First thing at The Patch 19+ Black Terns, 2 juv Arctic Terns among many Common Terns and Black-headed Gulls over the boil. Along the perimeter fence 4 Wheatears, a Black Redstart, 4 Pied Wagtails and c30 Linnets.
At the south end of the ARC not a single wader but a Black-necked Grebe on the lake. From Hanson the islands were virtually devoid of avian activity after a Peregrine flew through as I made my way to the hide.
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| Yellow Wagtail |
On the track to Firth Hide 4 Yellow Wagtails by the discovery pool. From Firth hide 4 Ruff, 1 Black-tailed Godwit, 6 Dunlin and a Greenshank.
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| Green Sandpiper |
From Makepiece a Green Sandpiper foraged below the hide, on the other side of the hide a Garganey was unusually tame, unfortunately the light was atrocious. On the islands c50 Golden Plover, a Redshank, 12 Dunlin, c150 Lapwing, the leucistic Teal, also a Little Gull and another Black-necked Grebe around the islands. 4 Willow Warblers on the plod to Dengemarsh where the 2 Great White Egrets were in the usual spot but little else. From Dennis's Hide a c500 Sand Martins moved through in a couple of minutes.
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| Garganey in poor light |
An hour watching from plodland saw 2 Hobby's and 2 Sparrowhawks spiralling together over the fields, 2 Marsh Harriers hunting the ditches and 8 Yellow wagtails foraging the field edge.
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| Peregrine |
This afternoon I went back to the ARC, from Hanson virtually the first bird I saw was a Pectoral Sandpiper, the views were awful trying to scope through reeds that are now so tall some of the islands are completely obscured, if anything did decide to come close to the hide it would never be seen.
A few minutes after I found the bird and before the local bird watchers arrived a Peregrine appeared and spooked all the birds. As the locals arrived another Peregrine appeared and tussled with the first one, then both landed on the islands making sure the Pec would not return, just to make really sure it would not return a Marsh Harrier started cruising around and a Sparrowhawk came across the lake. Sometimes flushed birds move to the south end of the ARC, but apparently an Osprey was spiralling over the lake there unseen by us in Hanson Hide.
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| The reason the Pectoral Sandpiper left the ARC |
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| Sparrowhawk after the Pec left |
A short visit to Makepiece late afternoon added a Knot and 2 Little Stints to the days tally.
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