I wasn't there until 09:48 and luckily 2 remained in the SW corner, but barely 10 minutes passed before the went off North.
After looking over and over again, we upped the count of Common Sandpiper to 4, then the 2 Greenshank returned 10:37, moments prior to that Steve pinged us saying 1 Greenshank at Tern scrape. None close enough for a half decent shot, but at least one Common was again.
10 minutes later a flock of 'Sterna' Terns swooped in from the left, circled low to land in the SW corner and then repeated this 2-3 more times, allowing a good estimate of around 42 Common, but one much paler bird stood out and after 2-3 twists of the group, I concluded this was a 1st Winter Arctic. I am not aware of any single autumn flock movement like this at DP before, large counts appear to have all been of fledged young. This flock appeared to be nearly all adults.
A quick history of Greenshank records where 3 or more occurred;
Spring
4/10th May 1996 - Tern scrape
9/4th to 6th May 2000 - Lea Farm Flash (pre dates the gravel pit being dug)
Autumn
5/13th August 1984 - Over
5/17th to 27th August 2000 - Lea Farm Flash
3/11th July 2004 - Over
5/17th August 2012 - LFGP
4/26th August 2013 - Over my house near DP, so assume they came from there
4/24th August 2015 - Over
5/19th August 2016 - LFGP
Draw your own conclusions as you wish, but mine are that Lea Farm is the main reason we get bigger numbers, but that this species is highly mobile and we probably miss many individuals, or even groups because of this.
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