During my daily exercise walk onto the Reserve on 26th April, it was apparent that the sunny weather of late was taking its toll on the newly created scrapes and pools, as many of them have completely dried up. However, a couple were created in the Hay Meadow area (meadow north west of the hide) which have not and they are attracting a range of birds: Redshank, Oystercatcher, Shelduck, Lapwing, Pied Wagtail and a good flock of Whimbrel.
One of a pair of Redshank using the pool.
A couple of Oystercatchers displaying there.
Shelduck and Redshank keeping and eye on each other.
Lapwing, Redshank and Oystercatcher in fairly close proximity to each other.
Whimbrel landing on the pool margins. On previous occasions there have been in the region of 30.
They eventually settled down to foraging in the meadow.
All very promising!
Dave, I remember you telling me a while ago that you had to release some of the water to allow work on the sluices to be carried out - hence presumably, the lack of water in the north end of the International Pools.