sadly I was in for a bit of a shock as they were nothing new in apart from a single Swift that flew west.

With the mainly northerly winds there has been little movement of migrants in the last few days.  However, this morning a Common Snipe was at Caldene Fields which is an unusual record for Spring.

Actually not that much about today.  Only real things of note were 4 Swallow feeding low over Caldene Fields, a pair of Song Thrush at Raw Nook Nr and views of a male Blackcap collecting nesting material.

Firstly I had a ‘ blast from the passed’ moment today when a pair of Lapwing were displaying over Caldene Fields a regular nesting site in bygone years.  A returning male Swallow flew into it’s old nesting site the horses shed at Caldene Fields and whilst I do not normally comment on nest sites the Swallows one is very safe….as a rather large mean looking stallion keeps the Swallow company…  Only a female Blackcap at the top end of the fields was judged as a new migrant in.

Last night was the first time this year I put out the moth trap and was rewarded with a Brindled Pug the f hirchkei form which is a new site record. 2 Common Quaker and 3 Hebrew Character were also recorded.

Four Smooth Newts were observed at Raw Nook nr pond and at least 4 Peacock and 3 Small Tortoiseshell were noted.

Received an email from James Bass who visited Raw Nook Nr on 15/4 and was struck by the numbers of singing warblers.  His counts were 3 Willow Warblers + 8 Chiffchaff + 6 Blackcaps all good counts.  My first thoughts were the reserve given it’s size would struggle to accommodate all those territories.

So on the 17/4 I did some counts to see if some of these birds were passage birds.  My counts were 4 Willow Warblers + 4 Chiffchaff ( possibly some females may have been nest building) + 4 Blackcaps 3 M+1pair suggesting most of the birds have stayed.  I still have the same views and believe within the next week or so some of these birds will have moved on both to find a new territory and a mate.

One Swallow circled Caldene Fields before drifting S/W and 3 House Martins were back over there nest site at Raw Nook Nr

Following on from my sighting of a C Buzzard drifting N/E on the 10/4 Stuart Tordoff emailed to say he had seen three Common Buzzards circling over Woodlands/M606  slowly drifting off eastwards.

Long Tailed Tit appear to be doing very well in our recording area

A male Blackcap and a Willow Warbler both probable passage birds were at Caldene Fields this morning.

Yesterday at Raw Nook Nr pond I has an excellent count of at least 35 Common Toads of which many were copulating. Also the sunshine brought out the first Comma butterfly and 2 peacocks were also noted.

This morning 8 Herring Gulls were feeding at Caldene Fields, which is unusual to have feeding birds and then late after noon a Common Buzzard flew N/E over the fields.

Herring Gulls

A check this morning for summer migrants revealed 2 additional Chiffchaffs at Toad Holes Beck bringing the number of birds to 3 and a new Chiffchaff was at Raw Nook Nr.

A pair of Tufted Duck ( which have probably come from nearby Harold Park) were on the middle pond at Toad Holes Beck.  Also at the pond was an early bloom of Marsh Marigolds which was a welcome sight and two male Song Thrushes filled the air with song as they claimed territories.

A male Goosander flew S/W over Raw Nook Nr.

This morning I did some vismigging at Caldene Fields watchpoint.  There was a steady trickle of returning Fieldfares 103 moving N and 118 Meadow pipits moved N/N/W.  A count of Bullfinches at Toad Holes beck revealed 9 of which 4 were males…an excellent count.