The main highlight was undoubtedly chancing upon 3 flyover Whimbrel, moving south on a gloomy Sunday 29/07. I've really wanted to see Whimbrel on patch and thought to be honest it was fairly unlikely. So I was understandably mega pleased!!
Med Gulls were scarce at Grimbo last year, so it was cool to find two smart juveniles, as part of a sizable increase in gulls on Friday 20/07. Yellow-Legged Gulls usually peak during September on patch, when larger gulls are drawn to the area by the ploughing of local fields. I have though seen a couple of adults already, including one that unfortunately snuffed it, with it's corpse being pecked at by the local crows soon after.
A feature of most of July and early August was an eclipse drake Mandarin, loitering with the local Mallards. It wasn't a plumage I was particularly familiar with but I certainly am now!
This period also saw the first of a steady run of migrant Willow Warblers, which don't breed around the reservoir itself, however are fairly frequent during Spring and Autumn. I particularly love the lemony yellow juveniles at this time of year...very smart indeed!
Having been away in Spain for a week, my visits to Grimsbury Res recommenced on Monday 20/08. The Mandarin has departed in my absence, however since my return, I've seen no less than SIX patch year ticks, and seemingly something interesting has been turning up on a daily basis. Certainly encouraging me to keep coming back for more!
A Spotted Flycatcher was associating with a small tit flock along the river at the start of last week. They were hard to come by last year and this was also my first on patch this year, so I was pretty pleased to find it!
An expected juvenile Shelduck spent a day at the reservoir last Tuesday. Shelduck are a scarce species at the reservoir and I think it's only the fourth time I'm seen them here and the first since 2016. This particular juvenile was very skittish, continually flying to the centre of the reservoir whenever anyone walked past. It must have spent so much valuable energy across the course of the day! A Teal also showed up the following day and was a good bird to see as they are expected, but never straightforward.
A real theme of last week was the appearance of several migrant chats. Wheatears have featured twice, with 2 on the 23/08 and 2 on the 26/08. A moulting male Redstart has been seen on and off all week, along the fence and hedge and the southern end of the adjacent cattle field. I've only managed to see it once so far! Finally, my personal highlight was a Whinchat, lingering for a couple of days along the western side of the reservoir. I do love an autumn Whinchat!
Grounded waders have so far been nonexistent this early autumn. However, the flyover wader sightings have continued, (not that I'm complaining!) with Green Sandpiper and Greenshank both great additions to the yearlist this week. Both were picked up on call and would certainly have passed by unnoticed had they not been so vocal!
Flyover Yellow Wagtails have been a feature in recent days, with c18 passing through yesterday morning during the couple of hours I was there.
So...things are most definitely happening! My patch yearlist to date stands at 114, amazingly already beating my 2017 total, with still a third of the year to go!!
It's only 2 weeks until the anniversary of last year's Grey Phalarope, so fingers crossed we get something of that calibre during the next month or so!!
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