By 'eck, Drain Swallows are back

and these two are early birds . . .

Dunstall Park

Sunday 23rd June 2013,  cool, early drizzle, clearing later, 09.40 to 10.30.

A few days away, so back to the racecourse to see what if anything is happening in one of the quietest years in three decades locally for breeding and passage bird species.  Barn Swallow flit back and fore from the open stables where their newly fledged youngsters are sheltering from the weather, and adult and juvenile Rook forage on the open grass, near to a group of Canada Geese, the 13 surviving youngsters grazing alongside their parents and other adults.  Gulls are beginning to return, with 14 adult and two immature Lesser Black-backed Gulls and a single second-summer Herring Gull preening and resting near to the geese before flying off towards the city.  At the lake at least ten Coot youngsters of varying sizes either stick close to their parents or are starting to find food for themselves, a female Mallard still shepherds three youngsters nearly as big as herself, and a pair of Gadwall sleep on the water near the island, the male's breeding plumage starting to fade as the summer progresses (these may have been the birds which stayed at the lake from early January until late April this year).  A male Pied Wagtail picks his way along the shoreline, near to a single Lapwing and two Green Sandpiper, the latter very possibly the birds seen at the lake six days ago on 17th.  These waders are among the first species to be seen locally on return migration, leaving their breeding grounds in northern and eastern Europe in mid-summer and flying back to their wintering quarters in Africa and western Europe.  On return passage, they and other species often stay for some time at favoured sites, and in 2010 ones and twos stopped off at Dunstall Park, sometimes lingering for periods of a week or longer, from late June through to early September, with four birds present on one occasion.  These latest visitors fed along the shallow margins before flying to a more sheltered inlet by the island, white rumps showing why their old Norfolk nickname Martin Snipe is so appropriate (other names include the intriguing Yorkshire tag of Drain Swallow, perhaps referring to the bird's liking for relatively small wetland sites such as farm ponds and rural sewage beds).  This is the second-earliest local return record for Green Sandpiper, so good to know that not everything this year has been weeks late.

Dunstall Park        

Thursday 27th June 2013, hot, broken cloud, westerly wind, 10.20 to 11.30.

Weather better, with at least 20 Jackdaw swirling and chacking their way against the wind over the western edge trees, and brief song from Chiffchaff and Blackcap near the canal junction copse.  A Chiffchaff family with at least four youngsters is in a hedge near the old pumphouse (the shale-based racetrack had to be watered regularly during hot spells in the 1990s), and Greenfinch and Common Whitethroat call from lakeside bushes.  There's a pleasant surprise in the form of three Moorhen chicks being fed by their parents along the base of the island, where 50-plus Starling, mostly juveniles, preen and sunbathe.  A single Common Buzzard wings its way heavily low along the canal towards Newbridge, at the same time as two more of its kind sweep up to circle high above Tettenhall ridge far off to the west.  Buzzard sightings will become more frequent now, with youngsters fledging or flying.  They will soon be calling continuously from exposed perches as their parents circle above, drawing them away from the security of their nest sites into the world of the adult raptor.    

(NB.  Dunstall Park is a restricted commercial site.  Access is strictly controlled).


    


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