Thanks go to Richard and Rob who joined me to do
Castlemartin WeBS today.
The Corse is still very dry with only the odd patch of dampness
on the margins of the reed bed in a couple of spots. This I am afraid has led
to another month where not a lot of the WeBS species were observed! We did get
4 Snipe and a few Water Rail were heard in the reeds. One of the highlights was
a brief sighting of a Curlew and I think both Rob and I held our breath when a female Kingfisher landed on one of the fence posts.
Other birds of note were the same two Marsh Harriers who
have been on corse for last month or so, a Sparrowhawk bombed across the corse
and past the hide while we were there and 5 Cettis were heard in the hedgerows
and across the corse. Rob had a Chough on the way up from Freshwater West and
he also spotted a leucistic Carrion Crow, which is a first for me.
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| Adult Female Marsh Harrier being mobbed by one of the crows |
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| The younger of the two birds. |
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| Leucistic Carrion Crow |
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| Female Kingfisher |
I then had to head to work for a short time. This gave me an opportunity to observe some birds around the
Deer Park at Martins Haven which included a lovely male Kestrel that was
hanging out on a lower section of cliff / rocks, a Red Kite that was working the cliff
line and the usual pair of Raven. One pair of Chough were also observed. There was also a large flock of mixed Corvids in the field
to the east of Martins Haven car park.
I dropped in to have a look at Marloes Mere on my way back
home. The number of wintering ducks has increased since I was last there with a
nice number of Teal, Wigeon and Shoveller. As usual quite a few Coot and Mallard. There were 2 Tufted Ducks there today and got up to 3 Little Grebe. It
was lovely to see a small number of Lapwing (6) and a lone Curlew dropped in just as
I was leaving. A Sparrowhawk buzzed across the cut sedges mid-way though my
visit. On way back to car observed 45 Linnet on the powerlines.
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| Teal |
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| Shoveller |
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| Curlew |
