Sunday September 2

I was joined by Dave this morning, back from a fortnight on Scilly, and we were hopeful of seeing the Wood Sandpiper and some Small Red-eyed Damselflies. The former was last seen on Thursday by Mike, while John had drawn a blank yesterday, so we weren't too surprised that it was nowhere to be seen. More disappointing was the apparent absence of the damselflies, although the mostly cloudy conditions won't have helped.

The day did have its up side though. We found two juvenile Whinchats, Reed Warbler, four Common Whitethroats and the first of two Lesser Whitethroats at Netherstead. Then at the Flashes, although Green Sandpipers were down to five, the number of Teal has risen to 54, and Lapwings to 67. The hedgerow beyond the fishing ponds produced at least one Redstart, at least one Spotted Flycatcher, and our second Lesser Whitethroat.

Whinchat

I was slightly disappointed that we had no visual migration through the day, but we redeemed ourselves slightly on insects, finding a Small Copper and three Migrant Hawkers.

That afternoon I took Lyn for a drive a few miles south of Morton Bagot to try to find a new scrape which Mike Inskip has told me about. We located the place quite easily as it is beside the road which runs between Great Alne and Haselor. I have to say we were impressed. It consists of several quite large shallow pools which you can view without even leaving the car, although the road is a bit narrow. We saw species which are regular at Morton Bagot; five Green Sandpipers, some Lapwing, and about eight Snipe for example. The site also contained a Common Sandpiper and 71 Lesser Black-backed Gulls, species and numbers which I see less often on my patch. Definitely worth keeping an eye on this place, which for the moment I will call Haselor Scrape.