Afternoon delight

I had finished my work party duties and was on my way to pick up family from Heathrow, when Brian called saying "2 Ringed Plover SW corner".....I passed my message to my wife that "I hope they stay".

Some 2 hours later and I got to Lea Farm around 17:00, both adult Ringed Plover still looking very happy on the middle spit of the SW corner and we can call it a proper waderfest by our standards, with 4 Green Sandpiper, 6 Common Sandpiper, 2 juv Little Ringed Plover and 2 Greenshank, all showing very well, not forgetting the c100 Lapwing. Any 6 wader species day is a great one at DP.

Shame I didn't bring my iPhone adapter to get sharper shots when the Greenshank were just to the near right of Ron's hide

Stayers

Another late outing for me, checking BSL and found nothing, then on to LFGP where 1 of the 2 Greenshank seen this morning, was still present. So were 3 Common Sandpiper, 1 Green, 1 juv LRP, 19 Teal and 3 Shoveler.

I took one shot of the Greenshank, it was at the far end of the SW corner, so not a great shot.

John McGowan and another John had Raven, Peregrine and Linnet earlier too, bringing the month list to 88, 15 off the 2015 record, so the next 10 days needs to bring a lot more in to get anywhere near that.

A little excitement

I stayed up too late watching Olympics again and failed to get out early, so when I did wake to the news of 2+3 Greenshanks, I had to get down.

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.

Waiting on the weather change

Back out again this morning, but none of the excitement of yesterday, still 3 Green and 2 Common Sandpiper, a Snipe at the back of the SW corner was a new bird for me this autumn, the LRP again flew around 07:03.

15 Teal shows a near daily increase, but everything got spooked by an unseen force although most of the birds returned quite quickly.

A Common Sandpiper got close enough for a shot, I am getting a little more fussy about the quality of shots I post of daily regulars as times goes by, one off's like the poor quality Whinchat shots are of course record shots and nothing more.

As I look out the window (16:50) the skies look great for a Greenshank, or a Black Tern, but sadly I'm bust tonight, so hope for the forecast rain to bring in something interesting....a Little Stint is high on my wish list.

Early start

I woke up 04:00 and couldn't sleep so after catching up on GB's Olympics medals, I headed down to Lea Farm G.P. for 05:15.

It was yesterday's birds at Moor Green and Little Marlow that had me optimistic and after just a couple of minutes I got onto a small bird in the half light perched on a thistle, it moved once, then didn't move again, but thinking it looked like a chat, I kept an eye on it for the next 1 hour 45 minutes.

As it got light and despite it not moving, I could just tell it was a Whinchat, but when an LRP distracted me as it flew into the SW corner, I took my scope off it and annoyingly when Marek arrived just 5 minutes later, it was gone.

This was the earliest Whinchat since 1984, when we had 1 on the 10th and 12th, with an even earlier one 9th July 1983.

The LRP kept it's distance, the 2 Common Sandpipers were mobile, but the 1 of the 3 Green Sandpipers came close today.

Now 9 Teal present and again a female Mandarin at the back of the SW corner, 2 Little Egret again, a possible 3rd went thru earlier.

Whinchat marks my 122nd species for 2016, level with 2002, 4 short of 2003 and 2008, so hopefully we/I can secure Redstart, Spotted Flycatcher, Wheatear and at least 1-3 more waders before the end of August, not forgetting I still need Tawny Owl.

Lea Farm looking perfect

I got down around 06:30 this morning, bright sunshine lighting up the SW corner beautifully, 2 Little Egrets, up to 4 Green Sandpiper and 2 Common, my first Mandarin for several months also in there and all bar the Commons offering some iphone digi shot opportunities.

Mandarin are not that common in August, roughly a record ever 2-3 years and nearly always the 2nd to third week of the month.

Absence makes the heart grow fonder?

Crikey I've been out of patching for so many days, I can't remember.

A long weekend in Cornwall and some sea watching offered some species rarely, if ever seen at DP, 5000+ Manx Shearwater, hundreds of Gannets, handfuls of Kittiwake, 2 Sooty Shearwater and untickable views of Great Shearwater, were all very nice.

So back to reality at DP and I've been down to LFGP twice I think, 4 Common and 3 Green Sandpiper 6th August, then today at the car park field Hobby overhead twice chasing House Martin.

We are nearly our of time for the usual Black-tailed Godwit passage, but it doesn't mean we won't still get one.