11th May 2016: Sanderling and Spotted Flycatcher

What a day... I don't think I've known any other day at Grimsbury with so many birders around! Sorry, this will be a long post, so the highlights were a Sanderling, Common Tern and Dunlin passage, a Spotted Flycatcher and an interesting Yellow Wagtail - probably 'Channel' Wagtail.

I started off this morning hoping the easterly winds and rain would still deliver some goodies, and that it did. I was out 06:00 to 08:30 just watching the reservoir and Ian and Mike were out for a look too.

Only four minutes in and six terns dropped out of the gloom and settled on the buoys. With the poor viewing conditions, limited flight views and with me being rusty on my tern ID, it took me a while to decide what they were but I'm pretty sure they were all Common Terns. Now I have reviewed some pictures, I'm still not certain there wasn't an Arctic Tern or two in with them... There was also one Dunlin, four Common Sandpipers and a Little Ringed Plover present. The terns stayed till 06:40 and all left high north.

A minute later five Dunlin circled the reservoir and left north. The one that was present disappeared so I think these were four new birds and the one left with them. Between 06:46 and 07:20 tern numbers built up to five again and by 07:40 there were none. I am fairly sure these were at least five new birds but the odd one or two came and went and made me wonder if they were all part of the previous six and hadn't really left. At 07:45 another Dunlin flew around and left high north. Best bird of the morning/day was a Sanderling that came in at 07:56. It landed and flew off and landed again. I just got Mike on to it and it seemed to disappear. We thought it had gone but it reappeared so may have just been feeding out of sight somewhere. Lastly just before we left another Dunlin flew straight through, again high north.

The Sanderling stayed all day and was enjoyed by many observers. Ian returned mid morning and Steve Holliday was out too. They had a further two and six Common Terns fly through, assuming these too were new birds and not the same group from earlier. At lunch time John and Mark were out and there were no terns and no more were seen throughout the day.

Courtesy and copyright of Mile Pollard

Clive was out mid afternoon and found a Spotted Flycatcher along the river - actually flycatching off the reservoir fence. In the evening I saw the flycatcher briefly again along the fence but it unfortunately soon disappeared and wasn't seen again. I actually think it may have continued it's migration as some nice weather broke through. Colin decided to see what was at the Borrow Pit and found a Common Sandpiper, a Yellow Wagtail and at around 18:50 found a 'Blue-headed' type wagtail. John and I hot-footed it up there for a look and found it along with at least three other Yellow Wagtails. Distant views suggested Channel Wagtail and John managed to get closer and get some good pictures that I think confirm that identification. This of course is a hybrid so it doesn't go on the year list but was interesting to see anyway.

Courtesy and copyright of Kyle Smith

Wagtail pics courtesy and copyright of John Friendship-Taylor