Nethergong Birding

With a few nights in the week with lighter winds, I was able to get the recorder out and on the night of the 20th, I recorded a Little Grebe (83) flying over calling. This species is annual here but I have still only ever seen one on the patch in the 8 years of recording. It just goes to show how important the 'nocmig' recording is to prove what species are on the move during the hours of darkness. Also heard in the week were a couple of Tawny Owl, Gadwall, Teal and Snipe. Back to this morning and I was out early at 05:30 listening unsuccessfully for Owls and Grey Partridge. After parking up I spent a few hours walking around most of the patch noting 55 which included 4 Greylag Geese, 36 Mute Swan, c20 Mallard, 1 Teal, 5 Pheasant, 2 Water Rail, 12 Moorhen, 3 Coot, 6 Snipe, c50 Black headed Gull, c250 Herring Gull, 56 Cormorant and 1 Grey Heron. As I walked up the stream in the growing light, a duck flew up in silhouette which I thought looked good for a Mandarin. I retraced my steps back to the lake where a few minutes later a drake Mandarin (84) flew past and out of sight. A bonus bird for the year with a couple of records in the past few years. Normally I encounter a female or juveniles in the overgrown stream in July having probably bred nearby so it was nice to see a drake for the first time. Other bits seen included 1 Marsh Harrier, 1 Sparrowhawk, 7 Common Buzzard, 2 Kestrel, 3 Jay, 2 Raven, 3 Skylark, 2 Cetti's Warbler, 2 Goldcrest, 1 Treecreeper, c30 Starling, c15 Fieldfare, 6 Stonechat, 2 Pied Wagtail, 1 Brambling still in the mixed finch flock but I suspect more are about as the flock soon disappeared and didn't return whilst I was there. There were also 4 Greenfinch, 18 Linnet, 22 Goldfinch, 4 Yellowhammer and 11 Reed Bunting. 

Mandarin

Goldcrest 

Little Grebe

Snipe