Friday 15 May 2009 - Wader Passage at Drayton Bassett Pits, Staffordshire - 15/05/2009

Friday 15th May 2009

Drayton Bassett Pits, Staffordshire

With high water levels at Alvecote not conclusive to 'spectacular wader passage' I decided to 'cheat on the missus' again this evening and visit Drayton Bassett Pits instead.  Don't tell anyone but I'm getting quite a kick from this illicit affair.

The first stop was Spoonbill Pit where 2 vocal Common Greenshank were the first waders to be spotted.  Even better, 4 handsome summer plumaged Ruddy Turnstone were then picked up along with 2 Little Ringed Plover, a Common Redshank, 2 Dunlin and a Common Sandpiper.  After a quick chat with Pezza Perrins I then made may way to North Pit.  With the downpours of last night and today the water levels were much higher than yesterday which unfortunately was covering up most of the decent wader feeding habitat.  Despite this 2 gorgeous summer plumaged Red Knot were soon picked up along with another Ruddy Turnstone, 8 Dunlin, 12 Ringed Plover and 4 Little Ringed Plover.  Other species included 15 Greylag Geese, 12 Common Shelduck and 10 Gadwall. 

Fisher's Mill Pit, Warwickshire

Despite the monsoon conditions I decided to make my way over the border and into Warwickshire to see if there were any more waders about.  Unfortunately the only species here were a few Northern Lapwing and the odd Little Ringed Plover.  A Little Egret passed through and after a while the pair of Garganey finally swam into view.  The only other species of note was a single Common Tern.

This morning a Little Tern was present but departed to the north at 12.30pm.  A flock of 14 Arctic Tern passed through early on.  There were also an impressive 5 Red Knot, 11 Ruddy Turnstone, 65 Dunlin and 35 Ringed Plover.