Hi everyone I hope you have all been keeping busy and watching the wildlife around your gardens and on your exercise walk. Jackie and I have been continuing to keep an out out the best we can to add species to our lockdown garden and walk lists. It's not going to badly our garden list is up to 44 species and our walk list is now on 60 species.
Our garden list does include species seen and heard from the garden, we have a few summer migrants but still very limited with no hirundines yet though Swallow has been seen by others around us. Blackcap and Chiffchaff are in good voice and its been great to have to Chiffchaff back as we had a blank year in 2019, the first time since we moved here 8 years ago. The Cetti's is also breeding again and there are two males singing opposite us and one near the Lytchett Bay view point.
We have Greenfinch back but rarely coming into the garden, even the Goldfinch aren't as regular to the feeders at the moment but the male sings from one of the oaks opposite. We had a Goldcrest singing for just one day and occasionally a Bullfinch will sit over the road and flying over our garden but not coming in. A pair of Long-tailed Tits were foraging for nest material and a pair of Blue Tits we think are nesting in our "House Sparrow" terrace box but it's gone quiet, maybe she is now sitting.
We've had some excitement with Osprey and Red Kite over the house but apart from Buzzard we've recorded no other raptors. In the evening from the garden we have heard Tawny Owl, Snipe, Moorhen and Water Rail.
Nocturnal Migration or NocMig is still continuing and I've recorded 37 species overnight most are local species that have been singing during the night around the bungalow or further out in the bay. The most interesting for me are those species that are passing over as most of these are migrants moving over heading of to their breeding grounds.
I've included a few of the better recording of those species that have flown over very close over our garden. First is a Water Rail a species we have in the reed beds opposite our bungalow but rarely see them flying or even record them in flight. So I think this is a bird that is moving to breed somewhere else.
The next is a rather long recording of a Sandwich Tern or terns as their is possible more than one involved but it is hard to tell for sure. It is the first time I've recorded them flying over at night though we do see them in the day time out fishing in the bay during the summer but even then the aren't a daily occurrence.
This is Mute Swans out in the bay being territorial probably because another pair or another swan has entered the territory and they are seeing them off. In the recording you can hear a bird takeoff land and prove they aren't mute. The nearest water is 250m away so it shows I think how loud the wing beating is also how sensitive my new microphones are.
This is a nice recording in that I've never recorded them flying so close over home usually distantly over the bay then not that often. In fact they aren't a common visitor to Lytchett Bay unlike the Canada Geese. This must of been quite a large skein which was split up possibly into three groups.
Though we can get large numbers of Oystercatcher feeding on the Turlin sports fields and spread out over the bay feeding at low tide, as soon as the breeding season comes they move out and this is probably what this bird or birds were doing. As in the eight years we have lived here I think I've only seen Oystercatcher flying over the bungalow once. With this recording you can hear the doppler effect as it starts faint and increases in volume and then decreases as the bird then moves away to the north.
This recording os a Blackcap I made on my iPhone just this morning as we were taking our early exercise walk to the view point. There are two Blackcaps that have territories more or less opposite our bungalow and they were having a bit of a sing off this morning so I recorded the closest one as his song was a little more interesting than the other as it was doing a little mimicking within it's repertoire. It also shows how good the mobile phones are as its made a pretty good recording.
This last recording isn't a bird but it's quite interesting as it's one of our local Fox or Fox's as I think this involve two animals. Though I have a number of recording of the local foxes I've never heard or recorded the rapid "hu hu hu hup" that comes before the screaming bark.
Hope you have enjoyed listening to the night sound of Lytchett Bay Keep Safe. Nick and Jackie.
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