Sunday September 22

A mostly cloudy humid morning with the faintest southerly breeze. The forecast rain arrived at 11.00am, but by then we'd done rather well.

Dave was back from his hols, so the team was at full strength.  A flock of about 200 finches on wires towards Stapenhill Wood looked worth a look, but we decided to head for the flash field first in case there was something there. On the way we noticed 27 Lapwings and 21 Snipe flying around, and the reason became clear when we arrived. Overnight rain had brought the water-level up and mud was in short supply. On the other hand there were a lot of visible ducks.

Three Shovelers were on the near flash with 84 Mallard and 130 Greylag Geese. The furthest flash contained nearly all of the 48 Teal. I was going through them hoping for a Garganey when I found.... a Garganey.

Garganey

I think this is the first since 2016, and it was also the first to be found in September.

We strolled back, seeing very few summer migrants; ten Swallows, and about four Chiffchaffs, until we reached the raptor watch point, where the finches had been. The flock seemed to have dispersed, or was in the linseed crop. We saw a few Goldfinches, Linnets, and Greenfinches before we flushed a warbler sp. It was quite small and had no white in the tail, so I guessed at Chiffchaff. Dave waded in, and to my surprise, and his, found himself looking at a Grasshopper Warbler.  I joined him, but was only able to see a bird sp slip through the stems. As we edged forward we were distracted by a calling  Raven. I looked round to see that it was mobbing a Red Kite.

Red Kite and Raven

Red Kite

This was the first Red Kite since the spring, and like the Garganey, the first September record.

By this time the skies were darkening worryingly, so we abandoned our attempt to relocate the Grasshopper Warbler and headed for the cars.