Patch Tick Twitch and a Jammy Find

Tuesday morning started off well when I found a Grey Plover out on Phase 1 Wet Grassland on my way to Charlie's office. It was nice enough to stay there all day and was visible from the public hide too. A Great Crested Grebe found by Glenn was on the North Lake. I was out with Charlie and one volunteer installing tree stakes for the orchard trees on the mound and despite not actually birding the increased number of Meadow Pipit during the rain was obvious. After finishing our work for the day I decided to do a final rinse of the site. The highlight was an impressive count of 6 Little Ringed Plover on Phase 3 Wet Grassland. eBird list from Tuesday here.

Grey Plover

Yesterday saw the first proper movement of Hirundines over the Farmlands. My final totals were 82 Sand Martin and 14 Swallow north. 1 male Wheatear was on the mound. Full eBird list here.

However, it has to be today that currently takes the prize for the best day so far this week. I was working from home today but made sure I was all ready to jump up and go if something good was found by someone else. At first light Glenn reported a Curlew on Phase 3 Wet Grassland. I haven't seen a Curlew here since August 2021 so I was going to pop down late afternoon once I had finished work if it was still about. Unfortunately, Arjun and Steve Thomas shortly after informed us all that the Curlew was nowhere to be seen so it obviously didn't hang around for long. The WhatsApp groups remained fairly quiet for the rest of the morning other than reports of 7 Wheatear on the mound and the odd group of Swallows and a Willow Warbler. Then just before half past two in the afternoon I got a text from Alan Wilkinson explaining that he was currently watching 4 Ruff on 100 Acre just about visible from the permissive path. I couldn't believe it! I still needed Ruff and I instantly shared the news onto the relevant WhatsApp groups before setting straight down for them. Whilst I was on the bus (thankfully timings worked in my favour for once Arjun expressed his pain that he had not long ago just looked there and that they must have dropped in during the rain shower after he had left. By quarter past three I had finally got to 100 Acre gate and instantly I got one of them in my bins. I then got my camera and scope out of my bag and then moved just inside the gate to get a slightly clearer view of all 4 of them. Whilst watching them run along the southern edge of the island I suddenly tuned into the fact that there were several Lesser Black-backed Gulls alarm calling in the distance. I realised that this must have been due to the presence of a bird of prey so I looked over towards where all the noise was coming from. Above the Incinerator chimney I picked up a large raptor drifting slowly south west and when I raised my bins I realised it was an Osprey! I had literally just turned up to twitch Ruff as a patch tick and had ended up finding another good bird. It continued low and flew right through the centre of the site. I called my mum because I knew she was on her way down for the Ruff but unfortunately she was still on a bus when the Osprey went over. After getting some photos of the Osprey (the settings were wrong) I went back to look at the Ruff on the island only to realise that they had disappeared! So now not only had my mum missed the Osprey by a matter of minutes but now I feared she was not going to see the Ruff. I waited by the gate until she got there and then we proceeded into 100 Acre to look at the back of the island. A slow walk round revealed that they had indeed flown off somewhere whilst I was ditracted by the Osprey. We continued to walk through 100 Acre past all the beds just in case they hadn't gone far. Just as we were discussing the possibility that they could've relocated to a totally different area of the site a flock of Teal flushed up from a bed up ahead of us. I was going to raise my bins to check there wasn't a Garganey in amongst them when I noticed that four of them weren't Teal at all and were in fact the Ruff. They flew off high west and seemed to just carry on going but thankfully my mum had decent flight views. As we left 100 Acre news came through on the WhatsApp group that Nick now had the Ruff on Phase 3 Wet Grassland so we headed over there to get better views of them on the deck. Thankfully they were kind and stayed put, allowing my mum to get views of them through my scope too. Whilst watching them on Phase 3 we noticed a small group of Swallows flying about and the almost continuous calls of Little Ringed Plovers was notable so I did a scan and found a minimum of 9 of them chasing one another about. It really had turned out to be a great afternoon birding and my eBird list can be seen here.

These Ruff have put me on 157 all time for Beddington Farmlands and are my second patch tick so far this year following on from the Stone Curlew. I will be hoping for Redstart to put me up by one more in the coming weeks.

Osprey - came quite close to the power lines

The 4 Ruff above and below

Willow Warblers, Dunlin and Birds of Prey

This morning my mum and I headed down to the Farmlands in the hopes that the male Ring Ouzel from yesterday had stuck around. Unfortunately we could not relocate it, but we did manage to find the first Willow Warbler for Beddington this year and behind it we could hear another individual. Both birds were in subsong but they were very quiet and could easily have been missed. Whilst watching one of them I thought I briefly heard a singing Sedge Warbler but unfortunately could not confirm 100%. My mum managed to get a couple of patch year ticks in the form of 2 Dunlin and a Sand Martin that were using Phase 3 Wet Grassland to feed. At least three Little Ringed Plovers and a Green Sandpiper were also on Phase 3. We also saw a Peregrine that carried its prey (a Ring-necked Parakeet) up to the top of the Incinerator chimney. After thoroughly scanning Phase 3 we then headed to the usual vismig spot as I thought that today was going to be good for raptors. My mum had to leave at 9am to get home for work but I stayed until midday. Overall I managed to get a minimum of 10 Buzzard, 3 Red Kite, 2 Sparrowhawk, 1 Kestrel and 1 Peregrine, plus 2 Greylag Geese flew south and 16 Meadow Pipit moved through. eBird list here.

Willow Warbler below:

Dunlin below:

Beddington Farmlands: 20th-26th March

The past week at Beddington has been a strange one. Overall, spring migration still seems pretty slow and vismig counts have been poor. However, most days there have been one or two decent birds...

Monday 20th:

Near the start of my morning walk along the permissive on route to Charlie's office I found a male and female Blackcap and I presumed (wrongly) that I would get quite a few more throughout the day: they turned out to be the only two I had that day. 2 Sand Martin over the North Lake at 11:00 were the only other birds worthy of being reported on the WhatsApp groups. Heavy rain in the afternoon failed to bring anything in. eBird list here.

Tuesday 21st:

Before we headed off to meet the volunteers at 10am Charlie and I decided to do a check of 100 Acre in the vehicle (Lapwings are not as disturbed by the vehicle as they are people on foot). Whilst slowly driving towards the first bed with a Lapwing on we heard an interesting wader call twice. I asked Charlie if he had heard it and explained that I was convinced it was a Golden Plover. He responded to say that he heard it but he thought it was a Redshank. I was very confused as to how I could have mistaken a Redshank for a Golden Plover and then became even more perplexed when we drove a bit further and flushed up a Redshank from the next bed. I apologised to Charlie for not agreeing with his thoughts and started to muddle over how I had messed it up quite so badly. We then turned left and drove a bit faster to go around the bed the Redshank had flushed from. As we got to the corner of the bed a bird flushed up from the path right in front of us. The vehicle had barely come to a stop when I jumped out and reached for my camera whilst shouting "Golden Plover!" Given it had almost been run over it was no surprise that it flew off north never to be seen again. It almost ended my confusion and made me feel better that I hadn't messed up after all. Charlie and I must have just heard two different birds. Sadly I failed to get any photos of what was my first spring Golden Plover at the Farmlands because as I learned later in the day my camera lens had condensation on it from Monday's afternoon rain. A check of Phase 3 Wet Grassland whilst Charlie went of to fix a broken fence with Tonka produced no more than a Little Ringed Plover and a Green Sandpiper. A male Pheasant was boldly walking around in the open on the mound too. In the afternoon as we were filling the holes in the Sand Martin Bank with new sand with the volunteers a minimum of four Sand Martins flew over us. At the end of the day I went for a final walk around the site. Whilst I was scanning Phase 1 Wet Grassland Mark Bravery reported on the WhatsApp group that a female Marsh Harrier had just flown south east over the South Lake. Unfortunately I was not in a great position to look for it and failed to get onto it. There were zero records of Marsh Harrier in 2021 but five records last year so it will be interesting to see if we get anymore this year. On my walk over the mound towards the usual vismig point I spotted 2 male and 2 female Wheatear. Full eBird list here.

Buzzard above and below

Male Pheasant

Male Wheatear

Female Wheatears above and below

Water Pipit below:

Wednesday 22nd:

I was at Hampstead Heath with Jamie and Keir (see blog post here) but Glenn had a day off work and managed to get a Grey Plover, 2 Sand Martin and a singing male Blackcap. Nick also got three Wheatear.

Thursday 23rd:

Not much happened. eBird list here.

Double-striped Pug

Saturday 25th:

With a strong westerly wind and rain I was hoping for a Kittiwake. Inland reports came up on Birdguides throughout the day but unfortunately we (Glenn, my mum and I) did not get one. Instead we managed to get the first Lesser Redpoll for the site this year. It called once as it flew south over the Sand Martin Bank at 06:50. About twenty minutes later a Red Kite drifted north west over the mound/Phase 1 Wet Grassland. By 9am Glenn separated from my mum and I to head home and whilst we had a male Wheatear at the northern edge of the mound he had three at the southern end. A walk around 100 Acre was fairly quiet. We then headed back south along the permissive path and by the North Lake hide there was a singing male Blackcap. Nick managed to get three others elsewhere. My mum then left to go home and I went back up onto the mound to do a skywatch in the hopes that Beddington would finally join the Alpine Swift party. Sadly no joy there but I did notice that there seemed to be a high number of Shelduck on the North Lake and I counted 18 of them which was the highest count of the year so far. Before I went home I decided to check Phase 3 Wet Grassland one more time. Early morning we had only managed a single Little Ringed Plover but Nick had seen three later on so I wanted to at least spot a second one. It did not take me long to find two LRPs on one of the near islands. With my scope I then began to scan the island to the right of them to look for the third bird. What I did land on instead was a Dunlin - the first for the Farmlands this year. The strong wind made it difficult to get a decent phonescope shot of it but I eventually managed. It was quite a long-billed bird so I'm thinking it might be Calidris alpina alpina. Full eBird list here.

Greylag x Canada Goose hybrid

Presumed alpina Dunlin

Sunday 26th:

The heavy rain when I first woke up early morning made me decide to go back to sleep as it was forecast to stay heavy for most of the morning. By mid morning interesting reports started to come through on Birdguides and then Ed Stubbs found a Kittiwake in SW Surrey. Shortly after an Alpine Swift was then found at Walthamstow. I forwarded on the reports to Dodge and then got ready. We headed down to the Farmlands at midday and realised we had made a mistake not coming earlier. A singing male Blackcap welcomed us as we came in over Mile Road Bridge and we went and set up on the mound and just waited. After a quiet first hour we walked across the mound to Phase 3 to check for waders. All we managed was a Green Sandpiper and 2 LRP before heading back towards the hide because there was an obvious band of drizzle heading straight for us. As we were walking back we started to notice a few kettles of gulls (mostly LBBGs and Common Gulls) and then a Red Kite flew south west. As we neared the hide we realised that the drizzle wasn't as bad as we had thought and so we stood up on the Sand Martin Bank instead. Again not much was happening and the drizzle got worse so we eventually moved into the hide. From behind us a flock of 14 Black-headed Gulls (our first of the day and getting more difficult to get now that most have left to go to their breeding grounds) dropped down and investigated the lake. This made us head back out onto the Sand Martin Bank despite the drizzle just in case more gulls came in. We then decided to walk along the west bank of the mound and check Phase 1 Wet Grassland but as expected it was very quiet. A Sand Martin did fly over our heads though. We then headed back up to our original spot on the mound. The Sand Martin was then seen lots flying around the North Lake. A bit later a hirundine came in from the south and I assumed it was the same Sand Martin Bank but when I got my bins on it I realised it was actually the site's first Swallow of the year and behind it was another one. They just went slowly north and did not hang around. We continued watching the sky for another twenty minutes before all of a sudden and rather unexpectedly Dodge turned around and said, "that's a male Ring Ouzel next to that Crow." I turned around and sure enough there it was feeding on the mound. I managed to get a phonescope of it before the crows and magpies chased it into the copse of trees. Last year we had to wait until late April for the first Ring Ouzel of the year and we really would have never predicted that for today (it's the first in Surrey this year). We did not see it fly off but after another brief spell of feeding on the ground we never saw it again. Dodge then got onto a gull in the distance flying directly away from us and told me to get my scope on it. Neither of us could see any reason why it was not a Kittiwake but it was just too distant by the time it eventually banked to say for certain so unfortunately it's one that got away. Full eBird list from the day here.

Male Ring Ouzel above and below

Hampstead Heath

On Wednesday I met Jamie Cedar and Keir at Hampstead Heath. It was mostly for a social but as always some birding was done too. It was my first time meeting Jamie and also my first time visiting the site. Upon my arrival at one of the southern entrances I was welcomed by the noisy chatter of  a flock of Siskin. A Kestrel circled above our heads at our meeting point at Parliament Hill. We did not have much of a plan for where to walk but Jamie and Keir mentioned a Tawny Owl that's visible during the day and I explained that I had never seen a daytime Tawny Owl so we headed towards that. Jamie pointed me in the direction of the rough area that it roosts and gave me the challenge of finding it myself. Of course I happily accepted the challenge but surprised myself when within about two seconds I had got my bins onto a lovely Tawny Owl! Jamie then had to leave us but Keir and I carried on walking about. Shortly after the owl I had a bit of a shock when I saw a male Mandarin Duck swim out from one of the lake edges. Keir explained that they're about all the time but I just hadn't really given it any thought. Remarkably, this Mandarin was actually an eBird tick for me - the last one I saw must have been around a decade ago! A high Peregrine glided over as Keir and I came to the end of our walk around. My full eBird list from the day can be viewed here.

Roosting Tawny Owl

Grey Heron with prey (large frog or toad)

Male Mandarin Duck

Chiffchaff Fall

Today it became apparent very early on that there had been a local fall of Chiffchaff. Firstly, I had my first Chiffchaff in Beddington Park this year singing away and it was shortly followed by another. Then as I entered the Farmlands another singing individual was the first bird I heard. I met Glenn up on the mound at our usual skywatching point. From there we could here two more Chiffchaff - one by Mile Road gate and one somewhere up on the mound with us. Once the rain hit we came off the mound and made our way towards the bird group hide by the Sand Martin Bank. Whilst we were there we noted at least another 4 Chiffchaff and Glenn told me that he had two in the South East Corner before I had arrived. On Glenn's eBird list he has recorded 13 Chiffs so obviously picked up more on his way home. Birders at other sites across Surrey also reported an increase in their numbers. Other highlights from the morning included a flock of 5 Fieldfare flying south east, a small movement of Chaffinch, a Brambling going north, and 6 Greylag Geese and a calling Little Ringed Plover on North Lake. I'd have loved to have rinsed the whole site today but I had to leave at 10:00 and I knew Nick was going to do that for me so I just stuck to skywatching. On his walk around he managed to pick up another LRP, 6 Green Sandpiper, 1 female Pheasant, 6 Water Pipit, 5 Wheatear, 1 Stonechat and 1 Nuthatch. A White-fronted Goose and 2 Little Gull were reported in Surrey to the SW but unfortunately neither made an appearance for us. Once I got home more reports came through on the Surrey WhatsApp group of Little Gulls dropping down and there was also a Spoonbill at the London Wetland Centre, so it was a bit unfortunate that I couldn't have stayed any longer to keep a look out. My full eBird list from the morning here.

UK Life List

Bold = Scarce/Rare        Red = Not Yet Self Found/Joint Found

1. Snow Goose
2. Greylag Goose
3. White-fronted Goose
4. Tundra Bean Goose
5. Pink-footed Goose
6. Brent Goose
7. Barnacle Goose
8. Canada Goose
9. Mute Swan
10. Bewick's Swan
11. Whooper Swan
12. Egyptian Goose
13. Shelduck
14. Mandarin Duck
15. Garganey
16. Blue-winged Teal
17. Shoveler
18. Gadwall
19. Wigeon
20. American Wigeon
21. Mallard
22. Pintail
23. Teal
24. Red-crested Pochard
25. Pochard
26. Ring-necked Duck
27. Ferruginous Duck
28. Tufted Duck
29. Scaup
30. Lesser Scaup
31. Eider
32. Velvet Scoter
33. White-winged Scoter
34. Common Scoter
35. Long-tailed Duck
36. Goldeneye
37. Smew
38. Goosander
39. Red-breasted Merganser
40. Red Grouse
41. Ptarmigan
42. Capercaillie
43. Black Grouse
44. Grey Partridge
45. Golden Pheasant
46. Pheasant
47. Quail
48. Red-legged Partridge
49. Feral Pigeon
50. Stock Dove
51. Woodpigeon
52. Turtle Dove
53. Collared Dove
54. Cuckoo
55. Nightjar
56. Swift
57. Water Rail
58. Corncrake
59. Spotted Crake
60. Moorhen
61. Coot
62. Crane
63. Stone-curlew
64. Black-winged Stilt
65. Avocet
66. Oystercatcher
67. Grey Plover
68. Golden Plover
69. American Golden Plover
70. Killdeer
71. Ringed Plover
72. Little Ringed Plover
73. Lapwing
74. Kentish Plover
75. Upland Sandpiper
76. Whimbrel
77. Curlew
78. Bar-tailed Godwit
79. Black-tailed Godwit
80. Hudsonian Godwit
81. Jack Snipe
82. Woodcock
83. Snipe
84. Grey Phalarope
85. Red-necked Phalarope
86. Common Sandpiper
87. Green Sandpiper
88. Marsh Sandpiper
89. Wood Sandpiper
90. Redshank
91. Lesser Yellowlegs
92. Spotted Redshank
93. Greenshank
94. Turnstone
95. Knot
96. Ruff
97. Curlew Sandpiper
98. Stilt Sandpiper
99. Temminck's Stint
100. Buff-breasted Sandpiper
101. Sanderling
102. Dunlin
103. Purple Sandpiper
104. Little Stint
105. White-rumped Sandpiper
106. Least Sandpiper
107. Pectoral Sandpiper
108. Western Sandpiper
109. Black-winged Pratincole
110. Long-tailed Skua
111. Arctic Skua
112. Pomarine Skua
113. Great Skua
114. Puffin
115. Black Guillemot
116. Razorbill
117. Guillemot
118. Little Gull
119. Kittiwake
120. Sabine's Gull
121. Black-headed Gull
122. Mediterranean Gull
123. Common Gull
124. Caspian Gull
125. American Herring Gull
126. Herring Gull
127. Yellow-legged Gull
128. Great Black-backed Gull
129. Glaucous Gull
130. Lesser Black-backed Gull
131. Iceland Gull
132. Little Tern
133. Gull-billed Tern
134. Black Tern
135. White-winged Black Tern
136. Arctic Tern
137. Common Tern
138. Roseate Tern
139. Sandwich Tern
140. Little Grebe
141. Slavonian Grebe
142. Great Crested Grebe
143. Black-necked Grebe
144. Red-throated Diver
145. Black-throated Diver
146. Great Northern Diver
147. White-billed Diver
148. Black-browed Albatross
149. Leach's Storm Petrel
150. Fulmar
151. Cory's Shearwater
152. Sooty Shearwater
153. Manx Shearwater
154. Gannet
155. Cormorant
156. Shag
157. Glossy Ibis
158. Spoonbill
159. Bittern
160. Little Egret
161. Western Reef Heron
162. Cattle Egret
163. Great White Egret
164. Grey Heron
165. Purple Heron
166. Osprey
167. Black-winged Kite
168. Honey Buzzard
169. Golden Eagle
170. Sparrowhawk
171. Goshawk
172. Marsh Harrier
173. Hen Harrier
174. Pallid Harrier
175. Montagu's Harrier
176. Red Kite
177. White-tailed Eagle
178. Rough-legged Buzzard
179. Buzzard
180. Barn Owl
181. Little Owl
182. Tawny Owl
183. Long-eared Owl
184. Short-eared Owl
185. Hoopoe
186. Bee-eater
187. Kingfisher
188. Wryneck
189. Great Spotted Woodpecker
190. Lesser Spotted Woodpecker
191. Green Woodpecker
192. Kestrel
193. Merlin
194. Hobby
195. Peregrine
196. Ring-necked Parakeet
197. Red-eyed Vireo
198. Golden Oriole
199. Red-backed Shrike
200. Isabelline Shrike
201. Long-tailed Shrike
202. Great Grey Shrike
203. Woodchat Shrike
204. Jay
205. Magpie
206. Chough
207. Jackdaw
208. Rook
209. Carrion Crow
210. Raven
211. Coal Tit
212. Crested Tit
213. Marsh Tit
214. Willow Tit
215. Blue Tit
216. Great Tit
217. Penduline Tit
218. Woodlark
219. Skylark
220. Shore Lark
221. Bearded Tit
222. Zitting Cisticola
223. Icterine Warbler
224. Sedge Warbler
225. Blyth's Reed Warbler
226. Marsh Warbler
227. Reed Warbler
228. Great Reed Warbler
229. Grasshopper Warbler
230. Sand Martin
231. Swallow
232. House Martin
233. European Red-rumped Swallow
234. Wood Warbler
235. Yellow-browed Warbler
236. Hume's Warbler
237. Pallas's Warbler
238. Dusky Warbler
239. Willow Warbler
240. Chiffchaff
241. Iberian Chiffchaff
242. Greenish Warbler
243. Pale-legged Warbler
244. Arctic Warbler
245. Cetti's Warbler
246. Long-tailed Tit
247. Blackcap
248. Garden Warbler
249. Barred Warbler
250. Lesser Whitethroat
251. Whitethroat
252. Dartford Warbler
253. Goldcrest
254. Firecrest
255. Nuthatch
256. Treecreeper
257. Wren
258. Dipper
259. Starling
260. Siberian Thrush
261. Mistle Thrush
262. Song Thrush
263. Redwing
264. Blackbird
265. Fieldfare
266. Ring Ouzel
267. Spotted Flycatcher
268. Robin
269. Nightingale
270. Bluethroat
271. Red-flanked Bluetail
272. Red-breasted Flycatcher
273. Pied Flycatcher
274. Collared Flycatcher
275. Redstart
276. Black Redstart
277. Whinchat
278. Stonechat
279. Amur Stonechat
280. Wheatear
281. Waxwing
282. Dunnock
283. House Sparrow
284. Tree Sparrow
285. Grey Wagtail
286. Yellow Wagtail
287. Eastern Yellow Wagtail
288. Citrine Wagtail
289. Pied Wagtail
290. Meadow Pipit
291. Tree Pipit
292. Water Pipit
293. Rock Pipit
294. Chaffinch
295. Brambling
296. Hawfinch
297. Rosefinch
298. Bullfinch
299. Greenfinch
300. Twite
301. Linnet
302. Redpoll
303. Crossbill
304. Goldfinch
305. Serin
306. Siskin
307. Lapland Bunting
308. Snow Bunting
309. Corn Bunting
310. Yellowhammer
311. Reed Bunting
312. Little Bunting
313. Black-faced Bunting
314. Song Sparrow
315. Blackpoll Warbler

Latest Addition: Hudsonian Godwit 07/09/26

Ruddy Shelduck and Year Tick Wheatears

This morning I met Anand at Beddington Farmlands at Phase 3 Wet Grassland to see if the Stone Curlew had stayed overnight. Unfortunately we could not find it anywhere. I did however here a singing Chiffchaff coming from the South East Corner and a Fieldfare was about somewhere but I couldn't see it. We then headed away from Phase 3, to the Enclosed Lagoons, where we saw a Jack Snipe and 2 Water Pipits. We then made our way up mound to try and find the male Wheatear that Andy Harding had just had. Before we managed to see it I got a phone call from Andy. I knew he was down by Phase 3 so I thought he had relocated the Stone Curlew. I never expected him to tell me that he had a Ruddy Shelduck out on Phase 3! Had Anand and I really glanced past it whilst scanning for the Stone Curlew or had it only just dropped in? We headed back south over the mound to Phase 3 and instantly got onto the bird. I then had to leave Phase 3 to head to Charlie's office for a short meeting. On route to the office I found a pair of Great Crested Grebes on the North Lake and then on Phase 1 Wet Grassland landed my scope onto a stunning 1st cycle Caspian Gull. I spent a while getting a few phonescopes of the Casp and then had to rush back to the office as otherwise I would have been late. As I went past Phase 2 Wet Grassland I noticed at least seven Stonechats.

Once my meeting had finished I headed straight back to Phase 2 to try and figure out just how many Stonechats there actually were. I managed to confirm that there were 9 birds together. Andy then reported three more male Wheatear not too far away so I headed round to see them. I must have been where he had seen them less than five minutes after he had put the news out but they were nowhere to be seen, so I headed back to Phase 1 to see if the Casp was still about. Sure enough the Casp was there bossing about some of the nearby Herring Gulls and some Magpies. I decided to wait and watch it because it was such a lovely individual and only my second Casp here this year (last one was 1st January). Whilst I waiting for it to fly up an adult Med Gull dropped in calling. Just as I was thinking of leaving the Casp and heading back to the mound to do a skywatch it took off and kindly flew past Dave and I, calling as is went, rather than flying away from us. Dave and I then headed up the mound and managed to find 3 Wheatear. I am not sure if all of them were different birds to the ones Andy had but one of ours was a female so there were at least 5 Wheatear on site today. Our short skywatch was decent too - we had a Red Kite fly west, 3 Buzzard and a Sparrowhawk. The Great Crested Grebes started displaying and a male Reed Bunting flew south over the North Lake. Just before leaving the site we headed back to Phase 3. The Ruddy Shelduck had gone but I managed to pick out three Little Ringed Plovers (2 males and 1 female). The two males were already chasing each other about. On the way out of the South Gate there was another singing Chiffchaff. Full eBird list here.

Ruddy Shelduck above and below

1st cycle Caspian Gull below:

Adult Mediterranean Gull below:

LRPs Have Returned (oh and a bonus Stone Curlew)!

The day started well yesterday at Beddington Farmlands when I picked up an adult Mediterranean Gull amongst a kettle of Black-headed Gulls over the North Lake just before 7am. Then as I started to make my way towards Charlie's office I spotted 3 Stonechats along the fence running east from Mile Road gate. A small movement of Meadow Pipits was also noted, with 26 flying north - my highest count here in months - and a Rook flew south. Once with Charlie we did a quick check of Phase 3 Wet Grassland before cracking on with some work to the Sand Martin Bank. The Black-tailed Godwit that I had found the day before was still present but other than that and the male Wigeon it was pretty quiet. Inside the Sand Martin Bank we spotted three hibernating Peacock Butterflies, plus a dead one. Outside of the bank there was a Small Tortoiseshell flying about in the afternoon sunshine and a few Buzzards circled above. At one point we stopped working to go and have a chat with Derek Coleman just as he was leaving the site. Whilst talking to him I heard a Little Ringed Plover from somewhere around the North Lake but we could not see it. This was the first record for the year here. In the afternoon when Charlie had left to go home I decided to bird the site more and try and locate where this Little Ringed Plover had gone down. 4 more Stonechat were present by the Main Effluent Channel but there was no sign of any Wheatears on the mound. Over on Phase 3 the Blackwit was still there but also to my delight were 3 Little Ringed Plovers all together. Full eBird list from yesterday here.

Little Ringed Plovers above and below

Buzzard

Peacock Butterfly with fungi growing on it

Today was an ever better day birding wise despite not being able to see everything that was reported. I birded with Glenn and Dodge for about an hour before I left to head off to Charlie's office. About 5 minutes later I got a phone call from Glenn so I knew they had seen something good. They had just found a female Black Redstart right by where I had just been standing with them. Charlie and I went to check Phase 3 before heading round to try and see the Black Redstart. The Blackwit was no longer there but the 3 LRPs were still about. Glenn and Dodge had just made there way over to try and find them so I pointed them out to them. Unfortunately by the time Charlie and I got back round to where the Black Redstart had been there was no longer any sign of it. Glenn and Dodge then found a male Wheatear up on the mound, which was the first Wheatear record at the Farmlands this year. Later on whilst doing some work with Charlie I heard my phone ringing again and this time it was Dodge phoning me. He explained to me that Glenn had just found a Stone Curlew and that it had dropped down and landed somewhere on the mound. I told Charlie and then started making my way towards them in the hopes that they could locate its whereabouts. Just as I got onto the mound where I could them both it suddenly flew up from ahead of them and so I fired off some distant record shocks just in case it was the only views I was going to get. Thankfully it looked like it had dropped down on Phase 3. I went to go and find it out there and eventually with my binoculars I managed to spot it stood preening itself on one of the middle islands. It has to be the first wader I've seen here that had the attitude to fight back/scare off any corvids that got too close to it. A remarkable bird to see and yet another patch lifer here at Beddington! During the 6 hours that I watched it out on Phase 3 I also had a Sand Martin and 2 adult Med Gulls fly north. Full eBird list from today here.

Stone Curlew below:

My initial flight views

Adult Med Gull

Kestrel above and below