Monday 23rd May

A very windy day though it had dropped by the evening when I paid a visit to the Meadow. However the strong wind and sunshine had taken its toll on the flood levels and the water was noticeably lower than yesterday. Of late any passing waders have been along the west shore and I've not had any in the North Channel for some time. Today was no exception with three different groups: near the southern end were four RINGED PLOVER, three quarters of the way along were eight DUNLIN and on the spit were one RINGED PLOVER and a rather late LITTLE RINGED PLOVER. Still no sign of any stints in amongst them but I'll keep trying. There were three YELLOW WAGTAILS still kicking around and I've been meaning to mention a delightful family of juvenile pied wagtails, newly hatched and frolicking around near the boats. There are good numbers of hirundines and swifts around in the evening and I even spotted a couple of sand martins this evening.

A row of eight dunlin (c) Adam Hartley