A nice end to a quiet month

August at the pit is usually pretty good for picking up waders, terns and passerine migrants, but this year has been very quiet and the worst in several years.  I have had little time to visit over the past fortnight with work and family commitments, but the only reports from the site of any interest have been a flyover Greenshank and passage Spotted Flycatcher, so it doesn't look as though I've missed much!

August ended as it had begun with a couple of Black-tailed Godwits found on the 31st.  I thought on first glance due to the overall pale buffy look to the birds that they were juveniles, however, on closer inspection, they appear to be moulting adults - one in almost full winter plumage with a few summer scaps and the other with more adult scaps, a more orange face and neck a few remnants of black barring on the undersides. A few record shots below:

August 31st also saw 3 Yellow-legged Gulls, the highest group this season, including my first juvenile, a fairly regular adult attaining winter plumage and another adult which quickly departed.  The juvenile was readily picked out amongst other things due to its many moulted scaps, narrow pale fringed, dark centred tertials, pale face with a dark eye smudge and heavy, solid black bill.  It was fairly distant, so my record shots are just that!

This blurry record of the adult coming into winter plumage was taken on the 17th

The visit on the 31st also included a Dunlin that was flying around for a while, but never landed and eventually departed to the SE.  The resident Common Terns seem to have left now - birds are still being seen on and off in varying numbers, but these are probably migrants, especially as there are often several juvenile birds and we only managed 2 fledged young this year, both of which left a while ago.  Today there was a single adult present.  Ducks are also appearing in dribs and drabs - a couple of Shoveler, 8 Teal and 2 Pochard today, joining the building Tufted Ducks and resident Mallard.

On the passerine front, little to note.  I did see a flurry of warblers mid month, including family groups of Reed Warblers, Garden Warbler, Blackcaps, Willow and Chiffchaff and on the 28th a nice Lesser Whitethroat feeding on Dogwood berries by the cottage gardens - this being only my second this year.

I don't usually mention Ring-necked parakeets, as they are seen or more usually heard fairly often. However, on the 14th, a bird was perched on a small oak near the cottages so I took this shot of it:

There was a noisy group of 7 birds flying around, including several short-tailed juveniles, so evidence of some local breeding.

On the plastic front, the family group of 3 Black Swans are still present and a Barnacle Goose has appeared along with the regular Bar-headed Goose amongst the ever growing Canada/Greylag flock.