On the final day of the school holidays I decided to stay fairly local and visit a couple of nearby places where I might see some waders. Yesterday Farmoor Reservoir had recorded its second purple sandpiper of the month whilst Pit 132 in the CWP had had a Temmincks stint noted on the blog. However, I may as well admit straightaway that I saw neither!
There were still some interesting birds to be seen at both places. At Farmoor reservoir at 9.30 am. many sand martins, together with smaller numbers of house martins and swifts were zig- zagging above the causeway, occasionally within inches of my head! Along the shore line were a couple of dunlin, a ringed plover and a ruff, while in the shallows by the boats a little egret was hunting for food. Sadly the purple sandpiper appeared to have departed overnight.
After lunch I drove over to Pit 132 located near Kempsford; the same site where I saw the Wood Sandpiper last month. Despite the overcast conditions. I noticed a few butterflies, namely a common blue, speckled wood and small white. Looking through some gaps in the hedgerow, I could make out a few distant waders, including 3 dunlin, a little ringed plover ( seen through someone's telescope) and some green sandpipers. A greenshank paid a couple of visits to a slightly nearer pool. No one had seen the Temmincks stint today, though some areas of the pools were hidden and it could have been difficult to see against the gravel. 
greenshank
little egret
ruff
great crested grebe juv
ruff
ringed plover
dunlin
No comments:
Post a Comment