Where's the black redstart?

We haven't seen the black redstart again since last weekend, though we have had a couple of reports of birds at the start of the week - our thanks to Richard Bryant who found this smart male on one of the picnic tables last weekend and has sent us this cracking photo.  Up to five wheatears and a whimbrel were here at the start of the week, but there have been few passage waders since.

Migration has, inevitably, slowed down this week, with most birds getting down to nesting.  There are plenty of thrushes, robins and warblers dashing back and forth with beakfuls of food, though some are still singing - such as a noisy lesser whitethroat near the bridge pond this morning.  Our check of the islands this morning shows that we still have at least four pairs of lapwings on eggs and five pairs of oystercatchers.  A common sandpiper is still around - is its mate sitting on a nest somewhere?  A pair of shovelers were seen on Monday, but not again since.

A little ringed plover was seen from the boardwalk screen yesterday (19th) and there were three ringed plovers outside the coffee shop the previous day (18th).  The water in both lagoons is dropping fast with no rain and plenty of warm sunshine, and with little water in the adjacent river and a dry forecast, there's no likelihood of that changing any time soon. 

Our male goldeneye is still hanging around, the stoats have been seen almost daily, common blues are enjoying the sunshine and the house sparrow family is doing well in the Visitor Centre nestbox, unaware that we're watching their every move on-screen in reception!