Saturday 18th April: More whimbrel & Godwits
First thing this morning overcast but brighter than yesterday with little wind.
An early morning visit to the Meadow found 4 SHELDUCKS down at the south end of the floods. They would periodically fly off and do a circuit or two before returning to the same spot. The four BLACK-TAILED GODWITS were still in Burgess Channel though they soon left. They obviously have somewhere else that they go to, though I don't know where this might be. There was no sign of their rarer barwit cousin this morning. There was a brown "blob" sleeping in the grass to the west of the floods that looked the right size and shape for the sleeping WHIMBREL and one could just make out it's crown stripe on its head though it was a classic case of "sleeping wader syndrome" which renders them very hard to identify. Unfortunately I couldn't stay until it woke up as I would have liked to get a decent whimbrel photo. There were 11 DUNLIN and 3 RINGED PLOVER this morning, initially in Stint Corner though they flew around a bit before settling on the North Reach as a feeding spot.
I could hear neither the cetti's nor the lesser whitethroat singing this morning though there were some willow warblers, blackcaps and sedge warblers to be heard.
From private e-mail (DF):
Was on port meadow this morning (roughly 10-12), and was lucky enough to see and hear a group of about 8 or 10 WHIMBREL flying overhead northeast. Also heard CETTI'S WARBLER from both the field and inside burgess field (probably the same single bird), calling from the deep brambles about five mins walk from the south entrance.
From OOS (SCl):
willow warbler 7
grasshopper warbler 1
sparrowhawk 1
sedge warbler 2
wigeon 7
COMMON TERN 1
bullfinch 1 pair
You'll have to take my word for it that this is in fact a sleeping whimbrel in the mist. Actually you an just seen the crown stripe on this videograb © Adam Hartley
The dunlin and ringed plover feeding along the North Reach. Best viewed in High Quality by clicking here and selecting the HQ icon at the bottom right of the video window
An early morning visit to the Meadow found 4 SHELDUCKS down at the south end of the floods. They would periodically fly off and do a circuit or two before returning to the same spot. The four BLACK-TAILED GODWITS were still in Burgess Channel though they soon left. They obviously have somewhere else that they go to, though I don't know where this might be. There was no sign of their rarer barwit cousin this morning. There was a brown "blob" sleeping in the grass to the west of the floods that looked the right size and shape for the sleeping WHIMBREL and one could just make out it's crown stripe on its head though it was a classic case of "sleeping wader syndrome" which renders them very hard to identify. Unfortunately I couldn't stay until it woke up as I would have liked to get a decent whimbrel photo. There were 11 DUNLIN and 3 RINGED PLOVER this morning, initially in Stint Corner though they flew around a bit before settling on the North Reach as a feeding spot.
I could hear neither the cetti's nor the lesser whitethroat singing this morning though there were some willow warblers, blackcaps and sedge warblers to be heard.
From private e-mail (DF):
Was on port meadow this morning (roughly 10-12), and was lucky enough to see and hear a group of about 8 or 10 WHIMBREL flying overhead northeast. Also heard CETTI'S WARBLER from both the field and inside burgess field (probably the same single bird), calling from the deep brambles about five mins walk from the south entrance.
From OOS (SCl):
willow warbler 7
grasshopper warbler 1
sparrowhawk 1
sedge warbler 2
wigeon 7
COMMON TERN 1
bullfinch 1 pair
You'll have to take my word for it that this is in fact a sleeping whimbrel in the mist. Actually you an just seen the crown stripe on this videograb © Adam HartleyThe dunlin and ringed plover feeding along the North Reach. Best viewed in High Quality by clicking here and selecting the HQ icon at the bottom right of the video window