January 2016 - Bird Highlights

BG: Barrow Tanks		Cl-Y: south Clevedon coast
BL: Blagdon Lake		PW: Portbury Wharf
CVL: Chew Valley Lake		RPD: Portbury Dock

Notable species recorded in Avon this month were: Great Northern Diver, Fulmar, Bittern, Great White Egret, Slavonian & Black-necked Grebe, Avocet, Whimbrel, Arctic & Great Skua, Ring-billed Gull, Little Auk, Swallow, Siberian Chiffchaff and Dartford Warbler.

Bewick's Swan: 1 record, 5 birds first seen at CVL on 12^th, then later at BL on same day.

Brent Goose: A group of 12 birds seen at the Yeo Est (6^th) of note and 3 here on 25^th. 2 birds at Severn Beach (2^nd), 1 at New Passage (16^th).

Barnacle Goose: Up to 15 birds at CVL/BL during the month.

Egyptian Goose: 2 at BL on several dates, 1 at the Keynsham river Avon on 1^st/2^nd.

Shelduck: Best coastal counts were Severnside 42, RPD 102, Cl-Y 165, Axe Est 73. Quite good numbers were seen at CVL, max.23 on 14^th.

Wigeon: Coastal maxima: OPS 240, Littleton Warth 350, New Passage 700, Clevedon 420. Poor numbers noted at the lakes, BL 20 and CVL 22.

Pintail: Generally very small numbers recorded at the coast except for 19 at New Passage on 20^th, a good count for Avon. 14 birds noted downriver off OPS on 30^th.

Pochard: The WWT has been carrying out surveys to ascertain the gender bias between male and female Pochard, apparently female Pochard are having a bad time of it. One of our contributors, carried out some casual counts at the lakes and came up with a ration of 3:1. It will be interesting to see if the official statistics reflect this.

Scaup: Up to 4 birds at CVL (21^st) and 2 at BL (9^th).

Lesser Scaup: The drake bird was noted at CVL 5^th-7^th only.

Common Scoter: 7 birds flew up-channel off Sand Bay on 16^th.

Goldeneye: Max counts at the lakes, BG 1, CVL 24 and BL 25.

Red-breasted Merganser: 1 bird at Newton St Loe lake on 24^th, patch tick and red-letter day for Lauren & Wayne Tucker. 1 bird reported at CVL on 5 dates.

Goosander: Poor numbers at the lakes. 22 birds at Newton St Loe Lake was noteworthy and smaller numbers here on other dates too. 15 noted at the Clevedon coast on 20^th and a few along the river Avon at Keynsham.

Fulmar: 1 bird off Sand Pt on 5^th, another or same off Anchor Head on 7^th.

Grey Partridge: 1 bird at Marshfield, Orchid Lane on 1^st. A species not often reported in Avon.

Bittern: 1 bird at CVL on 12^th, then 2 here on 20^th.

Great Northern Diver: 1 flyover seen at Portbury village on 13^th, a complete out of the blue sighting as the weather was calm and there were no other reports of any Diver species at all locally.

Little Egret: A regular and large gathering at CVL, Heron’s Green with max.28 on 3^rd, birds in the wet field near the pool. Other notable counts were, 9 at OPS (5^th), 22 at Kingston Seymour (24^th), 18 at Blackwell Lake (29^th to roost), 9 at Uphill (16^th) and smaller numbers elsewhere.

Great White Egret: Up to 2 at CVL/BL to 16^th, then the birds seem to have abandoned the areas, presumably due to high water levels making feeding difficult.

Slavonian Grebe: 1 bird at the Pilning wetland 11^th/12^th, 1 at BG on 20^th only.

Black-necked Grebe: The BL birds noted all month.

Great Crested Grebe WeBS at the lakes, BG 10, BL 18, CVL 35.

Red Kite: Single birds at Burnett (10^th) and CVL, Breach Hill (25^th).

Marsh Harrier:  1 bird at CVL on 10^th/20^th.

Sparrowhawk: Ones/twos noted at 16+ sites.

Buzzard: Many reports, best single count was 7 birds at Kenn Moor on 19^th.

Merlin: Noted at Marshfield, Severnside, Yeo Est, Kenn Moor, Bath Lansdown and CVL but probably no more than 6 or 7 individuals involved.

Water Rail: 5 birds at CVL on 5^th was the best single count. Elsewhere, up to 3 birds at Marshfield, OPS, New Passage, Chittening Warth, RPD, Portbury Wharf, Clevedon coast, Backwell Lake, Kenn Moor, Uphill, Bleadon and BL.

Oystercatcher: Best coastal counts were: Severnside 200 (20^th), Cl-Y 42 (13^th) and Axe Est 61 (17^th).

Avocet: 8 birds at OPS on 2^nd only, then 1 at Yeo Est on 7^th.

Ringed Plover: Coastal maxima: OPS 3, Severn Beach 20, Avonmouth Docks 10, Clevedon coast 8, Axe Est 29.

Golden Plover: Most at Marshfield where max.400 on 18^th. 46 at Bristol airport on 12^th was the only other double figure count received.

Grey Plover: Coastal maxima: OPS 4, Severn Beach 1, Clevedon coast 32 and Sand Bay 12.

Lapwing: Lots of small to medium sized flocks reported. Best numbers were at the Clevedon coast where 2,750 on 25^th.

Knot: Most at the Clevedon coast where max.45 on 6^th and 15 here on 28^th.

Sanderling: Up to 13 birds at the Axe Est area 17^th/18^th.

Purple Sandpiper: The Portishead, Battery Pt birds present all month, max.9 on 29^th/30^th. 1 was present at Severn Beach with Turnstones on 17^th/18^th.

Dunlin: Coastal maxima: OPS 2,000, Littleton Warth 465, Severnside 2,000, Avonmouth Docks 1,000, Portbury Dock 500, Clevedon 4,500, Sand Bay 600, W-s-M 1,000, Axe Est 800.

Jack Snipe: Up to 3 birds noted at Yate, Littleton Warth, Aust Warth, Severn Beach, Clevedon coast and Backwell Lake.

Snipe: Lots of small parties reported. Best single counts were: 56 at OPS, 31 at Severn Beach, 43 at Portbury Wharf, 35 at Blagdon.

Woodcock: 1 flushed at Chittening Warth on 16^th, 1 at Weston Moor on 30^th.

Black-tailed Godwit: After a good December, hardly any this month. 8 birds at Axe Est on 18^th, singles at New Passage (22^nd) and at Portishead (10^th).

Bar-tailed Godwit: 1 at the Yeo Est on 7^th. 

Whimbrel: 1 bird lingering at Sand Bay/Pt 8^th-14^th, a very unusual winter record.

Curlew: All coastal reports. OPS 415, Littleton Warth 250, New Passage 300, Clevedon 350.    

Common Sandpiper: Regular reports from the main lakes and sites along the tidal river Avon. Best single count was 4 at Sea Mills on 15^th.

Spotted Redshank: 1 bird noted up the river Yeo on 11^th. A good winter record for Avon.

Greenshank: 1 bird on the tidal Avon around Sea Mills on 8^th, presumably the regular wintering bird here.

Green Sandpiper: Ever present at CVL, max.4 on 7^th. 4 also at Bleadon on 19^th and singles here on 1^st/8^th.

Redshank: All coastal, best counts at the well-watched sites were: OPS 21, Littleton Warth 49, New Passage 120, Avonmouth Docks 77, RPD 62, Cl-Y 500 and Sand Bay 100.

Turnstone: Strictly coastal with Severnside holding most birds. Max.280 birds here on 2^nd. Other coastal sites had 50 or fewer birds.

Arctic Skua: 1 pale phase bird on the Channel View seawall on 30^th.

Great Skua: Singles seen off Anchor Head on 7^th and Severn Beach on 31^st.

Kittiwake: 2 birds off Anchor Head on 7^th, 16 off Severn Beach on 7^th.

Little Gull: 1 bird at the Pilning wetland on 3^rd, 1 at OPS on 30^th.

Mediterranean Gull: Regular at CVL with max.5 birds in the roost on 21^st. Other reports from the Avon Gorge river Avon (8^th), RPD (14^th), Marshfield (15^th/16^th) and BL (23^rd).

Ring-billed Gull: 2 birds at CVL on 21^st, an adult + 2^nd winter in the roost.

Yellow-legged Gull: 1 bird at CVL on 5^th/6^th, 1 at BG on 21^st.

Great Black-backed Gull: 13 birds feeding on a dead fish at Littleton Warth on 9^th of note.

Little Auk: 1 bird at the Marine lake W-s-M on 4^th.

Ring-necked Parakeet: 1 bird at St George, Bristol on 5^th and another or same at Greenbank cemetery Easton on 23^rd.

Barn Owl: Single birds seen at Inglestone Common, PW, Weston Moor, BG, CVL and Paulton.

Little Owl: Rather scarce, single birds noted at Marshfield, New Passage and the Yeo Est.

Tawny Owl: Regular around the Abbots Leigh Woods on 7 dates, further reports from Marshfield, OPS, Tockington, Congresbury and BL.

Short-eared Owl: 1 bird at Aust Warth (6^th), then up to 3 showing at Uphill 16^th-25^th.

Kingfisher: Widely reported and seemingly unaffected by very high water levels at traditional sites at the lakes and streams around the area.

Green Woodpecker: Very widely reported in ones/twos. Overcourt Woods the hotspot with 15+ birds (at least) on a few dates.

Great Spotted Woodpecker: Widely reported like Green. 6+ birds at Overcourt Woods on 23^rd.

Jay: Noted at 20+ sites, mostly in ones/twos. 4 birds were at CVL on 15^th.

Jackdaw: 2 large counts: 500 at Yatton (4^th), 500 at CVL (5^th).

Raven: Widespread and noted at 15+ sites on many days. 8 birds at Ashton Court on 19^th was the best single count.

Goldcrest: Stacks of these birds in Eastville Park, no doubt helping in the discovery of the Firecrest. 20 on 7^th and 12+ on 15^th were particularly noteworthy.

Firecrest: Up to 2 birds regular in Eastville Park on many days. Elsewhere, 1 at Clifton (9^th), 1 at Severn Beach Orchard pools (3 dates) and 1 at Clevedon coast (1^st). A really good showing, sometimes we get hardly any winter records at all.

Coal Tit: Widely reported in ones/twos. Good presence though in Helen Pedder’s garden in Clevedon with 5+ birds almost daily.

Marsh Tit: Singles seen at Banwell (6^th), Backwell (14^th) and Lansdown GC (28^th).

Skylark: Generally very small numbers reported. Best flocks were 70 at Paulton and 150 at Marshfield.

Swallow: 1 bird in and around farm buildings at Hinton Blewitt on 20^th. Very unusual winter record but it coincides with a few other Swallows being recorded in the UK around same time, including 1 locally in Somerset.

Cetti's Warbler: 5 birds at CVL on 5^th, other reports from OPS, Severnside, PW, Congresbury Moor, Clevedon coast, Wick St Lawrence and Axe Est/Purn.

Chiffchaff: Recorded at 20 sites but fewer garden records than Blackcap.

Siberian Chiffchaff: 2 birds at Chew Stoke STW on 8^th, 3 here on 28^th.

Blackcap: Noted at 20+ sites, nearly all in urban gardens.

Dartford Warbler: 2 birds at Sand Bay from 6^th onward. Scrub opposite No.32 Beach Rd most of the time and showing well with patience.

Nuthatch: Noted at 13+ sites.

Treecreeper: Noted at 20+ sites. 6 birds at Wick Golden Valley on 30th.

Starling: Best flocks: Yeo Est 4,000, CVL 3,000 plus many small groups of 100+ strong around the area.

Dipper:  Well recorded at the specialist sites, reports from River Trym W-o-T, Eastville Park, Willsbridge Mill, Chipping Sodbury and Radstock.

Blackbird: More reports than usual, groups 20+ strong at Stockwood, Bishopsworth and Warmley Forest Park. Overall numbers probably reflect observer effort and awareness rather than a true influx of birds.

Fieldfare: Marshfield consistently held best numbers, max.count here was 500 on 16^th but several hundreds on other dates.

Redwing: Lots of groups reported, best single flock was 160 at Kenn Moor on 20^th.

Black Redstart: Settled in at 3 sites: 1 at OPS to 12^th, up to 2 at Worle 17-25^th  and 1 at Anchor Head 6-19^th.

Stonechat: Noted at 15+ sites, mainly along the coast. Best count, 8 birds at Easter Compton on 28^th.

Pied Wagtail: No large urban roosts reported, best single count was 60 at New Passage on 25^th.

Rock Pipit: Small numbers seen at the well-watched coastal sites, best count was 12 at RPD on 16^th.

Water Pipit: Regular at Northwick Warth all month, 5+ birds, mainly at the 2^nd sentry box area. Elsewhere, singles at OPS (16^th/23^rd) and at Chew Valley Lake (3^rd).

Chaffinch: Widespread reports, best flocks were, 120 at Paulton (4^th) and 100 Marshfield (20^th).

Brambling: Locally, a very poor winter for this species, just odd birds recorded at Yate, Severnside, Worle and Blagdon Lake.

Greenfinch: Widely reported, best numbers were at Warmley Forest Park, max.20 on 24^th.

Siskin: Widely reported throughout the area in very small groups, larger counts: 80+ at Warmley Forest Park (24^th), 40 at Keynsham (1^st), 30 at RPD (13^th).

Linnet: No really large flocks reported. Best count was 80 birds at Stockwood Open Space.

Redpoll: Up to 6 birds reported at OPS, Yate, Warmley Forest Park and Keynsham.

Bullfinch: Very widely reported, best single count was 12 at OPS on 2^nd.

Yellowhammer: As usual, most at Marshfield, up to 300 birds. Some renegades, 60 at Paulton (11^th) and 25 here on 22^nd and odd birds at Severnside and Newton St Loe.

Reed Bunting: 3 noteworthy counts, 30 at OPS (5^th), 14 at RPD (16^th) and 16 at Easter Compton (28^th).

Corn Bunting: 100+ at the Marshfield stronghold, mainly the Rushmead Lane end.