Well! What a few days that was!
The Loch of Strathbeg has a new bird of its all time list and the Greater Yellowlegs is still here. It seems to be favouring the area to the right of Tower Pool in front of the sluice which is highlighted in the photo and if it is here it is only viewable from Tower Pool Hide. But this morning it was viewable from the Visitors Centre right over the far side of the Low Ground and later, for a change, nearer to its spot near the sluice and still viewable from the Centre.
(This is just a guide so don't say anything when it turns up at Bay Hide tapping on the window)
Another American visitor which has been even more evasive, difficult to find or just simply not here was the Green-winged Teal which was here on Saturday and since is being evasive, difficult to find or simply gone!
I did write a recent sightings blog on Sunday but thanks to the computer having a tizzy moment it didn’t make it online but that has meant that the 3 new additions to the Strathbeg year list seen yesterday can go on this one. 2 were found by Vicky and Ben doing the Webs count from the North End of the Loch with 1 Stonechat and 12 Bar-tailed Godwit being found in that area and later Ben found a Black-tailed Godwit right in front of the Visitors Centre!
Other waders on the reserve include the Ruff which is flitting between the Low Ground and the pools in front of the centre, 3 Ringed Plovers, numbers of Curlew which can fluctuate from 2 to 125+ and the occasional Dunlin which are milling around with the flocks of Lapwing. Possibly not of note to anywhere outside of Strathbeg but it was nice to see a male House Sparrow on the feeders outside the office other day amongst the flocks of Tree Sparrow.
For those of you who haven't been inside the centre recently, the Black-headed Gulls are back on the island preparing for the breeding season. They are vyer loud, noisy and when they all fly off and go quiet for a few seconds it's bliss!
There is a Great-crested Grebe hanging around on the northern part of the loch which was first found last Monday and a bit of year list spring cleaning has gone on with Treecreeper, Lesser-blacked Gull, Long-tailed Duck and Wren going on when in reality they have been here quite for a while.
To finish, I’ll just tell you about a nice couple who I got chatting to the other day watching the Greater Yellowlegs from Tower Pool Hide. It turned out that the lady had seen the Greater Yellowlegs fly over her head in when it was in Northumberland a few months ago (assuming that this Yellowlegs is the same one)!
Phew! Right, on with more brushcutting tomorrow on the Low Ground and we shall see what we shall see!