Tuesday, 8 May 2012

Messingham Sand Quarry Bird Race 2012

On Sunday Wayne and I did our annual bird race - this year we concentrated on Messingham Reserve only.  A 03.30 very frosty start gave us a Water Rail, 4 Tawny Owls and a few Reed Warblers.  Notable totals throughout the day were; 18 Blackcaps, 5 Garden Warblers, 16 Reed Warblers, 4 Sedge Warblers, 1 Lesser Whitethroat, 1 Common Whitethroats plus double figure counts of Willow Warblers and Chiffchaffs.  On a downward side Willow Tits were right down at only 1 pair and as water levels remain high our only waders were Common Sandpiper, 6 Avocet and a flyover Whimbrel and one drumming Snipe in the car-park - is this the only druming Snipe left in the Scunthorpe reporting area?

When the sun came out raptors were represented by 2 Hobbies, numerous Buzzards, 2 Kestrels, 3 Sparrowhawks and 5 Marsh Harriers.

Our final total was 89 species which isn't so bad for an inland reserve in the middle of a cold wet spring.

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