A group of 9 assembled at the Visitors’ Centre at 09:00 prompt and headed off for the sea wall. On the way our attention was drawn to a Green Sandpiper close to the path and then a small flock of Yellow Wagtails, many of them juveniles.
-
- Green Sandpiper
-
- No birds but lots of flowers
From the mound, a sharp eyed member managed to pick out a Little Stint from the small group of juvenile Dunlin.
Little Stint
There was then very little else until we were walking along the sea wall from where we saw lots of Ruff, huge numbers of Avocets (folks remarked that they’d never seen so many), Black-tailed Godwits and the star of the marsh, a Black-winged Stilt.
-
- Adult Black-winged Stilt
-
- Ruff with Black-tailed Godwit behind
-
- Black-tailed Godwits in fine breeding plumage
-
- A few of the 23 Spoonbills
Walking north along the sea wall, a wandering Marsh Harrier caused mayhem bringing up hundreds of birds except the ‘lazy’ Spoonbills that didn’t even raise a bill.
From the crowded East Hide, we were able to see between all the heads, Spotted Redshank and a Greenshank plus both adult and juvenile Black-winged Stilts.
A trip to the Reed Bed Hide came up with the resident Whooper Swan and a couple of juvenile Pintails which at the time caused a bit of discussion as to their true identity. A walk round the reed bed came up with a Sparrowhawk and finally, the other star of the show, a Water Vole.
-
- Ratty the Water Vole
-
- Lapwing – great shot John
52 species for the day thanks to Bill Padley our recorder. Photos – John England and Martin Kaye