A morning of sunny intervals and a strong westerly breeze, but it was pretty warm. I generally don't rate windy days here, but this was definitely one of the better ones.
To begin with I was joined by Dave, back from his holidays. Things proceeded quietly until we reached the flash field. Here, the most obvious new arrival was a juvenile Shelduck, and we later noticed a second bird hiding in the long grass at the edge of the nearest flash.
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| Shelduck |
While I was trying to get a shot of it, Dave noticed a small wader lying on a muddy ridge in the flash. A quick look through the scope confirmed it was a Dunlin, the first since three in March.
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| Dunlin |
We counted eight Green Sandpipers, 40 Lapwings, four Teal, and 130 Greylag Geese before Dave distinguished himself again by spotting that there were a number of
Spotted Flycatchers in the bushes and trees behind the flash. Unfortunately they were too distant to be worth a photograph, but included adults and juveniles and totalled at least five birds. Clearly a family party.
Finally, I discovered that the juvenile Ringed Plover was still present, now in the grass with Lapwings at the right hand side of the nearest flash.
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| Ringed Plover |
The remainder of the visit produced about 50 Starlings, 40 Goldfinches, and a Kingfisher which we only managed to hear.
One or two insects were worth looking at.
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| Southern Hawker |
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| Holly Blue |
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| Brimstone |
The Holly Blue was nice to see, as they are only moderately plentiful here. We also saw a couple of Common Blues and a Small Heath. Still no Peacocks!
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