Holmethorpe Sand Pits, Surrey ... Tuesday 25th May 2010

A visit to our local patch this morning proved to be more productive than expected. It was much cooler than yesterday with a brisk NE blowing.
There were plenty of warblers about, with five Blackcaps, six Chiffchaffs, six Common Whitethroats and a Willow Warbler all in full song.


CHIFFCHAFF (Graham)

On one of the pits, seven Egyptian Geese were gathered on the bank and around the small reedbed, four Reed Warblers were pumping out their song, with another heard at one of the other pits. A Lapwing flew over, as did a Cuckoo, calling as it went, and a Common Sandpiper flew around the water’s edge with possibly another landing behind an island.
On the farm fields, eighty-one Greylag Geese and twelve Canada Geese were feeding as a Skylark flew overhead in song-flight. A few Sand Martins were over the pits as were about twenty Swifts.
As we wandered towards Mercers Lake, Paul noticed a raptor being mobbed over the North Downs in the distance – a Red Kite, whilst two Common Buzzards were soaring over the ridge to the south of the local patch.
At another area of the Holmethorpe Sand Pits complex, a sub-adult Hobby was perched on a fence post, occasionally putting on an aerobatic display as it hunted insects.


HOBBY (Paul)


HOBBY (Graham)

The final notable bird of the day was a Common Tern that alighted on a pump on one of the pits, remaining there for some time.


COMMON TERN (Paul)

Showers are forecast for tomorrow, so expectations are high that something out of the ordinary may drop in.

Paul & Graham