Sunday, May 02, 2004

Washes waders



Spent a large part of yesterday afternoon/early evening on the washes. Spring wader passage seems to be at its peak so far, which is good 'cause we didn't really have any at all last year! Bar-tailed Godwit, Grey Plover, Sanderling, Little Ringed Plover and Greenshank have all been seen in the past week - not bad for an inland area.

We were just about to go home when Steve called "Temminck's Stint - flying along the bank, past the Shelduck, past the Mute Swans, over the drove - now!" He ID'd it on tail pattern - all white with a black central stripe. Pretty impressive.

Unfortunately, it's such a big area that it was nigh-on impossible to get onto a titchy wader flying hell-for-leather. I saw it as it flew over the drove, but didn't get anything on it at all - bugger!

Had a phone call this morning about "four or five Wood Warblers singing at Woodwalton Fen". In the PBC area, that's definitely worth checking out, since the species is only a rare migrant, and I neeeeeeeeeeeeeed it.

Sadly, by the time a small group of us had arrived, there was no sign of them. Actually, "four or five" in a small area does sound a little odd, since it's practically a vagrant to this area and they were "doing that trilling call" - I thought Wood Warbler's call was a bit like Bullfinch? Anyway, it's not the end of the world... There was the usual array of warblers, including Grasshopper and Garden Warblers. So not entirely wasted.



What's in my CD player: Gold - Ryan Adams