Marsh Harrier.

The Marsh Harrier was still present at 1330 today 26th Sept. It was hunting over Thornton and Browns Wood. At about 1400 it flew over the village and disappeared towards Desford lakes. Two Ravens also flew over at 1030.

Raptors.

 A juvenile Sparrowhawk takes a rest on the decking.

A juvenile or female Marsh Harrier was hunting over Browns Wood at 1530 today(24th Sept). Probably a juvenile as the plumage looks very fresh. Also a pair of Wigeon and a Kingfisher on the res and plenty of hirundines.

Recent sightings.

Breaching Gervais beaked whale, at sea 200 miles west of Morocco and not on the res!

It has been rather quiet recently with few sightings of note and I have also been away. The highlight was a fly through Osprey on the 28th August. There were also up to four Spotted Flycatchers at the end of the month, some juvs indicating breeding success. On the 17th September a Hobby and 2 Ravens were fly overs. The first Webs count took place on the 16th and over 700 birds were recorded. This included 235 Mallard and 147 Coot. Up to 5 Grey Wagtails have been at the out flow and today a juv. Blackbird was trying to eat a freas water Crayfish. The highlight of my recent vacation was the sighting of a Gervais Beaked Whale 200 miles off the Moroccan coast. This species is rarely recorded alive at sea.

Ravens over Thornton.

Ravens are becoming a common site in the local area. A pair were over the village , calling at 8.30 am.

A Sedge Warbler was singing at the top end of the res. Markfield inflow. They seem to be scarce this year.

There were also 62 Tufted duck and two juvenile Pochard. There are plenty of Ringlets on the wing when the sun does appear.

Common Scoter.

A Red Kite that flew over Thornton towards the west on 27th June.

A Trout leaps for joy at the arrival of 16 Common Scoter during the heavy rain of the 6th July.

This photo shows 16 birds, with just 2 females. Common Scoter breed on the high lands of Scandinavia. The groups that we see at this time of year tend to be mainly males ,as the females are with young. It seems that some take a route from the Wash to the Severn. This group beats the 13 I had at Thornton on June 8th 2002. They had gone the next day. Well done Dave for finding them.

Common Sandpipers flock to Thornton!

A flock of 8 Common Sanpipers were photographed by Dave Wright at Thornton on Saturday.It is a strange time of year to have so many. Too late for breeding birds going north and too early for birds returning. Perhaps they are failed breeders, that have been affected by the changing levels of our northern rivers.

The Thornton Twister!

Some of my images of the damage caused by the Moderate to Strong Tornado that hit the eastern end of the dam on 28th June.The track of the Tornado could be traced by the damage to trees.It seems to have travelled in a generally N.E. direction from Newbold Verdon via Merrylees, Thornton and Newtown Linford. A T3 causes some bigger trees to be snapped or uprooted. This seemed to reflect the type of damage I saw. In other placess it may have been a T 2 , when there is general damage to trees,with some big branches twisted or snapped off and small trees uprooted.A T 3 has wind speeds of between 93-114mph.I was in Birstall where there was no Tornado but hale stones that put small dents in cars.At least it was not a Super tornado, a T 10, which can result in entire houses being lifted bodily from foundations and carried some distance! What I found remarkable was the small zone of intense damage. Only afew metres away there seemed to be little impact.There was also the rather eerie affect of the flattened grass in the meadows, as though everything had been gently smoothed down. So is this the sign of increased Global Warming or just one of the 30-70 Tornadoes that we get each year in the UK?