Cliffe Pools - June 2008

With the coming of June spring turns to summer and the breeding season for much of the reserve birdlife slowly draws to a close. By the middle of the month most of the reserve waders and ducks will have large or fledged young and songters like nightingale will have stopped singing for the season. Nevertheless there is still plenty of songbird activity with families of newly fledged young in evidence, also many species, such as skylark, blackcap, reed and sedge warbler, raise 2-3 broods over the summer and will continue to sing for some weeks to come.

By mid June spotted redshank and green sandpiper are the first migrant waders to be seen returning from the Arctic, these individuals are usually failed breeding birds. These birds can be seen on the northern lagoons and pools, often in the company of avocet & young which have been late breeders at Cliffe in recent years.

Other wildlife in the month to be seen includes ever more insect life with butterfly species such as common blue, small heath and speckled wood are on the wing plus dragon and damselfly species such as the hairy dragonfly, broad bodied chaser and the azure, blue-tailed and common blue damselflies.

Finally by June the May flower displays of hawthorn and cow parsley have gone over now to be replaced with the white sprays of elder, pinks of dog rose and the mauves and purples of common vetch and tare.

30th: 1 grasshopper warbler (from 1st mound), 250 avocet, 173 black-tailed godwit (inc. 2 colour-ringed Icelandic birds), 10 curlew, 40 redshank, 2 dunlin

27th: 1 Med gull, 1 yellow-legged gull, 1 hobby, 2 grey plover, 60 black-tailed godwit

21st : Green Sandpiper, 140 Avocet, 2 Little gull, 495 Shelduck, 24 Black tailed Godwit, 1 nightingale singing.

19th: Curlew Sandpiper

18th: 2 Curlew Sandpiper, 7 Black tailed Godwit, 2 Dunlin, 78 Avocet, 116 pochard, White fronted Goose, Little gull.

12th: 2 Grasshopper warbler, 19 sedge warbler, 43 whitethroat, 98 avocet, 22 redshank, reed bunting, goldfinch, kestrel, lapwing, 4 oystercatcher, skylark, meadow pipit, linnet, Cetti’s warbler, nightingale, pochard, stone chat, little egret, 100 starling, common tern, blackcap, great crested grebe, chiffchaff, cuckoo, 2 ringed plover.  

9th: 2 Mediterranean gull flying over coastguards. 2 ringed plover, 2 oystercatcher and redshank on Coastguards.  4 Common tern on radar and ski pool.  2 little egret and 2 great crested grebe, 2 lapwing, 2 oystercatcher and 4 avocet on radar.  40 starling. 21 avocet on black barn pools.  60 pochard, gadwall, 2 sedge warbler, 8 linnet near black barn track.  Turtle dove purring and nightingale singing on saxon shore way.  Nightingales were also seen singing near Allens Pond.

2nd: 24 avocet, 31 shelduck, 3 shovler, redshank on black barn pools.  Ringed plover, 2 oystercatcher, 4 redshank, 2 lapwing at coastguards, 4 common tern, reed bunting, whitethroat.