Monday 31 December 2018

Wintersett Annual Round Up 2018

Wintersett Annual Round Up 2018

Weather
January – mainly dull, damp and cold.
February – cold with some light snow.
March – cold with light snow, then wet but milder days with easterlies on the 17th
April – mild and dry for first half, when 23 degrees on the 19th was the warmest Yorkshire April day since records began! Then mainly dull, damp and drizzly until the end of the month.
May was hot and sunny.
June was hot and sunny, but on the 14th, Storm Hector brought high winds that swamped nests at most water bodies. There was a thunderstorm on the 16th .
July was hot and dry until the 28th when there was some very welcome rain.
August was hot and dry, but cooler during the final week.
September was mainly warm and dry with winds from the western quarter.
October warm and dry, with cooling winds during the last 2 weeks.
November was cold
December was cool at first but mild from mid month.

The Wintersett Area recorded 170 bird species for 2018

The Top Ten Birds were: -
1. Alpine Swift on 23rd April - a new species for the Wintersett Area
2. Coues’s Arctic Redpoll ringed on 26th November, the first since 1996.
3. Woodlark on 25th October - 2nd area record.
4. Hooded Crow – 2 were seen on the 3rd .November.
5. Greenland White-fronted Goose – 28 flew west on 25th October - 3rd area record.
6. Yellow-browed Warbler on 6th November - 3rd area record.
7. Siberian Chiffchaff from 15th November - 3rd area record.
8. Lapland Bunting one flew over on 17th October.
9. Common Crane – 2 flew south on 29th September.
10. Twite – birds flew over on 3rd and 7th October.
 
Incredible as it may seem,  the following birds didn't make the top ten!
Kumliens' Gull,  Hawfinch, Honey Buzzard,  Wood Sandpiper,  Gannet,  Great White Egret,  Slavonian Grebe,  Smew and Waxwing!!!
  
Other highlights:-
2 new rafts, designed and built by Graham Speight, were floated into place at Anglers CP on 24th March.
The first Bee Orchid for Anglers Country Park was found on 6th July
We had epic Vis Mig Days on 22nd September when a record breaking 11,169 Meadow Pipits flew south, and again on 28th October when 6,235 Starlings flew west.

Glaring Omissions: Turnstone, Sandwich Tern, Redstart


Other Critters
The first Grass Snake of the year was seen on 26th March, followed by numerous sightings throughout the Wintersett Area.
The Soft-shelled Turtle showed up again on 5th July at Wintersett Resevoir for the first time in 4 years.

Odonata
The first records of Small Red-eyed Damselfly were added to the Wintersett list, with sightings at Moorhouse Lane Ponds on 5th to 11th August , and at Botany Bay on 7th August.
There were several records of Lesser Emperor from 2nd to 25th July.
 
Lepidoptera:
The first Essex Skipper since 2009 was seen at Wintersett Reservoir on 14th July.
2 Lunar Marbled Brown on the 8th May were the first records for the area, and a Barred Hook-tip on the same night was the 2nd record for the area.

And finally:
The Wintersett Team  wish everyone
A VERY HAPPY NEW YEAR  and excellent birding in 2019

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