Sightings and Woodland and Meadow Updates
BREAKING NEWS: March and April 2012
30th April: A quick visit to Fairchild's Meadows, seeing what is about.  A couple of singing Chiffchaffs, Green woodpecker, Goldfinches, Blackbirds etc, plus 1 male Orange tip and 1 Peacock.
 
In the meantime Paul & Ian went round various other places to see if any summer migrant warblers had arrived but no luck. However 2 Wheatears on Dambank. 1 male was definitely of the Greenland race. Sheila 

I had a Hobby and a fly-over Redpoll in Aldreth. Simon Stirrup.
26th April:  First I've seen this year, I think it's nesting next door. IanD.


Simon Stirrup
22nd April:  Orange Tip in the garden. 1st report for Haddenham. ID.
19th April:  In the afternoon we went looking for Wheatears for Gwen. We saw four in the first field up Long Drove after the Dam Bank Drove corner. The field has been sown and also has a nursery crop in it. TL425737. Bruce Martin.
17th April: First of our Swallows has arrived back !!  Ian and Sheila D.
16th April: The Short-eared owl is still present and seen daily now. Also today 8 Yellowhammers and Wheatear on Friday. David Nation
Turtle Dove singing in Aldreth y'day and today. As usual could hear it from the garden. Back much earlier than last year. Simon.
Cross drove still 4 Wheatears. Long Drove 4 Wheatears but these maybe those that were on Dambank as none on that field now. The two places are very close. PM.
14th April: This morning there were 2 Wheatears along Dambank, but none along Cross Drove.  Also, Whitethroat, Oystercatchers and several Yellow Wagtails. Simon (Pictures below).

In spite of Simon only having no Wheatears on Cross Drove early this a.m. I&SD and myself had 4 Wheatears there by mid-day plus a White Wagtail and a very yellow Budgerigar! On Dambank there were 3 Wheatears but as we watched one flew away leaving 2. Didnt see Yellow Wagtails. It shows how migrating birds move around. PM,I&SD. 
13th April: This evening there was a Short-eared Owl hunting by Nine-acre Wood and 4 male Wheatear at the eastern end of Dambank Drove and 5 (4 males, 1 female) in a field off Cross Drove.   How many were in the parish today?! Simon
 
12th April: Guppys Pond.  A report just recieved is of a Cuckoo there on March 31st and two seperate days since.
from Wendy Lanman. An early date.

Today on Long Drove. Pennycress found in bloom. Also an early date. Usually comes out in May.
10th April: Peregrine flew off from half dead tree in The Boot near Aldreth late afternoon, per Bruce Martin. Little Owl also seen. PM

Dambank. Smart male Wheatear today. PM
9th April: Pair of Gadwall in a drain off Cross Drove.  There were a pair in the same spot 2 weeks ago. Simon.
I have never recorded Gadwall in pairs in Haddenham so nice one. PM
8th April: With the approach of Spring, the Yellowhammers, Reed Buntings and Tree Sparrows have disappeared from my garden. In their place, I have House Sparrows on the feeders. I am trying hard to be glad! Jake
6th April: 20 to 30 fieldfares behind us on the fields. Ian.
5th April: In Haddenham North Fen today 4 Wheatears, 11 Fieldfare. 6 Yellowhammers (one male very bright yellow). Common Buzzard and lots of Crows. PM

2nd April: Click here to view Nine Acre Wood as you have never seen it before - apparently an approach influenced by Simon Stirrup's sister.

I had a Great SpottedWoodpecker drumming at Aldreth Ponds with a short snatch of a Chiffchaff. The fens are still quiet and cold with a brisk northerly breeze keeping things down....except a Corn Bunting on wires. PM

North Hill, Haddenham. Part of co-ordinated Raptor Watch Cambridgeshire.

1st April: Box up, wood shavings in, and reasonably secure. I suspect that the problem with Little Owls is not that their old nest site was damaged, but that they simply aren't around the Petrus anymore. Anyway, something will use the box! Jake
PS Two buzzards soaring over my garden, well, over this part of the village, at about 10 am today. Later a cruising Sparrowhawk looking for her lunch. GSWoodpecker drumming near where I was in the Petrus, so softly that for a moment I had a fantasy.......(Lesser Spotted but no).

31st March: Monica and Owen Marks and I met at North Hill, Haddenham at 9.30. There was a cold, northerly force 5 blowing with 8/8 cloud. We soon found 1 Buzzard perched on wires, and shortly after a second Buzzard appeared, that is all the raptors we saw. By 10.45 the wind had increased to about force 7, and rather than die of exposure, we packed it in at 11.00. Most interesting was an approaching gull, which initially looked very like a Great Black-backed Gull, but as it turned, it clearly had a very pale saddle, contrasting with dark wings, a large white tail with sold black tail-band, and a bit of translucency on the inner primaries - a 1st winter (2CY) Yellow-legged Gull no less! Short-eared owl still present this evening. Grunty Fen. David Nation
1st April: A new Kestrel nestbox was put up on edge of Nineacre Wood. It was kindly made by Jake Allsop and erected by John Burgess and Barclay Arnott. Residents moved in a few days later.....................pair of Jackdaws!!!!!!!!!.
Ann Biggs heard a Cetti's Warbler at Guppys Pond on Sunday morning. This a a first for Haddenham parish. No April Fool! PM
25th March: The main news about today is that there were many Common Buzzards soaring around in all directions. You could call it a common, Common Buzzard day
24th March: Took a tour round the fen this afternoon. As quiet as a sleeping babe. Highlight was a Merlin chasing a Linnet on North Fen. David was with me and he picked up a Chiffchaff and a couple of Redpolls in and near Nineacre Wood respectively. We also had a dozen Fieldfares in and around the wood. Jake
23rd March: Just back from an hour’s walk around local area. Sightings as follows:
Nelson’s Lane footpath - 2 singing chiffchaff, male bullfinch, song thrush, skylark singing (at Norman’s orchard’s end),male green woodpecker, male kestrel, 20+ starlings, lots of dunnocks - a gang of 5 having a local dispute (or was it something else?). Hod hall Lane -1 singing chiffchaff, bullfinch, beautiful show of primroses. Sewage Works – bullfinches, 4 pied wagtails and 3 meadow pipits on the filters beds, 8 yellowhammers, 1 pr long tailed tits nest building, song thrush, fem kestrel, skylarks singing, green woodpecker. Plus all the usual stuff- lots of blackbirds, robins, gt tits, greenfinches, chaffinches, wood pigeons and a few blue tits, red legs, pheasants and 4 hse sparrows. No sign of any goldcrests although there was one singing in Duck Lane most of last week although it seemed to have moved on? Barbara York
20th March: A Short-eared owl flew over at 4:15. Also 1 Little egret. David Nation
19th March: Red Kite by my house going south @ 2.10 p.m. Haddenham. PM
15th March: Hinton Hedges/Fairchilds Meadows. A walk along here found that despite the drought there had been enough rain last week to naturally restore the marshy area at the NE bottom corner and the Lesser Celandines were appearing. There were also Wild Violets in the Guppys Pond spinney. PM
12th March: Today I was asked to go to local primary school and advise on where to put solar powered camera equipped nestbox. While I was there 2 Goldcrests were in their Wildlife patch but all the kids were in classrooms not seeing. Pity. PM
11th March: We had a Redpoll (presumably Lesser) flying over Nine-acre Wood and a Little Egret flying east along the river. Frogs in pond also. SS
10th March: Ringtail Hen Harrier quartering field off Hoghill Drove, River end. Skylarks piping up now. PM
6th March: Subject: [cambirds] Frounce again? (Trichomoniasis = Frounce = Canker)

I just had a 'phone call from a distraught citizen who has been watching birds falling ill and dying in her garden. Greenfinches, but also Goldfinches and Chaffinches, plus one Collared Dove. From her description, it sounded like frounce. She asked me what she should do. My own reaction on the couple of occasions when I've had an outbreak of avian disease of whatever kind is to shut down the feeding stations for two weeks, disinfect the feeders and clean out the birdbaths and other water sources.

I believe if you catch it early enough (and catch the ailing bird of course), it is possible to treat frounce. Does anyone have any knowledge of treatment? I imagine falconers and pigeon fanciers might be familiar with this protozoan nasty, given that it seems to be frequent in such species.
Any ideas or leads most welcome. Jake

Also, have a look at factsheet_2011.pdf
 
I have not seen any diseased Greenfinches in my garden recently because I have not seen any here at all for at least two months.  The Chaffinches seem OK. Mike
5th March: Several Reed Buntings turned up in my Haddenham garden during the cold snap, and 1-2 have remained faithful ever since. To my delight, they even feed on the red millet feeder occasionally, but mostly they go for the bog-standard mixed birdseed. An occasional Tree Sparrow still makes an appearance, but they are jezebels: pretty, but flighty and unreliable. Jake.
1st March: This wasp nest was brought in today by Mr Daniel from Linden Way. Discovered while renovating roof space. PM
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