It is testament to how impoverished for waders my Local Big Year Circle is that this afternoon I was tempted to twitch a Greenshank at Earlswood Lakes. I just don't feel confident that Morton Bagot will get one.
As it happens there were additional benefits to my visit. For one thing the Greenshank, a juvenile, showed very well. Earlswood may be the poor relation compared to Upper Bittell which has acres of shoreline, but you get much better views than at Bittell (or indeed Morton Bagot).
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| Greenshank |
The bird was on Windmill Pool, and was remarkably tolerant of stone-throwing kids and loose dogs, simply flying to a different patch of stony shore when disturbed.
On the other side of the causeway lies Engine Pool and a nice gravelly island containing various Gulls. I joined John Oates who kindly pointed out the near adult (he reckoned third summer) Yellow-legged Gull. It was rather petite for a Yellow-legged Gull, which probably means its a female.
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| Yellow-legged Gull with juv Lesser Black-backed Gull |
Also present was a Sand Martin with probably 50+ Swallows, two distant Shovelers, the Wigeon, and a couple of Swifts. In the course of searching for the Greenshank I had heard a distant Common Sandpiper.
All in all I can see Earlswood Lakes becoming a regular feature of my birding this autumn.
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