Tuesday 26th April

It's been another reasonable couple of days on the Meadow. The star bird of the period was a wonderful BAR-TAILED GODWIT, found by Barry Batchelor on Monday though unfortunately in the incredibly windy conditions it didn't stay long enough for me to catch up with it. We've been getting a lot of Plovers moving through as well. On Monday there was a mixed flock of 9 and by today this total had risen to 14 with a dozen RINGED PLOVER and a couple of LITTLE RINGED PLOVER with two bonus DUNLIN thrown in for good measure. Apart from that we've had the lovely pair of GARGANEY still gracing the floods - I'm guessing that they're failed breeders already who, rather than have another go, have decided to give up and have a leisurely spring enjoying the delights of the floods. The 6 OYSTERCATCHERS are still around as well, I'm guessing that some of them will be breeding nearby in some of the various gravel pits. Other birds still about on the floods are: the two COMMON TERNS and a few Teal, Gadwall and Shoveler. On the Wagtail front there has been a single YELLOW WAGTAIL and another WHITE WAGTAIL to report.

Here's a Bar-tailed Godwit from a couple of years ago on the Meadow

Late April and early May is generally the peak period for spring wader passage on the Meadow and so far, with the floods in reasonable shape, we're getting some good birds. Things to be looking out for over the coming days as well as the usual waders might include Whimbrel and even Spoonbill and one can always hope for a genuine rarity of some kind to pop in - it's been a good year in the country for Kentish Plover for example so fingers crossed!