September 6th 2009

It was a case of no pain no gain this morning as I managed to get out to farborough spit with Dave, John and Colin finding 6 Yellow Wagtails and 3 Swift before lady luck paid us a visit with sightings of Knot and Whimbrel.
Two unidentified waders flew towards us but we lost them and as we tried to relocate we picked up a Whimbrel which circled the reservoir calling and flew close by. As we continued along the bank the two unidentified turned out to be juvenile Knot which took off and gave cracking views as they flew towards toft bay only to return minutes later. From farborough spit we also had juvenile Ringed Plover on the shoreline in toft bay and 3 Common Sandpiper fly past. Only other birds of note were Chiffchaff, Buzzard and 2 Great-spotted Woodpecker.
Left John to continue on to toft bay while we had breakfast at the Diner in Long Itchington enjoying the antics of the multitudes ogling the mass of classic cars in the car park.
Napton on the Hill was our next stop where we had 6 Spotted Flycatcher, Chiffchaff, Willow Warbler, Buzzard, Treecreeper and Coal Tit before moving on to Brandon Marsh where we managed Jay, Dunlin, Greenshank, 3 Snipe and Frosted Orange.
On the way home we checked on Lawford Heath but only saw 5 Buzzard then it was back out in the evening to check out the roost with the Bumbling Bears finding at least 3 Yellow-legged Gulls.

Frosted Orange by BoB Hazell

Richard