I went with Dave to the Lyndon
Reserve where we walked to shallow water hide that overlooks Manton Bay. There were quite a few duck in the Bay
including ten Pintail and six Garganey amongst the other dabbling duck. As we scanned the shoreline we began to find
several waders and eventually finished with three Little Ringed Plover, three
Ringed Plover, a juvenile Knot, two juvenile Curlew Sandpipers two Dunlin, four
Ruff, s Green Sandpiper and a Greenshank.
A forth-year Yellow-legged Gull also flew around for a few minutes
before heading off down the south arm.
On the walk back we stopped at deep water hide where we found a single
Black-necked Grebe and four Curlew were feeding along the shore below Lax Hill. We had seen a few House Martins and Swallows
during the walk and in Manton Bay but from the hide it was apparent that there
was probably in access of a thousand birds in the south arm with by far the
majority being House Martins and only a few Swallows. At the feeding station there was a nice flock
of Tree Sparrows and I counted twenty-nine, with many being juveniles,
indicating that they had done well this year.
Forth-year Yellow-legged Gull
House Martin from deep water hide
We went to the Old Hall next
where we had four Ringed Plovers and seven Dunlin on the island but there was
no sign of the Pectoral Sandpiper, although it was seen later in the day from
gadwall hide and was probably on the other side of the island all the time.
A Buzzard was observed the
road to the north arm and the ten Barnacle Geese were still in the north
arm. There was also a single Green
Sandpiper close to the bund but the best was a Wheatear, which was observed at
close range as it sat on the exposed rocks.
It was considered to be a male in winter plumage as the facial pattern
was quite strong with blackish lores and there was also some grey showing on
the upperparts.
Wheatear
Wheatear
From the north arm we headed
for the Egleton Reserve where we had an early lunch before going to Bird
Watching Centre. There was a single Ruff
on the lagoon and a Hobby flew over but other than for Little Egrets there was
little else of note.
We set off for sandpiper hide
on lagoon four but it appeared quite quiet except for another Ruff and a
Greenshank. I then noticed a adult
Peregrine sitting on island one, which took to flight before landing on the exposed
area between islands one and two. It
then flew again and was harassed by a Carrion Crow but it then turned the
tables and had a go at the crow on three separate occasions and on one occasion
feathers were seen to fly. After the
final attack the crow made a hasty retreat into a tree and the Peregrine landed
on five. Three Ringed Plovers also
dropped in front of us and another party of waders landed towards island
seven. On scanning there were seven
Ringed Plover and a single juvenile Little Stint. The Peregrine then seemed fairly settled and
things quietened down and so we moved off to shoveler hide on lagoon three.
There were seven Black-tailed
Godwits and a single Snipe to the left of the hide and masses of Tufted Duck
out on the lagoon but we couldn’t find anything of real interest amongst
them. Two juvenile and an adult Common
Tern were also observed feeding over the lagoon.
The conditions from crake hide
were still looking good but there was no waders present just numerous Teal and
Moorhen.
There were plenty of wildfowl
visible from lapwing hide but as the sun came out it was difficult to see very
much to the right of the hide. Most of
the wildfowl were either Wigeon or Tufted Duck, although we did find a single
female-type Goldeneye. A Buzzard was
also observed on the ground on Brown’s Island and appeared to be interested in
catching insects as it was seen to run to another point on several
occasions. Whilst we were in the hide
many of the Tufted Duck that where on lagoon three began flying into the south
arm and joining the existing flock of Tufted.
It was surprising to see that far the majority were males. A Red Kite then flew over Brown’s Island and
lagoons one and two causing panic amongst the wildfowl.
Eclipse dare Shoveler in south arm three
Tufted Duck over south arm three
Tufted Duck over south arm three
Four Black-tailed Godwits on
lagoon one were almost certainly four of the seven we had seen on lagoon three
as we had seen six of them fly in the direction of lagoon one.
With little else we called it
a day and returned home and on reaching Dave’s a message came through on my
phone. It was John Wright informing us
he had a Buff-breasted Sandpiper on lagoon four but his message finished with
its flying off high to the north and there was no further news. A disappointment as I had missed the previous
County bird and it would have been a new County bird for me.
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