Autumn report

Eight weeks must be a record for a gap between posts, but I really haven't been out and about much and I don't have that many photographs either.  A week in England didn't do a lot for the lists, but it did add a willow tit at the feeders in Pennington Flash as well as the now expected nuthatch and woodpecker in my son's garden in Bolton. Nice to see them regularly even though they are on the list. 

Pennington Flash nuthatch

Pennington Flash magpie

My garden in Bangor and the coastal path have been very quiet. Even WOW has sunk into a same old, same old routine with very little of note turning up. 

I finally got the feeders up this week once the temperatures hit single figures and have had the usual suspects in to see what is on offer. On the minus side the goldfinches are absent, I haven't seen a bullfinch in weeks and greenfinch is not on the patch list for 2022. 

The coastal path is quiet now that all the migration is over, The only chances of a tick are a distant diver, a rare scoter or an infrequent raptor. I still need jay for the patch and I can't see how I have missed them so far. 

WOW was good over the late summer/early autumn but has now settled into a bit of a winter rut. Water levels are very high, so waders are at a premium. The feeders aren't up yet as it is still too mild and there is another new warden, Aoife, who is still finding her way round the reserve. The millet is under order so the godwits are usually on the far side and there are very few passerines to be seen. The Thursday morning count is around the mid-twenties and there is rarely a standout bird to be commented on although we have managed to find the odd snipe and a greater black-backed gull dropped in last week. Little grebes are showing well and we reckon there may be three pairs on the reserve. We have had a few avian flu cases among the lesser black-backed gull chicks, but it hasn't spread to other species and to be honest if we lose a lot of gull chicks the terns will be better off next year as they were the main predators of tern chicks over the breeding season. We usually have seven wintering duck species but this year only four are showing well - teal, mallard, shelduck and shoveler. Tufted duck are absent, gadwall well hidden (or at Kinnegar) and wigeon only occasional in single figures. Lapwing numbers vary but there were over 200 last week and a fine sight they are when they take to the wing. We also had a fly through little egret, good views of sparrowhawk, a mistle thrush and a pair of whooper swans dropped in for an hour or two. The following photographs were all taken at WOW over the last few weeks.

Ruff

Koniks were back - but they have gone again.

Ruff

Ruff

Grey wagtail

Ruff

Grey heron with fish

and again

and again

Teal

Mistle thrush

There is a tale behind the grey heron with a fairly large fish, which we suspect was a type of catfish. We have always wondered whether the lagoon holds fish seeing as it totally dried up last year. This year we have had a few shots on the WOW Facebook page of little grebe, little egret, greenshank and kingfisher all with small silver fish. Now we have the heron with a large fish. We have no idea how they got there - suggestions in the comments please!!

2022

193: Willow tit

NDCP

61: Treecreeper

62: Greylag goose

63: Razorbill

64: Mistle thrush

WOW

79: Curlew sandpiper

80: Mistle thrush

81: Dunnock