As usual we have continued presence of the mixed waders on the marsh up to and including yesterday – Ian Traynor sent this one of two of the up to three curlew sandpipers present, along with a ruff:
We have had some spectacular counts of ruff for our site on an evening with John L recording 11 on Sunday and the two Pete’s 13 on Monday respectively. Extra points for anyone who can find a buff-breasted sandpiper with them! Meanwhile Dunlin, ringed plover and common sandpiper are all in attendance too. Check out Jess’s blog for her latest artwork. The best trans-Atlantic vagrant I could find yesterday was this ‘snow goose’ on Watton NR – though I think its origins may be slightly dubious!:
Beware too when looking for ‘funny geese’ of some the hybrids present like this barnacle x Canada which has been knocking around for some time:
Better though came courtesy of John H who recorded the first pink-footed goose mixed with the greylags on Watton yesterday. Monday also saw another black tern on D reservoir in the morning, with the black-necked grebe still present. The occasional yellow wagtail and wheatear are still being found on the access road – Jeff Barker pic here.
Gull wise we have recorded up to 26 lesser black backed gulls now with Martin recording a 2nd winter mediterranean gull on D again on Sunday. Osprey was seen by several on Saturday and hobby hawking dragonflies over North Marsh yesterday. And driving home yesterday night I had a late swift at Hutton Cranswick.
Kingfishers continue their show – please note due to personal circumstances I have had to cancel the advertised kingfisher event for the coming weekend However it is quite easy to self-guide your own walk – simply do what I was going to do and sit in North Marsh hide patiently! Tony has another tribute to them on his site here, and Ian Traynor sent this great pic across from the weekend:
Ian has more great pics on his Flickr stream here. A couple of insects – birch shieldbug ID courtesy of Doug:
Painted lady on South Marsh West:
And a less welcome harlequin ladybird in the car park:
The weekend also saw a few more migrants – Bill C reported montagu’s harrier down barmston drain on Saturday, and a merlin was seen over site Sunday.
Finally these pictures really needed a merlin of a different type in accompaniment – thanks to John Coish for these great formation pics of the white-buzzard memorial flight over Watton:
