Thursday August 25

I had a bit of a late start this morning due to a doctor's appointment. So I arrived at 10.00 to start birding under lead grey skies, the temperature being warm and the wind negligible. It had rained overnight. In short, these were the conditions you dream of for the end of August.

It was at once apparent that there were birds everywhere. Admittedly most were Goldfinches and Linnets, and it made for slow progress as I gradually accumulated Whitethroats and Chiffchaffs, also seeing a mint condition Lesser Whitethroat. It didn't take long for the first unusual migrants to announce themselves, as a thin "ssseee" call had me looking up to see two Tree Pipits heading west.

Having got Tree Pipit in the bag I made my way to the Chat Field which, true to its name, contained three Whinchats.

Whinchat

The only downside with this weather is that it makes getting crisp bird shots difficult at the sort of distances I invariably photograph from.

The main pool now has a substantial amount of mud, but enough water to still support a few Coots and a Little Grebe. Much more interesting to me was the presence of the year's second Common Sandpiper.

Common Sandpiper

At this point a stockman appeared in the field and started calling to his cattle (I don't know why either). This had two effects: the cattle became on edge, and all the birds, mainly Teal and Mallard, flew off the pool. Fortunately they headed towards the Flash field.

Here I quickly established that there were two juvenile Black-tailed Godwits on the nearest flash along with nine Green Sandpipers, and small numbers of Teal and Snipe.

Black-tailed Godwits

I then turned my attention to the furthest flash. There were more Lapwings, Snipe, and Teal on it, and sitting on the bank among the latter was a Garganey. I believe it was the bird I saw last Friday as it seemed to have the same aberrant white spot on the rear flanks. Fine through a scope, but too distant for a photograph.

I meandered back without adding much else, and paused to text a number of interested parties. Subsequently, Dave, Mike, and Neil Duggan (at least) twitched the birds this afternoon, and inevitably they found some more stuff. I gather the Black-tailed Godwits were present for Dave, but then flew off. He and Mike struggled to find the Garganey, but were eventually successful. They added a very brief Greenshank, a Wheatear (much scarcer in autumn here than in spring), and a Hobby. Dave also thinks he may have heard the escaped Yellow Bishop which we saw about a month ago.

It's days like this that make it all worth while.