Birding in September always has that air of something special, that something unusual is just waiting to appear, when the conditions are right. At this time of the year millions of birds are on the move, streaming down the coast as they move from their breeding grounds to their winter ones often involving flying thousands of miles. And because of this, if the winds are right, or a bird gets lost, you can get birds turning up from Siberia or maybe America, if the wind is right.
BLACK TAILED GODWIT
Today at Minsmere the star bird was a PECTORAL SANDPIPER, one of those rare birds brought to the UK through freak weather conditions. This is a bird from America that has been blown over here, or got lost on migration, and now is stuck here, doomed to wonder the wetlands of Western Europe on its own for the rest of its life. This bird, a juvenile, was in the Konik Field, and was very hard to find. A brown bird feeding on churned up mud meant it was only visible through a telescope, and only then with difficulty. Its main feature was its streaky brown chest which turned to white just below its pecs - hence the name. It was slightly bigger than a dunlin, and had a unique bill, but it was a brown job, so it was a bird of subtle looks.
COOT
On the Scrape migrating WADERS were still holding up well, with a good variety present.
On West Scrape there were present:
1 LITTLE STINT 1 GREEN SAND 1 COMMON SAND 1 SNIPE.
South Scrape had been turned a red colour, by some sort of vegetation, and looked like something from the War of the Worlds. It was fairly quiet and held:
14 AVOCETS 30 DUNLIN 1 OYSTERCATCHER
South Scrape had been turned red
And on East Scrape:
1 CURLEW SAND 7 RINGED PLOVERS 9 DUNLIN 2 SNIPE 5 AVOCETS 6 GODWIT
East Scrape - large numbers of GEESE were present, mainly BARNACLE.
There was a small influx of DUCKS since I had last visited, the majority of them TEAL, with smaller numbers of SHOVELLER and GADWALL, and a couple of WIGEON. The male GADWALL had returned to their breeding plumage after the summer moult, which is known as eclipse, but most of the other species were still a variety of brown.
Teal in flight, East Scrape
On the beach, there were few migrants about, with six STONECHATS present, which could possibly be resident birds or incoming migrants. There were no signs of wheatear or whinchat, which you would expect at this time of year.
STONECHAT feeding in the dunes.
An interesting record was of a GRASS SNAKE, slithering across the path, by the entrance to the woodland. Its a Minsmere first for me, and despite many years of connecting with nature, its always strange to see wild snakes in the English countryside.
The second part of this blog on Minsmere will detail the bird ringing and reedbed hides. I couldn't fit it all into one blog as it would be just too long a read.
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