I visited the reserve yesterday (Saturday 25th September) on a cloudy and blustery afternoon. The highlight was a flock of 7 grey plovers that flew in over Phase 2 from the River Trent and then headed north, easy to identify in flight by their black 'armpits'. This is the largest number of grey plovers I have seen at a site in Nottinghamshire. Other waders on Phase 2 were 4 green sandpipers, a snipe, a greenshank flew in, and 11 golden plovers and 7 lapwings flew west.
On Phase 3 there were 3 little egrets, 2 snipe and a kingfisher. Duck numbers are starting to build up on the reserve with mixed flocks on the lagoons and Phase 1 and included a female pintail, 5 shovelers and 30 teals amongst the mallards, gadwalls and tufted ducks.
The strong north wind was keeping most small birds in the cover of shelter but a flock of about 35 goldfinches was feeding on creeping thistle heads and there was a mobile flock of about 20 linnets. In the hedge by the eastern public footpath a great spotted woodpecker was calling and there were two chiffchaffs in a long-tailed tit flock. Another chiffchaff was singing from scrub next to the Sustrans cycle track.