Raptors over the Wanlip, Watermead and Leicester

September 29, 2001

During the night and morning lots of rain, but around 1 pm, the weather changed completely and it became very mild, warm autumn weather with a clear blue sky with some scattered clouds. Helped by the alarming wagtails, I spotted one Sparrowhawk over Victoria Park flying in southern direction. When the sun set, the temperature dropped. The river Soar had risen considerably, parts of the towpath flooded. At sunset the water level had dropped again, and seemed to be some 30 cm lower. Like last week the Wanlip scrape contained some shallow water, visited by mainly Blackheaded Gulls and Lapwings plus a Green Sandpiper and a Dunlin. While watching between 4 pm and 6 pm raptors kept passing by...

  1. Grey Heron Ardea cinerea
  2. Eurasian Teal Anas crecca
    3. : 12 ex.
  3. Mallard Anas platyrhynchos
  4. Eurasian Sparrowhawk Accipiter nisus
    5. : 3 ex. Three observations about 20 minutes apart. Birds were all flying high and seemed to disappear in southern direction. The first, a female, attacked the cloud of Lapwings.
  5. Common Buzzard Buteo buteo
    6. : 1 ex. Moving south
  6. Eurasian Hobby Falco subbuteo
    7. : 2 ex. Moving south, the first at 16.30, the second at 17.45.
  7. Common Pheasant Phasianus colchicus
  8. Northern Lapwing Vanellus vanellus
    9. : > 250 ex.
  9. Dunlin Calidris alpina
    10. : 1 juv.
  10. Common Snipe Gallinago gallinago
    11. : 5 ex.
  11. Green Sandpiper Tringa ochropus
    12. : 1 ex
  12. Black-headed Gull Larus ridibundus
    13. :> >250 ex.
  13. Lesser Black-backed Gull Larus fuscus
    14. : 2 ex
  14. Common Wood Pigeon Columba palumbus
  15. Short-eared Owl Asio flammeus
    16. : 1 ex. hunting over scrape and fields adjacent to the scrape. Sometimes sitting on fenceposts, but almost non-stop harrashed by magpies, crows or gulls.
  16. Great Spotted Woodpecker Dendrocopos major
    17. : 1 ex.
  17. Grey Wagtail Motacilla cinerea
  18. White / Pied Wagtail Motacilla alba
  19. Winter Wren Troglodytes troglodytes
  20. Hedge Accentor Prunella modularis
  21. European Robin Erithacus rubecula
  22. Common Blackbird Turdus merula
  23. Mistle Thrush Turdus viscivorus
  24. Long-tailed Tit Aegithalos caudatus
  25. Blue Tit Parus caeruleus
  26. Great Tit Parus major
  27. Black-billed Magpie Pica pica
  28. Carrion / Hooded Crow Corvus corone
  29. Common Starling Sturnus vulgaris
  30. Chaffinch Fringilla coelebs
  31. European Greenfinch Carduelis chloris
  32. European Goldfinch Carduelis carduelis
  33. Common Linnet Carduelis cannabina
  34. Reed Bunting Emberiza schoeniclus
Back to Birds of Leicestershire and Britain

Nomenclature follows Voous’s List of Recent Holarctic Bird Species (BOU 1977, revised edition). English names are as in BOU Checklist of Birds of Britain and Ireland (6th Edition, 1992)