May at Parc slip was quiet on the passage bird front. I spent the
middle two weeks on a birding trip to China and as far as I know, I only missed
out on a Common sandpiper which was found on the wader scrapes.
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| Chiffchaff, Paul Parsons |
During May and June I saw nothing new for the list but it was good to see 2
pairs of Little ringed plover successfully breeding on the new scrapes, with newly hatched
chicks seen on 6th June.
July started quiet too with nothing new until the
months end when a Greenshank and Green sandpiper were reported from the scrapes, I did
manage to see the Sandpiper the next day but the Greenshank had moved on. Also
a pair of Tufted duck had 8 ducklings on the Northern wetlands.
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| Redstart, Paul Parsons |
August was better,
with some autumn migration evident towards the months end. I saw my first
Collared dove of the year on 3rd and Grey wagtail and Redstart were added to the list on
14th. 2 Tree pipit and a Lesser whitethroat were new in the Willows at the
end of the canal on 19th and a Common snipe dropped onto the wader scrapes on 21st.
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| Lesser whitethroat, Paul Parsons |
Finally
3 Spotted flycatchers were new on 31st, taking my total to 88 for the
year. Migration will be in full swing for the next 6 weeks and hopefully something good will turn
up after the forecasted easterly winds this week.
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| Spotted Flycatcher, Paul Parsons |
