More W.W.B.Tern photos. Thanks Dave.

No sign of any terns on Monday. All had departed over night.

The Thornton W.W.B.T.

Braving the foul weather I walked down to the dam hoping for a storm driven migrant. As I scanned the central area of the lake I immediately saw 3 Black Terns. This was good, but not a year tick. As I watched the terns I noted that one bird seemed to have a darker mantle and paler wings. This encouraged me to move to the centre of the dam and get closer views. I was also then able to see that the bird had a white rump and that it seemed slightly smaller than the 2 Black Terns. I realised that it was now worth returning home to check the Collins guide. I did this and also contacted R.M. Returning to the lake we now checked to see if the bird lacked a dark breast patch. Again it seemed to fit all the requirements . I decided to contact S.L. and by 11.20 he had seen and confirmed the bird as a juvenile White Winged Black Tern. A county, Thornton and year tick for me and a lifer for some of the 30 or so birders who came to enjoy some very close views. The right hand image shows the W.W.B. as the closer bird and a Black Tern behind. The lack of a dark breast patch is clear in both photos. My poor quality photos were taken with a hand held Panasonic DMC-TZ10, cropped and zoomed, so you get some idea of how close the bird was.

A third Black Tern joined the group later. While watching them at about 17.15 in the company of A.F. a Peregrine spooked the terns and they flew off high. At first we thought they were leaving , but they returned and were still present when I left at 18.00.

My second Thornton tick for the day was a Grey Plover. A.F. identified it on call and we both had clear views of the black armpit patches as it flew over and disappeared to the east.

More year ticks.

Dispite my ringing effort on Sunday there was no repeat of the Rosefinch weekend. Never mind. Compensation was in the form a juvenile Arctic tern late on Sunday and on 30th a first winter Mediterranean gull was near to the outflow.(Main car park) This brings my site year total to 115. Wildfowl numbers are building up with a count of 492 Canada geese on the 28th.

Mustela vision.

A very confiding Mink was watched as it hunted along the dam this evening. It is such a pity that this alien has caused so much damage to our native wildlife. When I first came to Thornton 24 years ago there were always Water Voles, Arvicola terrestris, at both inflows, but they have disappeared, easy prey for Mink. Dispite the bad press it was still a great animal to watch. Also at the dam were 6 Grey Wagtails. I cannot end this blog without mentioning that Sunday is the anniversary of the Thornton Rosefinch twitch. Ever the optimist , I shall erect a net in Rosefinch ride on Sunday at 9am and you never know!

Webs Count begins.

On the 19th September I completed my first Wetlands Bird survey of a new season. There were no great surprises, although 17 Little Grebe and 40 Great Creasted were notable. 335 Canada Geese, 190 Mallard and 45 Tufted duck were also counted. Also recorded were 1 Gadwall, 1 Shoveler, 1 Kingfisher and 2 Cormorants.
Other recent sightings have included 5 Grey Wagtails on the 4th and 1 Black Tern from the 7th to 9th September. Today(20th), 2 Ravens flew low over the church at 1730.

More from TRWP!

At last a rare sunny day on the 30th and I was again on TRWP duty. A single Swift, Hobby, 3 Buzzards, Kestrel and a Curlew were seen. A Nuthatch was calling and visiting the neighbours feeders. A more unusual visitor to the garden was a single Linnet.
I cannot sign off without mentioning the sad demise of the Thornton Moth Mans blog. It was this site that encouraged me to start my own. It is great to hear about what people are seeing locally, especially areas of Natural History that I know little about. So come on Russ ,don,t abandon your followers.

T.R.W.P!

T.R.W.P is Thornton Raptor Watch Point, or in reality my decking over looking the reservoir. It was productive today, 22nd. August, with 7 thermaling Common Buzzards, a Sparrowhawk , 2 Ravens and a Swift. At 1610 an Osprey flew in from the east, circled the reservoir and then flew off west. Finally at dusk a single Hobby was hunting low near to the church.