Having been 'off-line' since Monday on returning I find the warden's report of that day too interesting to miss out on. How did a pair of Avocets manage to move their three young from Sandgrounders across Marshside Rd to Junction Pool without getting squashed? Its hardly a quite road so was it at dead of night? As for the rest of Mondays news , there was a male Garganey, 70 Black-tailed Godwits & 45 Dunlin on Rimmer's Marsh. On Polly's pool; 3 Curlew Sandpipers (1 grey, 1 pale pinkish, 1 in storming breeding finery), 30 Dunlin, 2 Ringed Plovers, 140 House Martins, 6 Sand Martins & 60 Swifts feeding over the pool. Lapwing chicks dotted about all over the place; we need some rain before the place dries out though! There were about 200 Starlings at the back of Sutton's Marsh with a mass fledging of juveniles, 12 House Sparrows were feeding along Sutton's ditch parallel to Marshside Rd - another was in the scrub alongside Crossens inner, where a Kestrel was hunting.
Today, early morning produced 3 Curlew Sandpipers and 1 Little Stint. There were 65 Dunlin and 160 Black-Tailed Godwits on Polly's pool. 2 Ringed Plovers and 6 male Gadwall were in front of Nel's Hide as were 2 broods of Lapwing chicks, both of 4 - a brood newly hatched, the other about 2 weeks old. At Faircloughs pool; 1 GBB Gull, 3 LBB Gulls, 6 Herring Gulls, 2 male Wigeon.
In the early afternoon a female Marsh Harrier was over Crossens outer marsh, a male Yellow Wagtail from Sandgrounders hide and 2 male Teal on Polly's pool.