Monday 26th September: Spotted Flycatchers

It's been a depressingly long time since my last posting but there has been precious little to report until today. I've continued to visit the Meadow two or three times a week in the vain hope that this autumn's Nearctic wader bonanza might cast a bird or two (ideally a buff-breasted sandpiper) in the direction of the Meadow. We're still hanging on to a thin sliver of flood water which continues to attracted some loafing black-headed gulls and an increasing number of lapwings (60 today). There have been a handful of YELLOW-WAGTAILS about each time I visit and the LITTLE EGRETS are still kicking around but that's been about it. However today my visit was brightened up by the presence of three passing SPOTTED FLYCATCHERS in the hedge by the Trap Ground allotments along the path to the southern Burgess Field gate. They seemed quite happy there and were still around half an hour later when I returned from scrutinising the floods. Spotted flycatchers are less than annual on the patch and this is a great year tick for the Meadow.


Lot's of my photos came out blurred as the autofocus ended up latching on to a branch rather than the bird itself but these two came out ok.