I've been rather neglecting the Meadow over the last week or so - after all it is June. However I made an early morning visit before work today to see what was about and I was pleasantly surprised. As is only to be expected the flood waters have been in further retreat though at least the green algae has now gone leaving us with some rather narrow pools surrounded by lots of mud. The birds still seem to like it and there are plenty of Black-headed gulls picking their way over the mud and floating around on the water. In the north west corner there are clearly some trapped fish still for there were no less than six each of LITTLE EGRET and GREY HERON all standing around looking well fed. There was a noticeable increase in post breeding Lapwing numbers with about forty of them dotted about the place including quite a few youngsters which was good to see. A couple of OYSTERCATCHERS were over towards Stint Corner and there was even a LITTLE RINGED PLOVER working its way along the shoreline.
The highlight of the morning though was as I was about to depart when I heard the distinctive call of GREEN SANDPIPERS overhead though try as I might I couldn't see them. Fortunately they made a second circuit which enabled me see what turned out to be a pair of these delightful waders which are rather hard to get on the Meadow - these were in fact a year tick. Sadly they didn't land but flew off eastwards, perhaps to Otmoor.
I didn't take any photos this morning so sticking with the Oystercatcher theme
here are some photos from much earlier in the year taken by Roger Wyatt (c)
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