I was out on mine own today as
David was going to a wedding and Roger was in Norfolk for the weekend. I decided to go to the Lyndon Reserve first
toady as there had been a Wood Sandpiper reported from shallow water hide
yesterday. The Lyndon Reserve can be
quite good during August for immature warblers but appeared very quiet as I set
off towards the hide. As I approached
the turning for wader scrape hide I noticed that there were a few birds feeding
in the hedgerow. They were mainly Blue
and Great Tits but there was also Robin and Chaffinch and I could hear several
Bullfinches. Whilst I was watching a
bird flew out of the hedge and landed in the hedge just behind me and perched
near the top and I was able to see it was a cracking juvenile Lesser
Whitethroat. On reaching the hide
neither Osprey was present but they had both returned before I departed. There was a Green Sandpiper just in front of
the hide and as I scanned the shoreline I found three more. Two Common Sandpipers then appeared just to
the right of the hide an there were nine Little Egrets in the bay but there was
no sign of the Wood Sandpiper.
Grey Heron
Osprey
Juvenile Lapwing
Juvenile Lapwing
Juvenile Common Tern
I walked back along the
footpath close to the water and found a Chiffchaff, at least five Willow
Warblers and a Goldcrest amongst a part of Long-tailed Tits. I called at both tufted duck and deep water
hide but saw very little of interest. On
reaching the centre I spent a short while observing the feeders. There were numerous Blue and Great Tits,
which were coming and going constantly but there were also a couple of Marsh
Tits, at least three Tree Sparrows and several Chaffinch and Greenfinch.
Grey Heron from tufted duck hide
With little else visible form
snipe hide I moved on to harrier hide, which overlooks lagoon one. As I sat down and opened the flap I noticed
two Greenshanks and another birder informed me that there was a Wood
Sandpiper. I scanned the area where he
had said it was but there was nothing and it had probably walked out of sight. I then noticed a couple of waders coming out
but on the other shore, one was a Green Sandpiper but the second bird was a
juvenile Wood Sandpiper. A third bird
then appeared that was another Green Sandpiper and a third had joined the
Greenshanks. As I was scanning the more
distant islands a third Greenshank flew in and started feeding. It was now approaching lunch time but I
decided to go and check out the water level at fieldfare hide. There was a small amount of mud beginning to
appear but not sufficient to have attracted any waders. A Buzzard was observed over Brown’s Island
whilst I was in the hide.
Buzzard
I made my way back to the car
park for lunch and I just as I was finishing Pat arrived. We decided to go straight to grebe hide on
lagoon two, where we found three more Green Sandpipers and an Osprey was
observed as it stooped around the edge of Brown’s Island.
As we entered sandpiper hide
on lagoon four most birds were flying around with some at a considerable
height. I suspected that there might be
a Peregrine around but we couldn’t locate it or any other bird of prey that
might have caused the panic. As I was
scanning the nearest area of exposed I found several Ringed Plovers but was
suddenly aware of an immature Peregrine flying low over the ground before rising
and flying over the hide. The Ringed Plovers
surprisingly hadn’t moved and I eventually counted a seven and also found four
Little Ringed Plovers. There was
eventually thirty-six Common Tern on the lagoons but with just two Buzzards
visible over Burly Wood and very little else we moved off to shoveler hide on
lagoon three.
The area on lagoon three that
had been very good for waders a few weeks ago was still devoid of birds and the
water level is perhaps now just a fraction high. A Buzzard was observed coming from the east
and was making quite rapid progress despite flying into a head wind. There were plenty of wildfowl on the lagoon,
which were mainly Gadwall and Tufted Duck but there was also Wigeon, Teal,
Mallard, Shoveler and Pochard and also a few Little Grebes. Pat called it a day but I stayed on and saw Sedge
and Reed Warblers and had a brief view of a Water Rail.
Juvenile Cormorant over lagoon three
Juvenile Cormorant over lagoon three
Canada Goose on lagoon three
Juvenile Moorhen on lagoon three
Juvenile Sedge Warbler on lagoon three
When I got back to the centre
there was very little visible on lagoon one and I moved off to Eyebrook
Reservoir.
Mick and Colin were at
Eyebrook Reservoir when I arrived and they informed me they had seen two Common
Sandpiper, three Green Sandpipers and two Redshank and another birder had
apparently seen a couple of Dunlin.
Colin pointed out a Common Sandpiper and I found four Green Sandpipers
and one of the Redshanks. As we scanned
the increasing number of gulls I found an adult Yellow-legged Gull and a
Garganey.
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