Sightings – October 2010

Aylburton Warth (31 October 2010, contributed by Andy Jayne)

At Aylburton Warth today 25 Teal, a Curlew Sandpiper, three Ruff, four Snipe, a Turnstone, three Rock Pipits and a Wheatear with approximate counts of 150 Golden Plover, 500 Dunlin, 200 Curlew and 85 Skylarks. Also three Brambling in a nearby game-strip.

Sudmeadow/GLS (30 October 2010, contributed by Gordon Avery)

Seen today were: 1 Green Sandpiper (this bird has been around all month), 1650 Starlings, a minimum of 15 Raven and 30 Linnets.

Coombe Hill and Deerhurst (30 October 2010, contributed by Mike Smart and Les Brown)

It was still very dry with little or no water in scrapes, but the Long Pool was still holding plenty of water. Most birds were on the Long Pool; 4 Mute Swans, 65 Greylag Geese, 30 Canada Geese, only 53 Teal, 3 Shoveler, 10 Wigeon, 1 Little Grebe, 6 Snipe, 1 Kingfisher; still only 10 Fieldfares, 5 Redwings.

Deerhurst: 1 Sparrowhawk, gulls feeding on a field where slurry had recently been spread: 200 Black-headed, 10 Common Gull and 20 Lesser Blackbacks.

Standish (22 October 2010, contributed by Juliet Bailey)

The flowering ivy is still feeding a range of insects, especially flies and wasps. A Red Admiral was seen fluttering around a sheltered sunlit ivy bush, though there are very few butterflies about now.

Coombe Hill and Ashleworth (22 October 2010, contributed by Mike Smart)

Following reports from Slimbridge of a Whooper and two Bewick’s which seem to spend their nights at Slimbridge but disappear by day, I spent the morning in the Coombe Hill/Ashleworth area, checking whether they are in the Severn Hams area. No swans were seen, not even a Mute, so they are not in this part of the county. Both areas are very dry, with little or no surface water; the only place with water is the Long Pool at Coombe Hill.

Coombe Hill: 280 Teal, 7 Shoveler, 1 Snipe, 25 Fieldfares, 5 Redwings; very small Meadow Pipit movement with not more than six birds to south west.

Cobney Meadows (west end of Coombe Hill); 100 Fieldfares, 1 Raven.

Ashleworth: nothing to report.

Aylburton and Guscar (10 October 2010, contributed by Mike Smart)

There was a very high tide this morning (9.6 metres), which covered much of the shoreline and almost flooded Aylburton Warth. There were at least 660 Curlews in the high tide roost with at least of eight them being colour-ringed birds marked at Wibdon on 26 September; five of the eight rings were read and so could be individually identified. Also 30 Wigeon, 13 Teal, 1 Little Egret, 150 Lapwings, 3 Grey Plover, 1 Golden Plover, 1 Ringed Plover, 200 Dunlin, 1 Little Stint, 1 Snipe, 1 Bar-tailed Godwit, 8 Redshank. About 50 Swallows (moving upriver, against the wind: maybe it’s easier to catch insects against the wind?), 30 Meadow Pipits, 10+ Ravens.

Standish (10 October 2010, contributed by Juliet Bailey)

Further to report for the 4 October Harlequin Ladybirds, it was the same on my house and garden walls yesterday, both the white-painted house wall, where there must have been four or five per square metre, and the old brick garden wall. Curiously, I only saw harlequins doing this, though other species of ladybird are still common round the garden. The other garden joys currently are the insects on the Michaelmas Daisies and flowering Ivy. Red Admiral is the commonest species of butterfly there – I see several a day if the weather is sunny like it was yesterday – also Comma, Speckled Wood and Small Tortoiseshell.

Northleach (4 October 2010, contributed by David Scott-Langley)

The warm early autumn sunshine has warmed up the walls of the parish church and this afternoon they were covered in Harlequin Ladybirds in all their different colour forms.

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