Shag still present

The immature Shag made an unexpected return this morning at Draycote Water turning up on farborough bank towards the end of our visit before disappering again. Not the most productive visit but eventually managed 2 Little Egret, Yellow-legged Gull, 2 Common Tern, Great-spotted Woodpecker, small partys of Swallows going through along with 4 Sand Martin while a party of 21 Long-tailed Tits included 6 Chiffchaff, Willow Warbler, Lesser Whitethroat and Blackcap. Only other birds to add are Raven, Yellow Wagtail and 10 Meadow Pipit.

Road Closure Draycote Water (more info)

Information below supplied by ST to Sailing Club on the DWSC web site.

Works are anticipated to take 2 – 3 weeks to complete, consisting of 3 days planing off existing surface, 3-4 days installing kerb edgings, 2 days digging out and making good softer areas, 3-4 days surfacing. The working area is to be fenced off entirely using temporary security fencing for the duration of works, this includes fencing down to the water’s edge to ensure no pedestrians can gain access to the working area.

The pedestrian footpath running alongside the road will be closed for the first 3 days during planing and then re-opened.

 

 

Murky and road closed

A light drizzle produced 9 Ruff circling the reservoir before flying off south east this morning, immature Shag flew out of toft bay towards valve tower then climbed and appeared to go off west and 7 Shoveler (5m&2f) out in the centre relocated to biggen bay. Other birds of note included 3 Little Egret, 6 Wigeon, 10+ Chiffchaff, 100 Goldfinch, 200 House Martin, a few Swallows, 20+ Meadow Pipit and 2 Yellow Wagtail. I missed the Whinchat that showed on the west fence of the sewage farm. Lots of disturbance due to perimeter road being closed for resurfacing work between sailing club and hensborough bank with no access to walkers, cyclists and fishermen so READ the onsite signs.
An evening meal in Napton on the Hill was a good enough reason to check the hill out briefly managing Spotted Flycatcher, Whitethroat and a Blackcap in the time I had. At least 3 Tree Sparrow were in a flock of House Sparrows in the hedge opposite the pub and both Tawny Owl and Little Owl were heard near Broadwell on the way home.

Hell

Draycote turned in to a nightmare with walkers on the shoreline, dog shitters running loose and cyclists hell bent on knocking me over – got so pissed off I left not long after I arrived so did not do the place justice. A juvenile Stonechat was between the sewage farm and farborough spit, Whitethroat in toft shallows and 2 Little Egrets there.  In comparison Daventry Res was tranquil for the moulting Red-necked Grebe.

Shag, Chats and Moths

September 4th
Better than expected visibility greeted us when we arrived at the pond this morning though the early morning mist that developed my home earlier lingered in the valley. Pleasant walk to toft shallows pool and M45 embankment. Could only find one Shag, again pretty tolerant of disturbance which could not be said of the 9 Little Egrets today as fishermen seemed intent on flushing them where ever they went. Farborough bank and perimeter hedge had 35+ Yellow Wagtails while most of the warblers were confined to toft shallows and the M45 embankment with 3 Whitethroat, Lesser Whitethroat, 4 Blackcap, 4 Chiffchaff and 8 Willow Warbler. Best from the hide was 2 Kingfisher while the walk back produced 2 Common Tern and a Spotted Flycatcher. Also seen were adult Yellow-legged Gull, 4 Wigeon, 5 Teal, Grey Wagtail, Buzzard and Common Sandpiper. A few insects around with Common Darter, Migrant Hawker, 3 Small White, 2 Large White, Comma, Red Admiral, 6 Speckled Wood and 3 Vapourer Moth.

no apologies for more pics of the Shag - it swam to us and hauled out for images - top pic by me the other 2 by Bob Hazell

September 5th

Despite the appearance of 2 immature Whinchat and a possible Tre Pipit which we couldn’t nail down for certain it was a very disappointing visit with no sign of the Shag in toft bay (it was by the valve tower at mid-day), no Common Terns and very few warblers noted though there are still many finches around. A Spotted Flycatcher was at the end of the old bridle path and the same or another was on farborough bank briefly Luckily we had a chance to inspect the STWs moth trap but alas some of the construction was not quite finished so most of the moths had done a runner by the time we gained permission. At least 9 species noted with the best being Chinese Character and Lunar Underwing. A welcome surprise in my trap was my first 2^nd generation Peach Blossom – a species I normally catch earlier in the year, a Frosted Orange and a couple of migrants in the shape of Diamond-back Moth and Rush Veneer. With decent night time temperatures I managed 20 species from 85 moths of which 54 were Large Yellow Underwing.

Peach Blossom and Yellow Wagtail by Bob Hazell

 

More Shags

Visibility was a lot better than expected at the pond this morning with Draycote Water like a milk pond allowing us to pick out 10 Teal, 6 Shoveler and 12 Gadwall among the Tufted and Mallard. There are now at least 3 immature Shags present along farborough bank and amazingly tolerate of us and numerous walkers until the fishing boats came out and pushed them off. Most of the passerines were distant around the farm though a few Yellow Wagtail were here and on farborough bank and in a three hour visit we only managed Common Sandpiper, 6 Common Tern, 5 Little Egret, and Kingfisher.

Shag and Little Egret by Bob Hazell

Shags by me
 

Napton on the Hill had 6 Raven, 6 Spotted Flycatcher, 3 Willow Warblers and a Comma butterfly while a return to Draycote in the afternoon produced a flurry of raptor activity with Hobby, 2 Sparrowhawk, 2 Kestrel, 6 Buzzard and a fishing Osprey which went away empty handed. Lesser Whitethroat and Blackcap in country park along with Treecreeper plus Brimstone butterfly and Southern Hawker.

Early morning Shag!!!!!!!

The murky conditions this morning deteriorated further for a while so grateful that a rain sodden Tim made the effort to doubled back from his walk to inform us he had found an immature Shag in toft bay, Draycote Water. Up till then we had managed a flyby Green Sandpiper, 3 Little Egret, distant immature/female Goldeneye and 7 Common Tern.
As the weather improved the hedgerow between spit and car park was alive with a roving flock that included 3 Lesser Whitethroat, 2 Whitethroat, 4 Blackcap, 3 Chiffchaff, 2 Willow Warbler 10 Long-tailed Tit, 35+ Yellow Wagtail, 50+ Greenfinch, 6 Yellowhammer with the odd Blue Tit, Great Tit, Chaffinch, Robin, Dunnock and Blackbird thrown in to keep us on our toes. Peregrine and Redshank flew past on farborough bank while chatting to Keith Y.

Unfortunately the weather closed in again by the time we reached Napton Reservoir and only manage a Lesser Whitethroat and a Shaded Broad-bar moth before giving up.