Nosterfield Bird Review August 2025

by Andrew (Andy) M Hanby

Dawn at Langwith                                                                                       Chris Pennock

The month started well, with a Knot commuting between Flasks and Langwith Lakes and a Common Redstart in the plant nursery Fen.  The adult Yellow-legged Gull was also present and continued to be so throughout the month.  A different Redstart was present in the quarry car park the next day and the first of ten days sightings of Osprey during the month including three days with two birds.  Judging from the photographs, multiple individual birds were involved, but exactly how many is hard to judge.

As well as Osprey, sightings of Common Buzzard (Paul Newey) and both Marsh Harrier and Peregrine (‘Fozzy’), were regular

An impressive 21 Goosander were trawling the Reserve on 3rd and a Spotted Flycatcher was at the reed bed.  The next day a Wood Sandpiper flew north-west, the first of seven sightings throughout the period.

Spotted Flycatcher – Gareth Jones                                            Wood Sandpiper – Tim Jones

After a relatively fallow period, Sanderling and Arctic Tern materialised at Flasks Lake on 7th, a great fillip to the potential for team morale.  Two days later, alerted by a notable movement at a nearby visible migration hotspot, one observer noted 11 Snipe fly through, another sign that the wheels of migration were beginning to roll.

It was a red-letter day on 10th, with a flock of 27 Tree Sparrows in a Nosterfield village garden, the largest single gathering for a great many years.  In comparison, two Tree Pipits and 37 Little Grebes had to accept lower spots on the podium.

Grey Partridge continue to do well in the area                            Mike Smithson

On 16th a Curlew Sandpiper made a fleeting visit to Flasks Lake, with a gang of eight Ringed Plover, before they all headed off south-west.  A Spoonbill flying south-west on 20th similarly evaded general public observation.

Four Whimbrel heading north-east on 23rd started a modest run of observations of this species, whereas four Turnstone on 26th did not. The 30th proved to be the August grand finale, with a handsome second calendar year Caspian Gull on Flasks Lake and a Grasshopper Warbler in the Nursery Fen.

Caspian Gull      Tim Scott