Grafham Water - 15 August 2013

After early morning rain had cleared a visit to the dam, Hill Farm, lagoons and fishing lodge areas for a few hours.

The rain had dropped in a few waders mostly on the dam:1 juvenile Ruff; 1 Sanderling; 8 Ringed Plovers (2 ads and 6 juveniles); 1 Little Ringed Plover over south; 8 Common Sandpipers were counted. Common Terns had increased to c.120 including several family groups and 2 juvenile Arctic Terns were at the south end of the dam. 1 Turrtle Dove flew through south; c.30 Swallows and c. 20 House Martins were at the north end of the dam where a nice small group of warblers were gorging on windblown insects included 2 Garden Warblers, 6 Chiffchaffs, 2 Willow Warblers, 3 Whitethroats and a Lesser Whitethroat. c. 25 Yellow Wagtails were on the Marlow cropped grass including the 4 odd looking juveniles noted on 14th; 1 Wheatear in the north fields. Few large gulls were present today but did include 6 Yellow Legs and an odd bird that I couldn't quite work out pictured below. The aberrant Red Crested Pochard was again in Dudney Creek. 

Sanderling - Grafham Dam 15 August 2013 - a presumed first-summer bird judging by the covert and tertial fringing and the extent of moult to non-breeding plumage. 

Sanderling - Grafham Dam 15 August 2013  - note how pale the legs appear in this photo due to the angle and light.

    Larid Sp - Grafham Dam - 15 August 2013 

Grafham Water - 14 August 2013

Cooler overnight with clear skies with a light WNW breeze. 

Covered the dam area and briefly the lagoons and fishing lodge areas. 

c.50 yellow Wagtails were near the north end of the dam and included 4 juveniles with colder greyer tones to the head and mantle with whiter underparts, supercilium and wing bars well within the range of flava, given the variable genetics of this species group they might well have been variant flavissima.

c. 80 Pied Wagtails were on the dam; 4 Common Sandpipers; c 42 Little Egrets; c.40 Common Terns; 6 elegant juvenile Common Gulls on the dam were the first to pass through; 12 Yellow-legged Gulls including 6 juveniles; the Danish colour ringed GBB Gull was present again and from nearer home a colour ringed Black-headed Gull had been ringed at Milton just north of Cambridge; a very pale male Red-crested Pochard was in Dudney Creek; 4 Green Sandpipers were at the lagoons; and c.40 Swallows and c.20 House Martins were near the dam. 

Bullfinch - male ground feeding - Grafham Water  14 August 2013 

Grafham Water - 9 August 2013

A long morning from 07.15 covering the dam and adjacent areas, the lagoons and the fishing lodges area. A nice morning with south-westerly winds after rain and 17 degrees.

A sprinkling of waders were on the move; 14 Oystercatchers flew through mostly south (big numbers were moving south past east coast watch-points in the last couple of days); 2 Ringed Plovers flew south; 4 Snipe, 1 Greenshank, 8 Green Sandpipers, and 2 Dunlin were on the lagoons; 1 Avocet was initially on the dam then re-located to Gaynes Cove; 8 Common Sandpipers. 16 Yellow-legged Gulls were counted including 3 juveniles; a single adult Arctic Tern was among 48 Common Terns including 18 juveniles. c120 Pied wagtails were on the dam and 40 Yellow Wagtails were on the dam and the favoured cropped grass adjacent to the Marlow car park; c60 Swallows and just 6 Swifts were present. 35 Little Egrets were counted and a lone adult Hobby flew south over the dam. 

Grafham Water - 7 August 2013

A nice morning with a fresh east-north-easterly breeze and sunny with some cloud.

Nothing as exciting as a flock of 22 Whimbrel which flew down the Ouse valley calling over the house at 20.50 hrs on 3rd of August looking for somewhere to roost but...

23 Little Egrets were counted, Common Sandpipers had increased to 4, a Dunlin and 7 Green Sandpipers, 11 Yellow-legged Gulls and 96 Common Terns; most frustratingly I heard a Spotted Redshank call several times above the dam but never got on to it, presumably it was a high flying bird that came down a little for a look, realised the limitations of the dam wall as feeding habitat and then headed off....

Juvenile Common Tern - Grafham Water August 2013 

Grafham Water - 31 July 2013

Following 4 Whimbrel which flew south over the house on evening of the 28th, the trickle of autumn waders continued today at Grafham, a summer plumage Turnstone was on the dam with a schinzii race Dunlin and a Common Sandpiper; a Green Sandpiper was at the south end of the dam and 5 were on the lagoons as was a single Snipe; a Turtle Dove which purred briefly at the lagoons was a pleasant and increasingly rare treat; 14 Sand Martins flew purposefully south; 3 juvenile Yellow Wagtails and c. 40 juvenile Pied Wagtails were on the dam and 3 Crossbills flew south-west over the lagoons. 

Common Sandpiper - Grafham Water - July 2013

Grafham Water - 19 July 2013

A bright sunny warm morning with an easterly breeze.

After several fairly uneventful July visits a little more interest today was provided by a Black-necked Grebe in non breeding plumage off the dam. 

Otherwise there were 14 Yellow-legged Gulls, a 4th calendar year colour ringed Great Black Backed Gull that had been ringed as a juvenile at Katholm in Denmark and having previously been seen in Oxfordshire in 2010; a very sickly looking adult Common Gull was on the dam; 43 Common Terns were counted though there were only 2 juveniles; 16 Lapwings flew high west; 5 Green Sandpipers were on the lagoons; 8 Little Egrets were off the Plummer car park; a male Peregrine flew over high eastwards; a juvenile Grey Wagtail was on the dam and the only Yellow Wagtail seen was an adult female also on the dam. 

Black-necked Grebe - Grafham Water - July 2013

Grafham - 9 July 2013

Misty early on then clearing and with a cool easterly breeze.

11 Common Terns off the dam were joined briefly by an unexpected adult Arctic Term which then flew off west into the early morning murk: 7 Yellow-legged Gulls; very few juvenile Black-headed Gulls with just 7 on the dam; 6 Green Sandpipers were on the lagoons as was an adult Little Ringed Plover; the first 7 juvenile Yellow Wagtails had appeared on the dam joining 14 juvenile Pied Wagtails, Garden Warblers were still singing at the lagoons with 8 counted.  

Juvenile Black-headed Gull - Grafham Dam - July 2013

The only other recent birds of note were 7 Curlew which flew over the house in the early morning of 6 July.