Tice's Meadow Nature Reserve: Thursday March 8th to Thursday March 15th

2018 Spring BioBlitz

Friday May 4th to Sunday May 6th sees our third annual Spring BioBlitz. Please see the below poster for details. We hope to see you all there!

Quarry Life Awards

You can follow our progress in the Quarry Life Awards on our dedicated blog.

Thursday 8th March

Mark Elsoffer reported 44 Lapwing, 3 Snipe, a (probable) Scaup, 8 Mallard, 17 Tufted Duck, 42 Wigeon, 19 Gadwall, 7 Shoveler, 25 Teal, 13 Reed Bunting, 50+ Siskin, 2 Pheasant, a Raven, a Sparrowhawk, 3 Buzzard and 3 Red Kite today.

In addition, Leonard Winchcombe reported a Common Sandpiper and a Green Sandpiper this morning.

In addition, Richard Seargent reported a Chiffchaff today.

In addition, Richard Horton reported a Goshawk (outside) today.

Chiffchaff is the 93rd species of bird recorded in 2018

The count of 13 Reed Bunting is a new site record count.

Friday 9th March

No reports.

Saturday 10th March

Dave Baker reported a Little Ringed Plover, 15 Lapwing, 2 Snipe, a (probable) Scaup, 4 Mallard, 3 Pochard, 10 Shoveler, 20 Teal, 16 Gadwall, 40 Wigeon, 20 Tufted Duck, 2 Kestrel, 2 Red Kite, a Sparrowhawk and 4 Buzzard this morning.

In addition, Mark Elsoffer reported 70 Siskin this morning.

In addition, a visiting birder reported 2 Peregrine this afternoon.

Dave also reported seeing Black-headed Gulls displaying and Gadwalls mating today.

Little Ringed Plover is the 94th species of bird recorded in 2018.

The count of 70 Siskin is a new site record count.

7 volunteers braved the rain this morning and cleared 6 bags of litter from around the site. Lord Len also completed his heroic effort of single-handedly clearing a large ringing ride in the scrub in preparation for the BioBlitz.

Dave Baker found a new species for the site today: Brindled Flat-body (Agonopterix arenella). This is the 1,120th species recorded on site!

Sunday 11th March

Richard Horton reported a Common Sandpiper, 2 Little Ringed Plover and 3 Sand Martin this morning.

Sand Martin is the 95th species of bird recorded in 2018.

Monday 12th March

No reports.

Tuesday 13th March

Murray Nurse reported a Green Sandpiper, a Little Ringed Plover and a Firecrest this morning.

In addition, Peter Brown reported a (probable) Scaup, 5 Mallard, 8 Shoveler, 15 Teal, 4 Gadwall, a Pochard and 2 Buzzard this afternoon.

In addition, Tony Cummins reported 2 Raven, 2 Red Kite and 2 Sparrowhawk today.

In addition, Richard Horton reported a Chiffchaff today.

This is only the 8th reported sighting of Firecrest on site, but the 3rd this year.

Kevin Duncan reported the first frogspawn of 2018 today, 6 days later than in 2017.

Wednesday 14th March

No reports.

Thursday 15th March

Mark Elsoffer reported a Little Ringed Plover, 8 Lapwing, 9 Mallard, 18 Tufted Duck, 40 Wigeon, 12 Teal, 8 Gadwall, 3 Shoveler, a Pochard, a Mediterranean Gull, a Sparrowhawk, a Kestrel, a Red Kite and a Buzzard today.

In addition, Richard Horton reported a Green Sandpiper this morning.

Mediterranean Gull is the 96th species of bird recorded in 2018.

Stuart Croft, Senior Ranger at the Blackwater Valley Countryside Partnership, brought their boat to site today and helped us tow our tern rafts into place. The newly built and refurbished rafts were towed into place and anchored. The old badly listing raft was towed to shore, refurbished and towed back out again to deep water and anchored. Finally, a dozen or so tern chick shelters were placed on some of the islands in the Workings. Thank you Stuart and the 5 volunteers who helped out.