At mid-way through the year it is definitely time for another update! Somehow the weeks have passed and I haven't got round to updating and Spring has come and gone. It proved a quieter one and has done for many other patches but undoubtedly in Stanborough's case, contributed to by the loss of the main body of water.

A summary of highlights will therefore suffice but one or two in particular stand out.  March closed with the first 2 Sand Martins of the year sneaking through on 31st and a Great White Egret visiting the middle pool - the first record since 14th Feb.

April then opened with a bang on the 3rd with 2 WHITE STORKS picked up heading northeast along the line of the A1 motorway.  Both birds were un-ringed and, as such, make it on to the Stanborough List as species #164

Of course, White Stork sightings are producing a growing conundrum for recorders as to the provenance of this species. Traditionally, un-ringed birds were considered wild while ringed birds were attributed to released birds and therefore treated as 'escapees'. Of course, if the ring could be read, the bird occasionally did prove to be a wild bird from a continental ringing scheme.

To date there are now many more release projects and not all released birds are being ringed, greatly muddying the waters.  As an additional spanner in the works, Natural England has declared that it does not believe there's enough evidence to show that White Storks were ever native to Britain! It seems we may now have a situation where any White Stork record will have to have a permanent question mark over it unless of course it carries a ring proving its wild origins! That said, as a humble local patch - it goes on the list!!

The 2 storks - it is assumed the same birds - were later picked up on the North Norfolk coast by several birders, apparently having continued their NE trajectory from Stanborough. We enjoyed distant views but, judging by the photos, the birds gave better views in Norfolk!

The storks provided the excitement of Spring but while wader passage was virtually non-existent the end of April did deliver a few welcome waders.  A Ringed Plover on 25th was a pre-cursor to more movement on 28th April with 4 Whimbrel appearing in the tilled fields near Symondshyde Farm. Later one observer found a Ruff but this did not stay long enough for others (including me) to see it. I did however pick up 5 Ringed Plovers flying through and together with the Whimbrel made for a welcome flurry of activity.

It was great to see these birds visiting the site, despite the loss of water, and also to hear their evocative 7-note calls.

As for the rest of Spring, it's very much been as expected with the bulk of arrivals throughout April and into early May and with wintering birds - snipe, wildfowl & thrushes - absenting themselves by early May.  A summary of key arrivals & departures follows:

5th April - the first Yellow Wagtail (see lead photo)
6th April - the first (and so far only) singing Willow Warbler
8th April - the first Little Egret of the year visits
9th April - 7 House Martins feeding over the site & the last flock of c30 Fieldfares are noted
10th April - the first Common Whitethroat is found
17th April - 2 Grey Partridge put in an appearance

18th April - Wheatear numbers peak at 8 with the last Wheatear staying until 19th May.  The first Cuckoo is also heard calling from Symondshyde Wood.
19th April - a Lesser Whitethroat turns up
22nd April - the first (6) Swifts are feeding over the site
25th April - a single Ringed Plover is found
28th April - wader day! 4 Whimbrel, 5 Ringed Plovers & 1 Ruff visit the site
1st May - a Sedge Warbler is singing & is later joined by another 2 singing males. To date, 2 pairs seem to be breeding
2nd May - a Reed Warbler is singing
3rd May - a russet-coloured Swallow is seen with normal Swallows on the fence wires by the middle pool - possibly an African (savignii) or Easter Mediterranean (transitiva) race? Either way a very striking bird that I managed to get a few snaps of a week later at Symondshyde Farm.

11th May - 2 Dunlin drop into middle pool

15th May - Garden Warbler singing by long pit - not a common visitor to the site
19th May - the first Hobby is seen at the site

Notable absences were Common Sandpipers (despite a good passage at other sites) and no Spring Whinchat.

With all the new arrivals the site year list has reached 108 species and the attention now turns to the breeding season. Early breeders have included Mallards (at least 2 broods), Canada Geese (at least 2 broods) & Mandarin Duck (at least 3 broods - presumably from the nearby woods).

At least 3 pairs of Lapwing have also bred while up to 3 or 4 pairs of Little Ringed Plovers have been stationed around various parts of the site.  Finally on 12th June, a pair produced 4 chicks on the 'deep pit' but inevitably these appeared to have dropped to just one chick by 19th June. Despite so much loss of habitat, these rare breeding birds have bred successfully yet again - long may it continue!

Yellow Wagtails and Skylarks seem to be having a particularly good year enjoying the farmland and no doubt soon young will appear. At least 2 pairs of Pied Wagtails have already fledged young.

I'm hoping the Little Owl seen earlier in the year is breeding while the Barn Owls have successfully raised 3 owlets in the box. Little Grebes remain on site but have yet to breed.

Despite staying into May, the male Stonechat eventually disappeared so no breeding there but a pair of Meadow Pipits may still be present although not recorded recently.  The large weedy area adjacent to the former main pit holds many pairs of Whitethroat and Reed Bunting. A fairly large (60+) Linnet flock is also enjoying feeding in the big oil-seed rape field.

June is typically a quiet month bird-wise but who knows - maybe a surprise will turn up...a Montagu's Harrier would be nice!  Insects and flowers come to the fore with Painted Lady butterflies having a particularly good year.  A single Pyramidal Orchid has also sprung up in the same area as last year.

A whole month has gone past since my last update with no real excitement in the intervening period.  However, Spring is in the air and most noticeably in the form of returning wildfowl to the site.

Like clockwork, the first Coot appeared on 3rd Feb and was soon joined by a pair of Tufted Duck on 6th Feb - much to consternation of the resident Little Grebe that had had the whole of the deep pit to itself all winter!  Along with these arrivals, Gadwall numbers have swelled to up to 80 birds with Teal peaking at 110+ birds on 21st Feb.  A few Wigeon have stayed around the site with 8 on 17th January dropping to just a pair for most of the rest of the period.  A pair of Shoveler was present on 29th Jan and a Pochard appeared on 15th Feb and stayed to at least 22nd while Tufted Duck numbers grew to just shy of 10 birds on site.  A Moorhen remained on the drainage pool while Coot numbers settled at up to 6 birds.

A flock of up to 80 Canada Geese has been present for most of the period with a pair of Egyptian Geese in the field by the deep pool and joined by another pair on occasion.  The first Greylag Geese appeared on 8th Feb and 4 birds now seem to be regularly joining the Canada flock.  With such a good winter for rarer grey geese in the country there's still hope for a passing White-fronted Goose or even Bean Goose.  Also yet to materialise are any Pintail or Shelduck.

Despite being typically quiet the last month has not been without its highlights.  A single Golden Plover was discovered in the flock of Lapwing on 22nd Jan and was present again on 24th.  While the Lapwing flock has grown to nearly 300 birds (280+ on 20th Feb) Golden Plover have been notable by their absence.  The only other waders recorded have been up to 4 Common Snipe and the occasional Green Sandpiper although the latter don't seem to be regularly using the site at the moment.

Another welcome highlight was the brief appearance of 2 Great White Egrets on 14th Feb - a species not recorded on site last year.  Little Egrets have yet to appear at the site this year but 2 Grey Herons spent some time on the flooded fields by the woods on 15th Feb.​

After initial interest in early January, gulls have not really featured much in the last month save for a regular feeding flock of Black-headed Gulls and Common Gulls over the sheep fields.  Hopefully March will see some more passage but for now the larger gulls seem to be bypassing the site.

Stanborough GPs also continues to be a reliable site for the scarce Grey Partridge with at least 3 birds seen on 12th Feb followed by a single on 14th.  Somewhat easier to come by were up to 5 Red-legged Partridge on 11th Feb with 2 jousting males on 17th.

A particular feature of this winter has been the presence of Crossbills in the adjacent Symondshyde Woods and these have regularly strayed over the site during the last month.  Other flyovers have included several Siskins and a few Redpolls but not in any great numbers.

At least 4 pairs of Stonechat remain at various points around the site, possibly even 5 but these will no doubt move off as the breeding season beckons.  With breeding in mind, both Reed Buntings and Yellowhammers have begun to join the Skylark song with their own familiar repertoires.  There seem to be good numbers of Reed Buntings in the weedy area next to the main pit with additional pairs in the reeds at the middle pool.  The singing males look very fine and seem to puff up their white collars as they sing.

Spring is also in the air for the resident pair of Barn Owls that can occasionally be seen nuzzling their beaks together at the box entrance but no sign of any Little Owls yet this year.

To date the site year list stands at 81 species - a little behind last year but all to play for!  The stage is set once again for Spring migration so, with the first Swallows and Sand Martins already being reported elsewhere in the country, hopefully we'll see some action soon.

Late November proved to be quite a quiet period at the pits so just a few highlights to mention along with the usual increase in wintering wildfowl and Lapwing numbers (c200).

The 19th saw the arrival of a lone Barnacle Goose that stayed until 26th Nov.  The day before a Marsh Harrier put in an appearance while a Great White Egret flew over on 29th but did not land.

The real highlight came on 28th Nov with a male Pintail gracing the far end of the main pit.  It's been a good year for Pintail records at the site with this being the 4th record this year involving 10 different birds.  The bird remained to the end of the month and on to 1st Dec.

Scraping the barrel a bit but 3 Grey Partridge put in a reappearance along with 7 Red-legged Partridge - perhaps heralding further releases.  New game feeding stations are also in evidence so their days could be numbered!

A highlight for me was a particularly beautiful evening on 28th Nov when the Barn Owl chose to sit out in its recently adopted hole.

September and October proved to be very quiet as far as autumn migrants were concerned and in that respect a little disappointing.  However, on a positive note, heavy rainfall quickly re-filled the main pit and other areas such that plenty of open water with muddy margins still remains.  In addition, quarrying operations have by and large ceased for the winter period leaving the site relatively undisturbed and ready for anything that might be passing.

There have been some highlights however - the best perhaps being an adult Mediterranean Gull (first for the site this year) that joined the gull flock on 8th Oct.  The gull flock also attracted an adult Yellow-legged Gull on 26th Sep.  A flyover Great White Egret on 30th Sep took the site total for the year to 127 species.

Marsh Harriers continue to visit the site with the possibility of up to 3 different birds - a juvenile, a young male and a female.  Single records came from 30th Sep, 8th & 16th October.  Saturday 2nd Oct saw 3 Ringed Plovers visit briefly which, along with arriving Lapwing (62 on 21st Oct), Common Snipe (10+ on 11th Oct) and up to 3 virtually resident Green Sandpipers, were the only waders recorded in October.

Summer migrants had pretty well gone by the end of September with the last Swallow seen on 11th October.  The last Hobby was seen on 30th Sep and a Wheatear was present on 28th Sep with House and Sand Martins having gone early in September.  The usual winter arrivals have taken their place with at least 3 pairs of Stonechats regularly on site and a few Teal, Shoveler, Gadwall and Tufted Ducks making an appearance, albeit in very low numbers.  Sep 24th saw the first 2 Wigeon with 3 together on 5th Oct.

Perhaps the highlight for me has been a Barn Owl that has sat out in full view on a number of evenings, preening and stretching before heading out to hunt.  Hopefully, the pits will see some more action soon - there's plenty of possibilities, among them Rock Pipit, Black Redstart, Short-eared Owls and, of course, rarer geese or swans.

June is the pivotal month of the year when the compass swings slowly round from bringing us Spring migrants from the South to bringing us back Autumn migrants from the North.

As the last Ringed Plovers of Spring departed the first returning Green Sandpiper appeared on 15th with up to 3 birds on site subsequently.  Little Ringed Plover numbers also grew to at least 17 birds on 23rd June with apparent new arrivals from off site.  Lapwing numbers have also swelled during the month and the first Shoveler and pair of Teal appeared on 26th.

June 4th saw a young (2nd calendar year) Yellow-legged Gull on the deep pit - a species we will no doubt see more of as the the year progresses.

The anticipated wader 'drop-ins' began with an Oystercatcher on 15th followed by a Redshank on 20th.  Hopefully July will bring more waders and maybe a site tick in the from of a Spotted Redshank or Curlew Sandpiper!

A Great White Egret on 24th was the first for the year while a young male Marsh Harrier (pictured) briefly quartered the main pit weedy area on 26th.  This latter species has seen a huge increase in records over the last few years and maybe in time we'll see our first breeding pair.