Wednesday 27 December 2017

Closing out with a review of some recent trends

Yes I've gotten out of the habit of posting to my blog, time and being out of pace with it all makes a difference. I apologize to all who bother to read when I do post, I'm trying to keep things going.

To offer some thoughts on today's birds I knew it was worth mentioning that Raven and Shelduck in particular are worth mentioning.

Prior to 2008 there had been just a handful of late autumn and winter records of Shelduck;

1981 - Dec:3/15th, 2/22nd
1984 - Dec: 1/22nd
1992 - Oct: 1/18th
1998 - Oct:1/2nd & Nov:1/2nd

Since 2008;

2008 - Nov:1/23rd
2010 - Nov:1/12th LFGP, female on shingle island
2011 - Nov:1/16th LFGP @ 13:00, flushed by sheep farmer @ 15:30
2013 - Nov:1/27th LFGP, 1/28th
2015 - Dec:5/31st over landfill then Lavell's SW 09:12
2016 - Oct:1/26th LFGP, Dec:1/31st LFGP, male SW corner
2017 - Oct:1/31st Tern scrape til 06:56 only, Nov:1/13th Sandford, Dec:3/17th LFGP, 1/18th, 3/27th

It says to me that LFGP has become a very attractive site and with nest prospecting in 2016 and a little in 2017, we should do more to make this species a breeding success story.

Raven is similar in their frequency trend;

2009 - Dec:1/26th over car park calling SE at 50 ft @ 11:10
2010 - Oct:1/24th, over LFGP for 20 mins, 2 seen later, 1/25th 1 calling over Lodge Wood, East then back W 13:10, then bird further NE high and circling/tumbling.
2011 - Nov:2/14th dropping onto landfill over brow 11:47
2012 - Dec:1/10th LFGP low over landfill
2013 - Dec:1/10th over 13:24 at 150ft calling loudly SE towards Sandford/Lavell's
2014 - Oct:2/10th, singles West over Lodge Wood, Nov:1/6th LFGP, Dec:1/19th over
2015 - Oct:2/4th LFGP, Nov:2/15th low over Lavell's and Poplars NW calling quietly
2016 - Oct:2/4th in from West, dropping as they headed East,1/12th W of LFGP squabbling with Red Kite then dropping N of Woodley 12:20, 3/13th LFGP, 1 chasing 2 away very high SE, then back W, 2 returned lower WNW in front of Lodge Wood 14:30, 1/20th E beyond far landfill, Nov:1/11th over LFGP, Dec:2/2nd over LFGP SE 09:54
2017 - Nov:1/5th drifted over from landfill South 07:45, Dec:2/12th SE low over Lavell's 13:50, 1/14th, 2/17th, 2/27th 08:30 LFGP over Lodge Wood very vocal

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