2012 has been a really good year for wading birds on the reserve, with the addition of the scrapes on Big Otmoor definitely adding to the spectacle. On Tuesday (19th June) the 23rd wader species was added to the ever growing reserve year list when a grey plover in full breeding plumage was seen on one of the scrapes. These scrapes are managed in such a way that water levels are slowly drawn down during the summer to provide more and more bare mud for waders to feed on, although management has been trickier this year considering the rainfall we've had, it's still be very successful and the following wading bird species have been seen on the reserve since January:
Avocet
Bar-tailed godwit
Black-tailed godwit
Common sandpiper
Curlew
Dunlin
Golden plover
Green sandpiper
Greenshank
Grey plover
Jack snipe
Lapwing
Little-ringed plover
Little stint
Oystercatcher
Redshank
Ringed plover
Ruff
Spotted redshank
Snipe
Whimbrel
Woodcock
Wood sandpiper
Sadly I don't have a photo of the grey plover but here's a picture taken by Peter Barker of one of our fabulous redshanks:
Sticking with bird news, the corncrake that was first heard last Tuesday (12th) hasn’t been heard again since Friday (15th), it may well have moved on but considering the size of the reserve and the bad weather there is a chance it has just gone unnoticed for the past week.