Mega Summer Rarity!

Blue Sky!...

But then normal service resumed...

Seventeen Little Egrets feeding in torrential rain in the unintentionally flooded Decoy Field.

Weekly Roundup 2nd to 8th July 2012...

A feral Greylag Goose was the first new bird of the week, joining the 600+ feral Canada Geese, never exactly a common bird at The Swannery, one or two a year is average. The only other noteworthy wildfowl were the lingering drake Goldeneye and the reappearance of the drake Pintail (of dodgy provenance).

The feral Greylag Goose.

The (dodgy) drake Pintail, now moulting into eclipse.

A few more waders were on the move... four Common Sandpipers on 'The Bund' on Wednesday were the first of the autumn, as were two Green Sandpipers and an (islandica) Black-tailed Godwit on 'The Nest Site' on Thursday, when a Curlew also flew north. Lingering however were the single Lapwing and two Redshank joining the two pairs of breeding Oystercatcher (although the tern island pair have now lost all their chicks and the other re-nesting pair had their two eggs swamped on Saturday but are still sitting, so fingers crossed).



Common Tern on 'The Bund'...
Here's hoping that the White-winged Black Tern present today at nearby Lodmoor RSPB will be here tomorrow! 

Their are still thirty plus Common Terns on and around the tern island and the original five pairs have fast growing young and the later arriving ten pairs still appear to be sitting despite the atrocious conditions.

The only passerines worthy of a mention though were two Sand Martins, the first since May.

At last I managed to sneak up on a male Banded Demoiselle.