The Derbyshire Ornithological Society

Ogston Reservoir News

Ogston Bird News January 2008 - 31 Days Covered- 88 Species

There were eight Little Grebe records with two birds a maximum, a best count of six for Great Crested Grebe whilst Cormorant numbers peaked at sixty-one on 6th.Two Mute Swans were present on both 6th and 24th, whilst movements of Pink-footed Geese were noted on 19th with circa thirty birds north east, 20th circa sixty birds again north east and on 22nd with circa two hundred birds west, the resident adult and juvenile birds were joined by another three birds towards month end. Canada Geese peaked at two hundred and eleven on 20th, Tufted Duck numbers were maintained until month end with a maximum of one hundred and seven birds on 16th the Aythya hybrid (Pochard x Tufted Duck) was also present all month. A drake Gadwall was noted on six dates, a drake Pintail was present on 5th and Goldeneye were seen on almost a daily basis with a best count of nineteen on 3rd, there were at least nineteen records of Goosander with a maximum of six on 22nd. A 1st winter female Scaup found near the dam wall was present from 7th until month end, on occasions it gave close views but in the main it stayed close to the dam wall.

Common Buzzard was recorded on eleven days with a maximum of six birds on 22nd and seven birds seen on 30th,Sparrowhawk was noted on at least ten days with three a best on 20th,Kestrel noted on at least sixteen days with two a maximum on 1st/14th and 22nd.A single Peregrine was recorded on 2nd.

Water Rail was seen on seven dates all single birds, Lapwing numbers peaked at nine hundred on 1st, a single Dunlin was noted on 4th, single Redshank on 3rd and 4th, Woodcock on two dates with a good count of five on 8th and Common Snipe reached ninety five birds on 15th. Bird of the month had to be the Little Stint that was present for a short while on 3rd; this was the first record of this species since 2001 and the first in winter for Ogston, sadly, just a few observers saw the bird.

The gull roost continues to be the main attraction and the "white winged" birds are certainly showing well. Mediterranean Gull was recorded on six dates consisting of adult and 2nd winter birds, Yellow-legged Gull was seen on seven dates, with 1st and 3rd winter and adult birds noted, just two 1st winter Caspian Gulls noted on 3rd and 7th. Two more candidates for bird of the month were a Little Gull on 4th and a 3rd winter Kumlien's Iceland Gull seen on 24th a 2nd winter Iceland Gull showing characteristics of Kumliens Gull was also noted. Iceland Gull and Glaucous Gull were recorded on at least twenty-five occasions. On the 22nd there were at least seven "white winged" birds, at least five Glaucous Gull and two Iceland Gull were present and this constitutes a new site record for Ogston. There were ten species of gull recorded on both 4th and 7th.

There were just two records of Little Owl during the month, Tawny Owl was heard on at least six occasions. Willow Tit continued to be noted on a regular basis, recorded on twelve days with three birds a maximum on both 1st and 22nd, Lesser Redpoll was noted on four days with three a best count on 18th, four Siskin records gave a maximum of forty five birds on 29th. Three Raven records gave a best count of two birds on both 3rd and 6th and a single female Yellowhammer seen in the Fisherman's car park was the first record for many years.

Keith Turton.

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