Kingfisher's back

Another week without rain, and the receding water levels continue to reveal more mud.  The Benarth Hide gives the best views, though not in the mornings when you're looking straight into the sun.  This morning's haul included a ruff (present since Friday), 9 dunlins, 9 ringed plovers, 3 greenshanks, green and common sandpiper, 2 snipe and several black-tailed godwit, while we've also seen knot (yesterday) and spotted redshank (22nd) in the last week.

The good news is that a kingfisher has been seen several times this week, presumably one that has bred farther up the river and moved here as the summer ends.  Let's hope we have lots more sightings in the next few weeks.  Spectacle of the week has been the little egrets, with an impressive 29 feeding together from the Tal-y-fan Hide yesterday morning; the highest count so far has been 43 birds.  On the lagoons, pochard and little grebe are the highlights, but our summering goldeneye seems to have left.

Some mornings, the scrub and bushes have been alive with warblers, but it's a matter of luck; some mornings, it can be very quiet.  Sunday and Monday this week were both good days, with lots of willow warblers, whitethroats, blackcaps, and a few redstarts, lesser whitethroats and garden warblers thrown in for good measure, and the bonus bird was a spotted flycatcher on Sunday, our only record this year.

There are just two Summer Evening Strolls of the year left; tonight at 7 pm and next Wednesday (31st).  At dusk yesterday, more than 500 swallows roosted in the reeds along the estuary side of the lagoons; will there be a repeat performance tonight?