Observations

A dull end to Spring

A review of the birds of May – June 2024

April’s cold finish turned into a wet May Day weekend whose benefits were three Little Gulls and a Dunlin, along with an impressive 11 Hobbies once the storms had passed. A new 2nd summer male Marsh Harrier put in a few days, and most warbler numbers improved as the breeding strength arrived.

Fine weather in the second week of May resulted in a Wood Sandpiper and a female Marsh Harrier. Unsettled weather returned, and in a poor spring for passage waders the only other surprise was a five minute Grey Plover. More expected were Common Sandpipers peaking at three, and one to three Oystercatchers commuting over site for the whole period. Four adults with two juveniles which appeared later may have bred locally.

The Shelduck pair gave up and departed, and other ducks are evidently having a poor breeding season.  Several pairs of Red-crested Pochard have been present and the single brood of two young fledged such that there were 11 by the end of June. Great Crested Grebes have been more prevalent than usual, with two or three regular and one count of six, but no sign of breeding (yet).

We discovered we’d missed the breeding Tawny Owls in the South Lagoons with a chick found ‘branching’.

Most usual migrants were back in force by the middle of May with the exceptions being no Grasshopper Warbler and very low numbers of Whitethroat, and Common Terns in very small numbers (and no breeding attempts). It has been a better year for Cuckoos with up to five (three males) with two still lingering right to the end of June. With no Kingfishers breeding on the reserve records were few and far between.

The latter half of May was unsettled with several days of rain. There were few Rye Meads oddities: a Mistle Thrush, a Nuthatch, and a surprise Yellow Wagtail in the meadow was all. It was a dull spring by any standard.

Whilst late May saw some high pressure move in and continue into June it remained cooler than the average and the first half of June was unsettled, providing larger Swift numbers than in recent years with up to 65. A trickling arrival of failed Lapwing reached 25, and up to five Little Ringed Plovers lingered around the scrape – they may yet surprise us.

Moulting Mute Swans are once again a feature with up to 66 on site.  We are getting used to an early summer incursion of Wigeon and this year seems no different, with up to six, and also Teal with eight back by before the end of June. Where do these early arrivals come from? The core draw of the annual duck moult is of course Gadwall; a count of 178 likely forerunners of the annual moulting flock.

The first Green Sandpiper was back like clockwork mid June with up to four by the month’s end, and the also now expected Black-tailed Godwits arrived (a tad early). These were first-summers rather than the failed breeding adults that usually make these mid-summer visits.

Finally, a female Bullfinch on one day in May with two on one day in June showed they haven’t quite gone… yet.