PRAISE THE LORD!

Walking round this evening and I came across this Yellow Wagtail (pic 1). The bird was scratching around one of the recently completed landfill cells which at the moment is still to be vegetated. Unfortunately we have lost Yellow Wagtail as a breeding bird at Beddington due to the landfill operations despite it being a target species in the conservation management plan. It was quite sad to see a lone bird flying around looking for somewhere suitable.
However on my way back I checked in on the reed bed that we planted last year (pic 2). This has been causing me concerns recently as nothing appeared to be growing but praise the lord- today suddenly and seemingly out of the blue- there are green shoots everywhere!
Onwards and upwards!!!
Also tonight 3 Greeenshank, 2 Common Sandpiper, 1 Wheatear and 2 Teal.

Arctic Terns

We finally had a Ring Ouzel at Beddington today but it was too windy and jumpy to get any photos. Highlight of the day so far were 3 Arctic Terns (pics 1 and 2) heading north over the lake. Unfortunately our local beetle expert Roger (aka Bettlejuice pic 3) missed them because he was looking the wrong way.

International Dawn Chorus Day

Started the day off at 5am doing a dawn chorus walk with 36 punters followed by breakfast at the golf club- very nice. Plenty of songsters including Whitethroat (pic 1), lots of Blackcaps, Lesser Whitethroat and Reed Warbler.
Birding highlight of the day was an adult White-fronted Goose that came down on the islands (pic 1). It was an exhausted un-ringed bird so is either a late migrant struggling to move north or is a bird from St.James Park that is bloated on bread from the 500,000 royal wedding monkies in the park yesterday. There were 6 Greenshank (pic 6) in the evening, one Wood Sandpiper still, 2-3 Common Sandpiper, 3 Green Sandpipers (number back up), 3 LRP (pic 5) and a Buzzard and a Peregrine (pic 4). Only two Shelduck pairs left now. An influx of Swift and House Martin with 20-30 Swift but only 4-5 House Martins which are in very low numbers this year. A few Swallows, 2-3 Yellow Wagtails over and I missed 4 Wheatear on the mound and a Garden Warbler.
Late evening update: Gripper and Nick have just turned me over with 50 Barwits and 10 Knot going east while I was in the bloody bath!

BEDDINGTON FARMLANDS APRIL 2011 HIGHLIGHTS AND SUMMARY

Common Crane on April 25th was the highlight of the month. Two birds also flew over on 16th.

2 Wood Sandpipers on 30th were very approachable. There was still a Green Sandpiper on the last day of the month- the last of the wintering birds.

April is becoming known for it's impressive raptor passage over Beddington. There were up to 20 Common Buzzards on one day (reported nearly every day with 80+ through the whole month) and also nine Red Kites and 3 Marsh Harriers through .

April 2011 stands out for its impressive Wheatear passage with several waves of migrants utilising the new mound habitat.

Chiffchaffs seem to be doing well with 4-5 singing birds still holding territories by the end of the month. Singing Willow Warblers earlier in the months moved on.

The obliging Tree Pipit presented a rare opportunity at Beddington to see one well- usually they are seen in flight calling overhead.

Late April begins the prime time for wader passage which goes on into May and 2 Bar-tailed Godwits on April 29th were part of a regional movement right across the south-east. 2-3 LRPs were present throughout and by the end of the month there were Greenshanks (up to 11), Common Sandpipers (max 5), Redshank, Ringed Plover and Curlew recorded.

Four singing male Lesser Whitethroats by the end of the month mark a good showing of this species. Common Whitethroat also appeared in good numbers with 40+ singing males. Reed Warblers are also doing well with 15-20 territories. Sedge Warblers were pretty thin on the ground. One Grasshopper Warbler was recorded.

Previous Aprils at Beddington:
Highlights of April and early spring 2010
http://peteralfreybirdingnotebook.blogspot.com/2010/04/spring-migration-beddington-farmlands.html
Good April day in 2009
http://peteralfreybirdingnotebook.blogspot.com/2009/04/beddington-130409.html

Wood Sandpipers

Two Wood Sandpipers were the highlight of the day (so far).
More Beddington news from today here:
http://www.diporglory.co.uk/page3.html

Marsh Harrier

Had a quick walk round this evening- a female Marsh Harrier (pic 1) flew north at around 1850 and that was about it. Cow Parsley is in full effect on the Horse Field (pic 2).

Barwits

A regional movement of Bar-tailed Godwit was reflected at Beddington this morning with two birds over the lake for a couple of minutes before flying east. The weather and time of year for this species was typical with overcast skies and an east wind.
Large numbers of Barwits have been seen migrating off the south coast in the last day or two (6000+ at Portland and 7300+ at Dungeness yesterday) and this morning there were flocks over other parts of London including 9 over Wormwood Scrubs.
Also 2 Greenshank, 1 Redshank, 4-5 Common Sandpiper, 1 Green Sandpiper, 3 LRP, Lapwing and 1-2 Snipe on site.
Reed Warbler numbers continue to increase (now 20+ singing males), there are 4 singing Lesser Whitethroats and 40+ Common Whitethroats (including the male at the obs which returned two days ago).
I missed Hobby and Cuckoo this morning so all in- a pretty good Beddington day.