With thanks to volunteer Graham for his report and photos
Although the weather forecast for Sunday was for thundery showers it stayed dry for most of the day. The growing pond in front of West Mead Hide had attracted a good selection of wildfowl, including Wigeon, Mallard and Pintail.
At this time of year many of the male birds are in their eclipse plumage, such as this Pintail
and this Wigeon.
Having had views of a distant Marsh Harrier, two Cattle Egrets and a single Black-tailed Godwit I continued along the trail. The Highland Cattle resting in Winpenny Field presented an impressive sight.
At Winpenny Hide, nearby wildfowl including a couple of pairs of grazing Gadwall.
It was not long before a neighbouring clay pigeon shoot started, causing many of the birds on the South Brooks to disperse, so I moved on to the North Brooks. Several Snipe were viewable from Hanger View, along with a good number of wildfowl. At the hairpin bend viewpoint I shared a brief in flight view of a Hobby with a regular visitor (Paul) before continuing to Nettley’s Hide. There were no birds to be seen near the hide, and I soon made my way back to the hairpin bend where fellow Hides & Trails Volunteer Martin was sharing scoped views of the wildfowl with some visitors. I stopped to pick out some of the Snipe when a call came over the radio from another H&T Volunteer Nick, who had spotted a Golden Plover from Winpenny Hide. I returned to Winpenny Hide to join Nick and some visitors. We enjoyed clear scoped views of the Golden Plover as well as a Ruff and 9 Dunlin that Nick had found earlier. The waders were quite active, and we spent some time trying to keep track of them as they flew to and fro. I spotted a Marsh Harrier sitting on the ground, which also took to the wing a couple of times. As it perched in a Willow on the far side of the river I noticed a second Marsh Harrier approaching it, enabling me to get my final photo of the day.