After several dry days suddenly the floods are much reduced and it's possible to walk all the way around them again albeit with a bit of wading across a couple of deep channels by the boats. The rejuvenated floods are looking really great and are now once more full of birds though now mostly black-headed gulls. They're still pulling in some good waders as well of course and today there were 5 GREENSHANK, 3 BAR-TAILED GODWITS and the very long-staying WHIMBREL all gracing the shoreline. Sydney Penner also reported one OYSTERCATCHER though it wasn't there on my visit. I've been searching through the hirundines for rares for some while and the arrival yesterday of a red-rumped swallow just over the hill at Farmoor has spurred me on to redouble my efforts as this little gem could easily nip over to the Patch. Unfortunately though, there was no sign of it today.
I also did a tour of the Trap Grounds and Burgess Field to check up on the warblers this afternoon. At the Trap Grounds I managed to find a single REED WARBLER singing away deep within the reedbed. Burgess Field is now full of whitethroats and I did manage to hear a couple of GARDEN WARBLERS singing away so now it's just grasshopper warbler that we're still waiting for. Admittedly I wasn't there at the optimal time so they could already be in and I hope that an earlier visit sometime this week should find them.
The three Bar-tailed Godwits (as always click to enlarge)
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