At Farlington at least one of the recently reported Jack Snipes was being watched but still took a little while to get on to with so many birds hunkered down in that corner, including Common Snipes for confusion and a single Spot'shank for more interest; eventually the JS showed well, feeding, preening and bobbing up and down over an hour or two with the scope and was even identifiable from the attached photo, albeit a massive crop!! Thirty or so Avocets, upwards of 65 Pintails and the usual stuff on the lake and just one heard Water Rail. Sitting at the head of the lake on a dropping tide as waders and ducks stream overhead has been one of life's little joys for 51 years now!! Just on departure, the c/c Marsh Harrier appeared over the reeds.
NB 1 Probably no one will remember the one-hit-wonders that were the Reynolds Girls thirty years back with their only record with title (almost) as above!!
NB 2 Titchfield's ringed gull two days ago was ringed this year, unsurprisingly being a 1cy, four months back on the island of Griend, Netherlands having travelled just over 500km and not seen elsewhere. Griend is known for its Sandwich Tern colony, the largest in Western Europe and for adding a new animal to the Dutch list this year, a springtail. The joys of Wikipedia!!
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| Some of the Pintail |
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| A couple of Wigeon |
