Nene Washes 24 & 29 June 1999
by Gordon Hamlett
|
PBC Trip Report Nene Washes 24 & 29 June 1999 by Gordon Hamlett |
The group held two walks along the Nene Washes back in June, on each occasion totalling about 40 species. Most of the waders had young birds so in terms of noise, everything was fairly quiet with no territories to defend; just the occasional Snipe drummed.
Both trips produced a good variety of waders with the star birds - the Black-tailed Godwits showing to good effect. The first trip logged an early Green Sandpiper. It's hard to believe that for failed breeders such as this, summer was well and truly over and winter fast approaching. The second visit produced a Little Ringed Plover, a couple of Ruff in full plumage and a flyover Curlew, surprisingly a scarce bird on the reserve.
Turtle Doves showed well on both nights, coming down to drink at one of the channels. One channel in particular was crawling with young waders on the first night and also produced three Garganeys and a young Yellow Wagtail. The mud was just perfect for them yet less than a week later, we built up how good this channel was and every one was getting all excited and we couldn't find much more than a couple of ubiquitous Meadow Pipits.
The first night was totally still and we watched the most spectacular of sunsets, our enjoyment only interrupted when a heron took a small wader chick and was promptly mobbed by seemingly every wader for miles around.
Marsh Harriers showed particularly well, with one particular young male showing a white rump. While we all joked about trying to string a Montagu's Harrier out of the sighting, Chris Hamlett actually found the genuine article, a cracking adult male, seen flying away towards March Farmers. Unfortunately, the rest of us couldn't get on to it.
Even at a distance, separation of males from the very similar Hen Harrier shouldn't be a problem. Even if you can't see the black bands across the secondaries, the bird's jizz is totally different. The Monty is very slender winged and has a much lighter, more buoyant flight, often described as tern-like. If you have watched the Hen Harriers coming in to roost at Eldernell in the winter, you will soon see a huge difference. The fact that there are no Hen Harriers around here in summer is another clue!
Favourite birds for most were the Barn Owls that gave superb close views as they hunted in front of us, dropping down to take the occasional vole. The second trip ended as we returned to the cars, just as the last few moments of twilight remained. A Hobby, one of my favourite birds made several low level passes as it hunted a few large moths for a late supper.
Click here for a description of the Nene Washes
