21st Wader Species

20th May - a quick pre-work visit prior to 9am found little of note.  During the morning, a number of local Turnstone reports came through, including 3 flying through QMR and a single at Tring, so I thought it was worth having a further check at lunchtime.  As I arrived, I could see a wader on the point of the spit and a quick check revealed not a Turnstone, but 2 Sanderling, a nice summer plumaged bird and one in transition.  So another good wader species for the patch year list, my 17th and the site's 21st - not bad for a single lake!

Some record shots here:

A LRP and 3 Shelduck were the supporting cast, whilst high teens of Common Terns are still frequenting the spit and not the rafts!  Maybe Turnstone will appear tomorrow!

Quality not Quantity

18th May - I have been moaning about the lack of waders through the site this year and numbers wise, there have not been many, but the species list is rolling along quite nicely.  This afternoon, agitated by my inability to twitch the Kent Dusky Thrush, I was pleased to take a call from Alan S.  He and the regular Saturday crew had just found 2 small waders with a Ringed Plover and thought they were probably Temminck's Stints, but they were viewing at distance from the south bank and were walking around for a closer look.  I was soon on site, passing Ash S on my way who was oblivious to the waders' presence, who followed me to the lake edge.  The group of 3 waders were soon in the scope and were indeed 2 fine Temminck's Stints and a Ringed Plover.  I went to the viewpoint to find Alan S et al enjoying the birds from there - another quality find.  The birds were on view at the closest point they could be to the bank, but they were so small that they kept getting obscured amongst exposed roots.  As ever, I took some record shots, but the camera's auto-focus was struggling to pick out the waders to focus on!

Nice size comparison to a Lapwing

 

Record of the 3 birds together

I have seen a Temminck's Stint here before - a 2 day bird in May 2008, but I think this is only the 25th record for Bucks, or thereabouts, so pretty scarce and some compensation for missing the Dusky Thrush!

The previous morning found the usual suspects of a pair of Oystercatchers, a LRP and 2 Shelduck, though a brief Little Egret was unseasonal.

Marshy

15th May - an afternoon re-visit in the hope that on a day when many waders and terns were passing through frustratingly north of here, something new might have come in.  I found nothing new and an LRP was the only wader on site!

A nice male Yellow Wagtail perused the spit for a while and then continued on its journey.

I passed the time chatting with Graham S whilst the weather gradually cleared to leave quite a sunny and blue sky.  Raptors were obviously enjoying this sudden break and we watched several thermalling Buzzards, passing Red Kites, the odd Sparrowhawk and a single Hobby fly over.  Just before 4:30pm, I noticed an interesting raptor flapping slowly across the middle of the pit.  I jumped off the bench and scoped the bird to reveal a cream-crown Marsh Harrier - yay - a patch tick!  I was following the bird in the scope, so giving lousy directions to Graham who had failed to pick it up before it disappeared behind the willows on the base of the spit!  Luckily, it soon re-surfaced and we both watched it circling just north of the pit before it continued flapping NW.  This direction would have taken it somewhere close to my house, so it might have been viewable from there if anyone was looking!

Wader Passage..........

15th May - an early start in the hope that as the overnight rain stopped, some birds might move through.  In reality, this did happen, but only to the tune of 2 Ringed Plovers.  Ah well, a year tick, so can't complain.  These birds flew in at 6:40am, never looked very settled and seemed to have disappeared an hour later.  A shockingly awful record in low light which makes the bird on the right look a bit like a Turnstone (I wish!).  You can just about make out the orange based bill etc..

And here's a much better record from Dick Seekins, as he doesn't use a box brownie and a milk bottle!

The only other wader on site was a Redshank that flew in at 8:20am, but that didn't stay long either!

As ever, the LWHG flock was worth a scan.  The regular 1st summer YL Gull was there again, but so too was a nice looking 3rd summer - a couple of records of this bird below.  Looking superficially adult like, this bird still has black primary coverts, some black in the tail and a pale tipped bill with a small black sub terminal bar on the upper mandible.

A Hobby either flew through 3 times over an hour, or more than one bird was involved.  At one point, it attempted to catch a low flying hirundine and was barely a few inches above the water!  It must be getting hungry, as there won't be any dragonflies on the wing in this weather and very few insects - it was only 5 degrees C this morning!  4 Shelduck were the best of the rest.

Dunlin Still

14th May - this morning the summer plumaged Dunlin was present for its 3rd day along with 2 LRPs, whilst the regular 1st summer YL Gull was still with the 100+ LWHG.  Must get some more waders soon........

Plenty of Swifts

13th May - highlights of a quick pre-work visit were a nice male Yellow Wagtail and yesterday's continuing summer plumaged Dunlin, both on the spit.  Otherwise just 3 Shelduck, a pair plus another male, between 10 and 20 Common Terns and the 100 odd flock of loafing LWHG.  The 1st summer Yellow-legged Gull was seen on both weekend days, but I couldn't find it in a quick search.

A lunchtime visit added a single Oystercatcher, which once again flew off over the STW.  However, the main spectacle was the huge number of Swifts - well into 3 figures, zipping about all over the place.  Swallow numbers were well down on yesterday, whilst House and Sand Martins both numbered some 10s.

Mandy Fly past

11th May - an Oystercatcher was calling as I arrived and I watched it fly off west.  Otherwise, a good looking spit for waders was devoid of any!  A Common Sand was seen on the eastern bank.

Best birds of the morning and a patch year tick was a pair of Mandarin Ducks that flew east over the bottom of Randall's meadow and continued along the Thames.  A pair has been reported from the low grounds and Higginson Park to the west, so possibly these birds.

Edit:  A Redshank in the late afternoon, plus plenty of low flying Swallows, House Martins, Sand Martins and Swifts plus a brief Hobby.