Garganey !

Blackcaps, Cetti's? Warblers and Reed Warblers,

Quite a good variety of duck to be seen: Wigeon, Shoveller, Teal, Mallard, Gadwall, and the two diving ducks, Pochard and Tufted Duck. Oddly enough I don't tend to see the Pochard diving all that much on a typical day.

A great drake Garganey seen at last!

Anas querquedula. This is the only member of the genus that is fully migratory, visiting the UK in very small numbers to breed each summer, with about 14 - 92 pairs known to breed per year. Numbers fluctuate noticeably at the edges of the range. Weather conditions may be the cause of sporadic movements up into new territory.

It seems to like well-compartmented, shallow and sheltered fresh waters - rather like BB2 in fact!

The drake is very striking with its white head stripe very clearly visible at first sight. It does seem to hide itself very well. I spent over a hour looking for it, so was a bit put out when another birdwatcher turned up and spotted it almost immediately coming out from behind a bank on the left.

Birds from the European/West African population winter almost exclusively between 10 and 20 N, pretty close to the Equator, while they breed mainly in Russia, Ukraine and Belarus. They migrate through countries like France and Spain. Some research has been done by Guillemain et al on the Garganey's optimal refuelling strategy while staging in the Camargue. As little bodyweight was found to be added in the 329 birds examined, it was surmised that the prime importance of the staging area could be as a resting area, as opposed to a refuelling area. Alternatively it could simply be a refuge while the wait for conditions on the breeding grounds to improve. In either case the authors suggest that t is important to realise that management providing quietness and safety at stop-overs may be at least as important for this species as feeding opportunities. In my view these factors may be more inter-related than the authors suggest.

The

This male may already have been paired up as pair-bonds are very strong in this species, rape attempts are very rare and most (i.e. 97%) females are already paired at the end of winter (Cramp and Simmons 1977, and references therein). However I did not see the female! 

Crowds at Leybourne Lakes

Crowds of people, but also Blackcaps, a Willow Warbler, and at least FOUR nightingales singing away. Also 2 Green Woodpeckers, many Blackbirds, 1 Songthrush, say 8 Tufted Duck, 2 Great Crested Grebe, 7 Coot, 25 Greylags, 2 Canada Geese, 20+ Black-Headed Gulls, 10+ Herring Gulls, 1 Great Black-backed Gull, 15 Herons, 6+ Mallard, 1 Reed Bunting, 4+ Chaffinches.

There were a few Black-headed Gulls by the main bird-feeding area. This is a First Summer bird having a go at a dark hood and a dark red bill! It looks moderate!

This one appears less advanced, with not much of a hood at all, and with a light orange bill and legs.

Bewl Water

6 Great Crested Grbe, 3 Farmyard Ducks, I GreyLag Goose, 14+ Mallard, 2 Coots, all from Safety Boat.

Traeth Lavan

A female Pied Wagtail Motacilla alba  (ssp yarellii) in breeding plumage was by a watery flush in a pasture just inland of the path. A grey mantle, with a dark grey as opposed to shiny black cap, black not connected between nape and throat makes it a female;.a blotchy dark (rather than uniform medium) grey on the back, significant areas of mid-grey - very stylish - (rather than light grey) on the flanks, makes it a female ssp yarellii rather than a female ssp alba. The brown flight feathers suggest this is a first summer bird, retaining the juvenile primaries from last year. The greater coverts have greyish fringes but quite broad white tips, which apparently also fits yarellii. There is little blending of the grey back into the grey-black of the nape as you might expect in a female alba.

More of a hint of a darkish rump in the picture below:

This looks more clearly like a blackish rump. The pictures of this one bird do vary a bit with the light (compare the first picture here) but this looks quite diagnostic.

Cliffe Pools with Med Gulls at last!

10 Mediterranean Gulls, 400 Black-headed Gulls, 100+ Black Tailed Godwits, 50+ Redshank, 30+ Dunlin, 200+ Avocets, 40+ Shelduck, 20 Shoveller, 10 Coot, 8 Great Crested Grebe, 2 drake Pochard, 20 Tufted Duck, 5 Mallard, 6 Herring Gulls. 10 Goldfinch, 4 Robin, 4 Blackbirds, 4 Magpies, 6 Jackdaws.

The Two Song Thrushes were singing at either end of the track between Conoco and Elf Pools. The dark arrowheads on the breast are truly marvellous.

I could hear several Blackcaps, but didn't see more than a glimpse of them.

The Great Tits were singing and I also managed to catch this Blue Tit feeding nearly hidden in the upper branches of the hawthorn scrub.

The Tufted Duck appear to be in pairs or small groups scattered across the pools as a whole:

Two Black-headed Gulls on the iron structure by the Radar-Flamingo path.

Black-necked Grebe eludes me

The Track,

Dozens of Peacock butterflies and Bumblebee Queens, backed by the singing of Blackcaps, Dunnocks, Robins, Great Tits and Blue Tits.

Radar,

On Radar there looked to be the hundreds of Black-headed Gulls, Avocets and Black-tailed Godwits that I had looked at on Saturday, but I didn't have time to stop at the viewpoint today, as I was on the "hunt" for a summer-plumaged Black-necked Grebe.

On BB1, 

there was perhaps a greater variety of birds to be seen on BB1. There were several pairs of Teal, 3-4 Pochards, scores of Shovellers, mainly male, a pair of Gadwall, maybe 7 - 10 pairs of Tufted Duck, and about the same number of Coot, with 1 - 2 Moorhen.

There were also several Avocets, 2 pairs of Little Grebe, but no Black-necked Grebe in breeding plumage.

Pity I didn't take any photos as the light to the left was brilliant.

Cetti;s warblers and chaffinches were singing by the track behind me.

Saturday Cliffe

2 Pintail, 12 Coot, 70 Shoveller, 200 Avocet, 300 Black-tailed Godwit, 100 Dunlin, 30 Shelduck, 4 Mallard, 12 Tufted Duck,

The Black-headed Gulls were displaying noisily over all the islands on the site. This is a small island fairly close to the track up by the side of Radar towards Flamingo, where 3 possible (???) pairs were perched.

The central two gulls here have adopted a "head-down" posture which does not seem to be exactly described in the literature I have been able to find. There is certainly discussion of "the choking posture" but these gulls seem to hold the head-down posture for quite a while, and I see no sign of head movements or of mock choking, so I remain confused.

As quite commonly described, the cloaca seem quite swollen in this display.

These two on the other hand are demonstrating the forward posture - at least as far as I can see!

Here is a link to a video that includes several sequences of "forward postures" on water.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vyF2gT9nw3o

And these two may be head flagging. I wondered if their feet were moving.