Having not got out on Wednesday owing to the weather, and lethargy (mostly the latter), and having spent Saturday afternoon in the uncharacteristic surroundings of a pub for the retiral of a work colleague, I had considered getting up and out early on Sunday. Failing to fall asleep until around 0300 meant that I overslept and wasn't going to bother. However some bass-heavy music from nearby found its low frequency way through my closed double-glazed window and past the background noise of my own music to the extent that I had to get out before I ended up with a sore head. With rain forecast for late afternoon I decided to stay quite local.
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| Coot |
Having not been to Swannie Ponds recently I decided to take the P900 and binoculars and head there. It was around 1400 when I left the house and unsurprisingly there didn't seem to be many birds around. Herring Gull, as almost always, was first on the list. A family group of Starlings flew over as I walked up Court Street. A Lesser Black Backed Gull was perched on a home improvement-type store unit roof. A Rook perched atop the billboards further along the road. Not a particularly common bird around this area though I have seen one around here before (while showing Belgian birder Stefan Van Damme around), possibly the same bird.
I heard a calling House Martin and spotted a few high flying birds over Maryfield Medical Centre, with another few above the houses on the north side of Clepington Road but again these were rather high in the sky. A Goldfinch flew over, calling as it went. A House Sparrow flew across the road in front of me and into a hedge surrounding a garden. A Woodpigeon perched on a TV aerial above someone's driveway as they washed their car. As I neared the ponds the distinctive piping calls of an Oystercatcher made me turn to try and see the source. Two of the birds flew overhead and continued eastwards over the ponds and out of sight, calling insistently as they went.
Not unexpectedly things were rather quiet bird-wise at the ponds, with a handful of Mallards on the water and round the edges. There were no Tufted Ducks at all however. From the island I could hear the chatter of Magpies and an adult bird flew out and away. The other bird I suspect was a youngster with a slightly higher pitched call than the adult, but it remained out of view among the trees. A Moorhen swam out to what had been a Coot's nest by the island and proceeded to have a bath. The Coots were round the other side of the island on a second nest - 3 youngsters, almost fully grown but still with white bibs, and an adult on the nest. A second adult swam in with some weed in its bill for the nest. A second brood planned?
There were plenty of Lesser Black Backed Gulls and some Herring Gulls around, mostly swooping in to grab the bread being fed to the Mallards. I suggested to a few folk that they should drop their offerings close in to the side where the less wary ducks would come in close for it, but the gulls would keep their distance. This seemed to work out rather well, though there were a couple of less wary gulls among the flock. I serached through them for black F389, the Portuguese ringed Lesser Black Backed that summered at the ponds last year, but found no sign of it.
Feral Pigeons overflew and I eventually turned my attention to the lower pond where the majority of the gulls were resting in between feeding opportunities. Also there were the local Mute Swans with two Cygnets, though apparently there had been three. As it was beginning to look less promising weather-wise I decided to head in the general direction of home but via a rather circuitous route to see whether I could add to the rather short species list. A single Jackdaw, Blackbird and Swift were however the only additions before I finally arrived home after around 90 minutes of birding. Although the annoying music was still playing it was quieter and easier to drown out with my own.
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| Lesser Black Backed Gull |
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| Coot |
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| Lesser Black Backed Gull |
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| Mallard |
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| Coot |
Only 18 species seen - Blackbird, Coot, Goldfinch, Herring Gull, House Martin, House Sparrow, Jackdaw, Lesser Black Backed Gull, Magpie, Mallard, Moorhen, Mute Swan, Oystercatcher, Feral Pigeon, Rook, Starling, Swift, Woodpigeon.
