a new wader for the patch

Sunny calm mornings have been fairly scarce here of late, so it's been a few days since I checked the lake. However it was worth a look as I noticed a wee wader running about on the mud. A wee zap of zoom and hey presto - a wood sandpiper! Patch gold and a full fat patch tick! Galley doesn't have much in the way of wader habitat, so such things are pretty scarce around here. Delighted to get one at last! A common sandpiper was also skulking around, for comparison purposes (123 for year).

more migs!

Its been a slow couple of weeks at Galley - predominantly breezy north west winds haven't particularly conducive to going out looking for migs, and on the few mornings when it has been calmer there's been very little about. Until today....

First stop this morning was the top lane, and as I meandered down it, still half asleep, I noticed a dove flying past - flung up the bins in time for a blip view of a turtle dove zooming over the ridge towards Shite Lane - a good start!

There didn't seem to be much else until I arrived at Shite Lane to try and dig out the dove, only to find a whinchat on the whinchat hedge! Another bonus, and one that has been tricky enough in recent years!

A jaunt down Marsh Lane produced the years first 3 swifts, and by now I was feeling pretty happy with my lot, after such a dire couple of weeks, but the best was yet to come! Stopping to check Long Strand for the two female long-tailed ducks that I'd seen earlier in the week, I noticed what looked like a roosting wader on the rocks. Or was it just a grey stone that looked a bit like a roosting wader? Good job I checked more closely as it turned out to be a grey plover!! Only my 4th ever at Galley, and the first one I've actually seen on the deck here! Amayzing! (105)

No migs yet

A lovely spring morning at Galley and I spent a pleasant 2 hours hoofing round the patch seeing very little! But it felt like there was always a chance of something; a wheatear, a hoopoe, or a great spotted cuckoo, which is the first time there's been any hope of a migrant since late October.

A scan of the lake this lunchtime, and the long-staying female long-tailed duck is still here. Did score a bonus half dozen black-tailed godwits in with the curlew flock (79), which was nice - can be tricky enough to get on the year list, so good to get them out of the way early on.

Exciting times ahead! Bring on the spring!

A wader day

May continues to surprise, with a few year ticks still dribbling in. Since the last post, I’ve jammed a huge flock of 16 (count ‘em!) bar-tailed godwits and a soaringbuzzard, as well as a wee late fall of spotted flycatchers (at least 8). Wasn’t expecting much today on the mig front, and couldn’t do better than 2 collared doves and a lingering spotted flycatcher. However, waders were on the move today, as a look at Long Strand showed – another 2 bar-tailed godwitsconsorting with a knot!! And lingering in view for several minutes! Unheard of!

Noticed a massive number of hirundines on the deck in the horse field by the lake late morning – there must have been at least 150 swallows, c30 house martinsand  the odd sand martin hunkered down – never seen them sheltering like that before! By mid-afternoon, numbers had at least doubled, but couldn’t pull anything rare out of the bag. 10 dunlin on the lakeshore was another spring wader bonus though – 113 and counting!