September 2007 Bird Report

The wintering birds continue to arrive and the exceptional wader passage continues this month with the more settled weather than in August.

Canada Geese numbers have continued to increase reaching 600+ roosting overnight, mainly on the new workings. Up to 38 feral Barnacle Geese, 2 feral Snow Geese and up to 75+ Egyptian Geese and 34 Greylags were also present.  Up to 6 Pochard, 40 Teal and 22 Shoveler have been present. Wigeon arrived on 5th and reached 34 by the month end, and a very late brood of young Moorhen appeared. 

Buzzard, Kestrel and Sparrowhawk have been seen regularly. Hobby were still present during the last week of the month – on the 1st I saw 2 adults feeding a noisy young one perched on the fence on Tern Island.  A Peregrine was seen on the 2nd. Little Owls and Tawny Owls have been vocal and the Barn Owls remain in the area.

Lapwing numbers up to 400. A fly over Golden Plover was recorded on 22nd. A Common Sandpiper was present until the 5th. Green Sandpipers were present all month with 8 on the 1st. The third Little Stint of the year was present on the 24th and a second juvenile Ruff, a female this time, was present from 10th until the 25th.  Of the 4 Dunlin present at the beginning of the month, 1 remained until the 20th; another arrived on the 28th and was still present on the 30th. A juvenile Redshank was present on 23rd and a juvenile Greenshank was present from the 1st of the month until the 7th. Snipe were seen throughout the month, with a max count of 12 on 16th, 2 Curlew on 28th and one on 29th, 2 Ringed Plover on the 28th.

For the third month running a flock of Black-tailed Godwits made a short stop-over; on the 2nd 28 birds landed on the new workings – I believe this number is an all time record for Berkshire. A singleton was also seen on the 10th. On the morning of the 23rd 3 juvenile Curlew Sandpipers were present for a few hours. Most of the waders were on the new workings and seen from either the bridleway or riverside foot path.

The number of Lesser Black-backed Gulls roosting overnight seems to vary, but can exceed 200, with a few Herring Gulls and Yellow-legged Gulls. Up to 5 Common Gulls by the end of the month. 

Large numbers of Swallows and House Martins were passing through at the end of the month – I saw several 100 on the afternoon of the 23rd. Passage Wheatears and good numbers of Yellow Wagtails continued to pass through. A Whinchat and a Rock Pipit were present on the 29th.

The ground feeder was re-commissioned on the 9th and I am working on squirrel-proofing the peanut feeders.

Bruce Archer