Weekly round-up: 19-26 July

Hi folks!

A shorter and more concise round-up this week. Partly because of the first important sighting. A little baby boy for Toby! That is why he isn't here, and the duty falls to me.

Well, oddly enough the big news of the week has to be the Baird's sandpiper. Much kerfuffle about this and the ID. First seen on Tuesday, it was initially identified as a little stint. By Wednesday it had stopped lurking in far away parts and had come close enough to see it was something different. At that point the thought was it was a white rumped sandpiper, one of which had been a long-staying visitor last year. Then finally on Wednesday this was re-evaluated to be the rather much rare Baird's sandpiper. Whew!

The bird itself lives up in the high arctic in Canada and Siberia, before migrating down to South America. This one has evidently got somewhat lost! It has been showing well from Wednesday onwards, on mud right in front of the visitor centre. As you might expect, it has also attracted some attention and we've had a lot of visitors come to see it.

So, what else is about? Well, the wader list has been most impressive. John the site manager had an afternoon of birdwatching on Tuesday and racked up 25 species of wader. Curlew sandpiper numbers have reached 20, wood sandpipers have been around most days, as have knot (most in nice summer colours). A lone sanderling was about on Tuesday too. Black tailed godwit numbers continue to be impressive, with up to 900 at once.

With regards to other birds, Friday brought in a single little tern, plus three sandwich terns flying over. Turtle doves continue to show and there have been some jolly nice sightings of marsh harrier. Talking of harriers, both male and female Montagu's harrier have been spotted, though you have to be in the right place at the right time.

On the non-avian aspect, the chicory next to the visitor centre has bloomed. And pond dipping sessions pulled out a great diving beetle that was most impressive!