For the last three days I have been a regular visitor to Earlswood and nowhere else. On Wednesday I planned to spend a couple of early hours on the causeway between Engine and Windmill Pools hoping something interesting would fly over. Unfortunately I got sucked into counting wildfowl and gulls, and the visit petered out with nothing more interesting than a call-only Yellow Wagtail to show for it.
The following day was meant to be a day at home, but early in the afternoon Tony Philp messaged that he had found a Ruff on Windmill. I was a bit tardy setting off but I was there in an hour, and the bird was still there.
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| Juvenile Ruff (probably male) |
Despite having only an hour at my disposal, I also saw an Oystercatcher (also found by Tony), and drew attention to a pale alba Wagtail which may or may not have been a White Wagtail.
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| Oystercatcher |
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| Alba Wagtail (Pied or White) |
At the time of seeing the Wagtail I was quite confident it was a White Wagtail, but further research when I got home led me to uncertainty. White Wagtails should be returning from Iceland from late August to October, but alba Wagtails are so variable after the breeding season that most birders just ignore them. Perhaps I should do the same.
One species I definitely missed on Wednesday, was Whinchat, a couple of which had been found by Joe Owens from the bridge at Springbrook Lane. Despite a negative report this morning I decided on a quick stop there on the way home, and was pleasantly surprised to find at least one bird still present.
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| Whinchat |
It appears to be an Earlswood tick as it was a Birdtrack write-in.
This morning I decided to spend longer there. So I was back at the bottom end of Windmill for further crippling views of the Ruff and also the accompanying Green and Common Sandpipers.
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| Ruff again (in better light) |
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| Green Sandpiper |
Unfortunately the remainder of the morning added nothing new, although five Buzzards high over Engine Pool and a fly-through Swift were just about worth a mention.
Morton Bagot has a high hurdle to jump to match Earlswood at the moment.
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