August 24th 2011

After a clear night Draycote had a “ your wasting your time” feel about it as Bob and I walked out to the farborough spit where surprisingly we could only find a single Ringed Plover along the bank and none on the spit with a Greenshank and 2 Common Sandpiper. The spit had one of yesterdays Sanderling while the other was probably in biggen bay but to far away to be certain where there were 2 more Greenshank plus another Greenshank in toft.
Three Black Terns were out in the centre with 3 Common Tern including an adult still feeding a juvenile and the only other birds of note were a Little Ringed Plover, Wheatear, 4 Yellow Wagtail, Whitethroat, Dunlin, 3 Gadwall, Shelduck and 3 Raven.
In the afternoon it was another visit to Napton on the Hill but visitors wandering off the designated footpaths had upset the locals so stayed clear of some the arguments breaking out (note – all footpaths run north to south, none east to west apart from the lane past the church to windmill)
Once I had seen 2 male Redstart, 3 Lesser Whitethroat, 11 Spotted Flycatchers and Little Owl I cleared off sharpish to Beacon Hill where it was a lot more tranquil with 2 Wheatear, Redstart, 3 Yellow Wagtails and a distant flight view of a presumed Lesser-spotted Woodpecker. Also in the area were Hobby, 3 Buzzard, 3 Raven, 3 Spotted Flycatcher, Whitethroat and 24 Stock Dove.
Arrived back at the pond for the roost just as the weather deteriated and ended up getting soaked but the sun came back out and I managed 2 Ruff, Redshank, 6 Common Sandpiper, Grey Wagtail and female Goosander along with 8 adult, 3 third year, 3 second year and 2 first year Yellow-legged Gulls (16) and adult winter Med Gull. One unidentified owl hunting along the grassy bank of biggen bay long after dusk but I could not get any detail of size or jizz.

Richard