At last I have a spring migrant sighting to report! Two LITTLE RINGED PLOVERS (new for the year) were reported (per Jarrod Hadfield & two unknown birders) on the river bank near the boat house this morning with at least one of them staying all day. It's about time that we had a sighting of this delightful plover - let's hope that we get plenty more of them to follow. Other waders over the last couple of days include up to 8 RUFF, 6 DUNLIN, 4 REDSHANK and 1 OYSTERCATCHER. We actually ended up having a two tick day today as Tom Evans flushed a WOODCOCK this morning from the Trap Grounds. Tom has been checking out this under-watched area regularly and has of course already found a Firecrest there - let's hope that something even better turns up in due course.
There was also a splendid PEREGRINE on the ground this morning eating a kill it had made. This bird has been in the area for a few days now: it made a couple of unsuccessful passes over the floods two days ago.
The gull roost has actually been quite good over the last few days, with the calm conditions, the "flat" light, reasonable numbers and the closeness of the birds all making for good evening viewing. Whilst I've only been finding Common Gulls, this evening Jarrod Hadfield managed to turn up a couple of adult MEDITERRANEAN GULL for his efforts, always nice to see though we must be getting near to the end of the spring passage for this species.
Drake Teal (c) Derek Woodard
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