Warm and wet - A classic morning for a drop in of passage waders as thundery hail and rain showers crossed the Marsh throughout the day. The highlight was a smart adult Knot still in breeding plumage on a distant island out from Firth, along with at least 10 Common Sandpipers, two Greenshanks, two Little Ringed Plovers, a Wood Sandpiper and a Redshank. Also noted: 55 Common Terns, two juvenile Marsh Harriers and a Raven over calling. Across the road from Hanson hide five more Common Sandpipers, 20 Lapwings and the usual Avocets and Oystercatchers on the islands was about it wader-wise. However, as for bird biomass I estimated there to be around 2,000 waterfowl scattered across ARC with the bulk numbers made up from Mute Swan, Cormorant, Great Crested Grebe, Black-headed Gull, Coot, Pochard, Tufted Duck, Gadwall, Mallard and Shoveler, plus a few Teal, two Wigeon, a Garganey, a Pintail and a Red-crested Pochard. Crossing the causeway road another 500 plus birds were noted on New Diggings. A check of the beach on a falling tide from the Tavern viewpoint yielded 120 Mediterranean Gulls and 40 Sandwich Terns amongst c1,000 Black-headed and Common Gulls.
Yesterday at Lade on the high tide 220 Curlews, four Bar-tailed Godwits and two Whimbrels were at roost on the desert. Duck numbers were high here too with 220 Pochards, 210 Tufted Ducks and 30 Shovelers, plus 45 Great Crested Grebes and five Mediterranean Gulls. The highlight in the garden moth trap yesterday was a Blair`s Mocha, a former rarity but not too much of a surprise what with the proximity of their larval food plant, Holm Oaks, close to our garden.
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