Kingfishers

Lade - 0700hrs - cool, cloudy, w1 - An early morning sortie over the pits delivered good numbers of Chiffchaffs in the willows; one isolated bush held 15 birds and there must`ve been at least 50 in the area. Not much else migrant wise apart from 2 Blackcaps, Reed and Cetti`s Warbler. The Green Sandpiper remained on the muddy islands and a Kingfisher was a nice surprise as they`re not particularly common here, although this is the time of year that they seem to appear as the youngsters disperse from breeding sites. All three hirundines were over the water in good numbers and a few Mipits drifted south. Kestrel and 2 Sparrowhawks also noted.
ARC - 0900hrs - Came out of Hanson just as work commenced to clear in front of the hide. Six Dunlins, 5 Goldies and a Blackwit was about it wader wise, plus all the usual wildfowl and hundreds of Sand Martins over the water. Another Kingfisher posed briefly for a digiscope shot.

                                          Kingfisher, ARC

Burrowes - 1330hrs - From the centre 3 Avocets, while from Firth the Pectoral Sandpiper eventually showed well after being flushed by a Sparrowhawk! 12 Pintails and 50 Wigeons scattered around the pit.
The Patch - Terrific session here in good light with quality birds comprising 4 Little Gulls (one very dark winged juv), 3 Black Terns, and singles of Guillemot, Kittiwake, Common and Arctic Terns. Together with TH and a group from London we watched an adult light phase Arctic Skua chase a Sandwich Tern just offshore. Further out another 50 Sandwich Terns and 20 Gannets noted, plus several pulses of Swallows making a late afternoon crossing to France.
On the walk back a Black Redstart performed well on the power station wall.