Blacktoft Sands

 My daughter and I had a weekend at Spurn Point arranged but stopped off at Blacktoft Sands RSPB reserve on the way.

The pools had apparently been very dry due to the drought but recently flooded by a few very high tides.  The Marshland pool held quite a few waders including Dunlin, Spotted Redshank, Black-tailed Godwit, Snipe and a single Avocet. 

Spotted Redshank - Not easy to photograph when feeding!

One did show it's head eventually.

At the Ousefleet hide there were several hundred dabbling ducks.  These were mainly Teal but with good numbers of Wigeon, Pintail, Shoveler, Gadwall and a single Garganey in eclipse plumage.

Red-necked Phalarope at Little Marlow GP

 Found by Dave Ferguson at about 10:45am.  Dave phoned me and I put the news out on Whatsapp.  I was at Hughenden Park at the time and it took me 20 minutes or so to get to Little Marlow.  By the time I got there a few other birders had turned up.

The bird was flighty but remain until the next day at least allowing a lot of birders to see it.  A second county and site record for me.

A short video clip

I didn't obtain any decent still photos as the bird was fairly distant and moving around a great deal.

White-rumped Sandpiper!!

 This White-rumped Sandpiper was found during the afternoon of 21st July 2022 on the flood at Dorney Common by Dave Cleal and identified by Adam Bassett.  I was fortunate to be among some of the first birders on site and had some fairly close views.  The bird remained until dusk the following day when it was thought to fly off.

This is a first record for Buckinghamshire and only the second I have seen in the UK.

White-rumped Sandpiper

Showing it's white rump.

A brief video clip of the White-rumped Sandpiper

Birding Late June

21st June 

We get quite a few Lapwing at Little Marlow but not many colour ringed birds.  This individual was ringed at Elmley Reserve in Kent on 9th May as a chick!  That is quite a distance for such a young bird!

29th June

 Local birder Pete Stevens pt out news of a recently fledged family of Spotted Flycatchers at Wooburn Common.  As I hadn't seen any this year I decided to have a look.  They gave fantastic views along a quiet road near Castleman's Farm.

Then on to Little Marlow Gravel Pit to see if anything new had arrived.  New for me but seen earlier in the day by Adam Basset was this 3rd calendar year Yellow-legged Gull.  It was resting with c100 Lesser Black-backed and Herring Gulls.

Hare - A Change from Birds!

 I visited Emmets fields near Little Marlow to help locate some birds for a bird race (Grey Partridge and Wheatear) and was pleasantly surprised to come across several Hares.  One individual did not see me for a while and came reasonably close.  Once it realised I was present it soon turned around and ran off rather quickly.

Lesser Spotted Woodpecker - April 2022

 This female Lesser Spotted Woodpecker was picked up by the pecking sounds.  No drumming or calls were heard.  It was interesting to see it moving backwards down the branch while feeding.

A Pair of Garganey at Little Marlow GP

 With a few number of Garganey being reported around the country, we were hoping that one might turn up at Little Marlow.  We were not disappointed when a pair arrived at the site on 2nd April having been found by local birder Mike Mayall.  

The pair were initially rather distant and at one point flew around the lake as though they might depart. However they eventually moved to a shallow part of the lake in the NW corner where most of the short video clip below was taken.