Shalford patch diary, April so far

After a frustrating medically enforced absence from the patch at the beginning of the month it's been good to get back into the swing of things in recent days and see spring starting to get into gear in this little corner of Surrey, although the persistent north/north-westerly winds are clearly holding a lot of stuff back as I've only added three species to the patch list since my previous round-up post.

The Garganey pair appear to have departed now after staying for at least two weeks - the last confirmed sighting via John Austin on 3rd April. Wildfowl numbers in general have tailed off now, as one would expect for the time of year, with the winter ducks all absent this week and just the local Mallard and Mandarins remaining. Eleven Mallard ducklings on St Catherine's Pool on the 12th were my first here this year.

Garganey - Richard Waters

Garganey - Richard Waters

Following Kit Britten's Swallow on 28th March I finally caught up with this species on patch on the 14th of this month with one flying north followed by four the next day. Kit also had the first patch Sand Martins of the year with two on the 30th. On the 15th there were four of them whizzing around over St Catherine's Hill, occasionally ducking down towards the railway cutting; the highlights of an otherwise pretty uneventful two hour skywatch. I had suspected local breeding last year and have since discovered from Steve Chastell that they've bred in this area in the past, so perhaps they're looking to do so again this year. Fingers crossed.

Sand Martin over St Catherine's

The full set of hirundines was at last completed this morning with four House Martins back on territory over the rooftops by Shalford station - a full two weeks later than in 2016. My 89th patch species of the year; I'm now slightly behind my total for this time last year but still missing a number of relatively easy bits, most notably Green Sandpiper, Great Crested Grebe and Ring-necked Parakeet. I'm aiming to reach at least a hundred before we move house.

Warbler numbers have been increasing steadily, with at least 15 each of Chiffchaff and Blackcap present on the 14th, several of the former already nest building and the latter pairing up. Willow Warbler numbers have been at a consistent three for a few days now, although I've not covered the whole of the patch in a single session for a while so no doubt there have been several I've missed. The first Whitethroat was singing in the scrub just south of the Railway Triangle on the morning of the 12th - the exact spot I had my first one last year. By this morning there were at least six singing around the mid-patch (St Catherine's/Broadford).

Sunrise over Broom Meadow

Gull numbers are dropping now, with Lesser Black-backed the most numerous in recent visits and generally all moving north (7 north on the 14th, 4 north today), with just occasional appearances from Black-headed, Herring and Great Black-backed. The Stonechat pair are still kicking about, usually in or around St Catherine's Meadow, although this morning there was a male in the Railway Triangle. The two Red-legged Partridges, meanwhile, are still to be found most days in the Horse Field which, as yet, has failed to deliver any migrant passerines. Last year I had Redstart and Yellow Wag here in late April so I'm hopeful the next two weeks will produce the goods - just need the wind to change!

Stonechats

Red-legged Partridges

Linnet

Roe Deer

Water-violet

Shalford patch diary and local round-up, October & early November

What with the dwindling daylight hours and a week away chasing rarities on Shetland the patch has been somewhat neglected recently although I've still managed a dozen or so visits since the last one of these diary/round-up posts, including several migration watches from St Catherine's Hill, but more on that later. 

The most notable thing about Shalford Water Meadows at the moment is the distinct lack of water. It's hard to believe we're over a week into November when this muddy puddle represents one of the largest areas of standing water on the patch.

St Catherine's Pool, in need of a top-up!

Still, there's enough water left for a few wildfowl, with Teal numbers peaking so far at 16 on the 18th. I've seen the odd Snipe recently but clearly the habitat is not nearly wet enough at present for good numbers. Lapwing have proved to be just a flyover species for me so far at Shalford, usually in small numbers, so I was glad when Sean Foote picked up 26 flying over distantly on 8th October during a little pre-Shetland walk; by far my highest count of this species locally. On 6th November a Green Sandpiper flew high over Broadford Marsh mid-morning heading south-west and seemingly dropped down somewhere on the patch, although I lost the bird in the glare of the sun and couldn't relocate it. It was also good to see the first returning Little Egret of this winter on the same morning, when one flew up from the marsh and disappeared over the trees to the north.  

The first patch year tick since August came on 29th October when I heard the unmistakable call of Crossbill from/over Shalford Park, but the combination of wind and road noise from the A281 made it impossible to locate the bird(s). Stonechats are again a regular feature with three present on 30th October and 5th November, while Siskin numbers are building, with at least 50 around on the 29th.

Stonechat (male)

Stonechat (male)

Stonechat (female)

Redpoll numbers still seem low, with just single figures seen so far this autumn, the first being one west over St Catherine's Hill on 5th October.  The same migration watch session also produced the first Redwings of the season with at least 8 over while bigger numbers arrived a few days later, with at least 60 over on the 8th. The first Fieldfares, meanwhile, were two flying north on 29th October, again with larger numbers arriving a week or so later when at least 35 flew over on 8th November. Decent numbers of Chaffinches have been moving recently too, with a couple of dozen over on the 8th bringing with them at least one Brambling which was heard only so I couldn't confirm numbers.

Despite a bumper autumn for Yellow-browed Warblers in Surrey and the UK as a whole, many a hopeful trawl through the tit flocks on the patch has yet to deliver the goods, but there have been plenty of Chiffchaffs, with at least 5 present on 5th November, seemingly all just regular collybitas although presumably of more northern origin this late in the year. 

Chiffchaff

Going back to the St Catherine's Hill migration watches, and I'd hoped that my newly-found patch vantage point would provide some Woodpigeon magic in the past week or so. 690 south-west in an hour on the 2nd was a decent count but it seems like maybe they just haven't got going in massive numbers yet this autumn, at least not in Surrey anyway. Black-headed Gulls on the other hand have been streaming over in recent days, with 1035 south (and 1 north!) in 50 minutes early on the 8th interspersed with smaller numbers of Herrings, Commons and Lesser Black-backeds. These are presumably birds coming out of roost from the reservoirs nearer London and following the Wey down to feeding grounds on the fields around here. Still, quite a spectacle and I'm hoping there may be a rarer gull in tow with them at some point.

St Catherine's Hill, early morning

Away from the patch and there's been a few local bits of note recently. My Chilworth garden list got an unexpected addition on the 30th when a Great White Egret flew east at dusk, followed closely by a Little Egret for comparison. I had just earlier the same day been pondering the lack of local Little Egrets so far this winter! Unfortunately a last light scan of the ponds in Albury - a favourite roosting spot for Little Egrets - produced nothing although I did note Mandarin Duck numbers are again increasing on Postford Pond with 45 present. I also heard a Firecrest calling by Waterloo Pond on the 29th. The garden excitement didn't stop with the GWE as the following morning there was a Ring Ouzel in with the Redwings in the big holly and hawthorn hedge behind our house. My garden list now stands on 86 after 26 months. 

Popular beauty spot Newlands Corner is on my route to work so I've been popping in occasionally of late, particularly towards the end of October when I was hoping to find a Ring Ouzel or two lurking in the Whitebeams and Rowans. Sadly no joy but I did have a decent morning on the 20th with 2 Redpoll, 2 Brambling and a Crossbill over and at least 70 Redwings around.

On 5th November I visited the old sandpit and now filled-in landfill site in Albury to carry out the first of many bird surveys at the request of the management company Suez. Fellow surveyors John, Dave and I had a decent couple of hours on site, with two Ravens the most notable species, although it was also good to see at least 4 Skylarks, 20 Meadow Pipits and a modest flock of Linnets using the site, currently best described as a scrubby, grassy hill. Over time we hope to build up a better picture of what birds are using the site and offer advice as to how best proceed with the habitat restoration. 

Looking west along the hill in Albury Sandpit

The view north from the sandpit towards the North Downs

 

Shalford patch diary and local round-up, late September

Now we're past the autumn equinox it's getting to that time of year where patch birding is soon to become a weekend affair, with usable daylight before and after work fading rapidly. Nonetheless, recent early and late visits to Shalford Water Meadows have produced the odd spark of interest as well as treating me to some pretty spectacular sunrises and sunsets.

Heading back to my car after a pretty quiet post-work visit on the 20th something caught my eye flying down from a tree near the Dagley Lane railway bridge. Looking over the side of the bridge I saw a Kestrel that had clearly just caught something in the vegetation beside the railway line - a Slow-worm! I managed to film some of its struggle with the unfortunate reptile.

 

I also noticed the bird was sporting a blue leg ring. Knowing he rings lots of Kestrels in this part of the world I sent the video to Jeremy Gates who was able to confirm this was the only sighting to date of a female he ringed in Worplesdon back in May 2014.

The other big bit of news recently has been the rain. After an extended spell of hot and dry weather to start the month the first substantial rainfall in what seemed like ages came on the 16th and it was a joy to head out to the patch the following morning to find some of the pools filling up again. Out on Broadford Marsh there were at least four Grey Wagtails plus the first three Snipe of winter. Wildfowl numbers will hopefully start to build now that there's actually some habitat for them again - on the 25th there were at least ten Teal and a dozen Shoveler around.

Grey Wagtail

Greylag Geese

As I mentioned in my previous blog post the hirundines are now well and truly gathering to leave us for the winter. The House Martin nests on Kings Road in Shalford were all empty by the 18th and there have been some pretty impressive numbers of them over the patch recently (see further down this blog post for more on that).

House Martin nest on Kings Road

After the remarkable passage of Yellow Wagtails on the 8th I decided it was high time (no pun intended) I sought out a decent visible migration watch-point within the patch boundaries, so I checked out St Catherine's Hill to the north-west of St Catherine's Lock and discovered the vantage point to be excellent, looking right out across much of the water meadows, with a clear view north to Guildford and beyond, south towards Bramley and Godalming and east towards Pewley Down and the Chantries.

Looking east from St Catherine's Hill

Sunrise from St Catherine's Hill

  I'm actually slightly annoyed with myself for not exploring the hill sooner to be honest as the first few watches I've done in the past fortnight have proved productive. A drizzly hour on the 17th yielded at least 400 each of House Martin and Swallow west/north-west plus an adult Great Black-backed Gull south-west. The following Saturday (24th) was all about the House Martins with wave after wave of them following the ridge west from the Chantries (c.860 the final morning's tally) plus two Red Kites west together right over Guildford town centre and a Yellow Wagtail oddly flying purposefully north.
Towards the end of the month Meadow Pipit passage really picked up and I had 185 south in an hour early on the 30th, although there were probably many more I missed as I could hear them calling around me before it was light enough to pick them out. Also of note the same morning were the first Common Gull and Siskins of winter with one and seven south respectively, an impressive flock of 17 Cormorants south in V formation plus a Song Thrush high west and a Barnacle x Canada Goose over with five each of Canada and Greylag. I'm certainly looking forward to seeing what else this viewpoint produces in the coming weeks.

Black-headed Gulls streaming south

Cormorants

Peregrine over St Catherine's Hill

Away from the patch there's been bird-based excitement both at home and work. In the evening on the 21st I had a Woodlark over my Chilworth garden while I was keeping a hopeful eye out for the Osprey that Ed Stubbs had just had flying east low over Godalming town centre - sadly the latter never materialised for me despite two previous garden records including one which lingered for several days in August 2014.
At my workplace in West Clandon, meanwhile, there's been plenty of autumn migrant action, with two Wheatears and a Whinchat dropping in in September plus several flyover Yellow Wags, a Tree Pipit on the 20th and a vocal flock of around forty Golden Plover south in drizzly conditions on the 27th. Check out my work blog for more of the wildlife goings-on there.

Whinchat