August -Autumn Migration

 Ironically the start of the school summer holiday pretty much coincides with the start of autumn migration in the bird world, with non-breeding waders making a particularly early start. So on 4th August we headed off early with Sue Miles to  find a Wood Sandpiper at Cuckmere Haven. We had no luck on our walk up towards the beach, but managed to spot it feeding on the meander on our return. Fortunately it stayed put despite the comings and goings of various kayaks and through the telescopes we could easily pick out the prominent supercilium and patterned back that distinguish it from other similar waders. 

Wood Sandpiper

18th August saw us head across to Oare Marshes in Kent, one of my favourite reserves as it is possible to get very close to the birds. The annual Bonaparte’s gull was present, already moulting into winter plumage,its black head fading to ‘headphones’. 

Bonaparte’s Gull

A number of Yellow Wagtails were around the saltmarsh and flitting along the footpath ahead, including some very bright individuals, our first of the year. Traditionally this is a top visit for Curlew Sandpiper and Little Stint but the water levels on East Flood were exceptionally high and only Black-tailed Godwits and Avocets were present, both in substantial numbers. Eventually we managed to pick out a single, distant Curlew Sandpiper on the mud banks of the Swale together with a few Golden Plover in breeding plumage, but it was rather disappointing in comparison to our previous visits.

The next day was another early start for a drive across to Ferry Pool at Pagham where a Temminck’s Stint had lingered for a couple of days. Although always favouring the back of the pool and remaining distant we noted a very different feeding action to the nearby Dunlin.

On 22nd August we were on duty for an SDOS public engagement event, manning the scopes at Brooklands Lake. As luck would have it a juvenile Yellow-legged Gull was reported the evening before, and we spent some time studying the identification guides and viewing photos of the bird. This study paid off when a ‘different’ bird drifted into view amongst the juvenile Herring Gulls, which was eventually confirmed as the target bird. A good result and another useful tick.

Juvenile Yellow Legged Gull (back)
and 2nd year Herring Gull (front)

24th August was an SDOS outing to Thorney Island. Last year we had seen an Osprey on the same outing, so we were hoping for a repeat showing. And indeed we again struck lucky with a bird perched on one of the landing lights with a large fish under its foot, where it stayed throughout our visit. Several Whinchat and a Great White Egret were our other highlights of the trip.

From here we continued onto Dorset where we enjoyed visits to Lodmoor, Portland and West Bexington. There was good migration movement with plenty of Wheatear, Whinchat and Yellow Wagtail seen together with a few Willow Warblers, but we dipped on Little Stint, Red-backed Shrike and Wryneck which had all been reported. Our luck now seemed to have run out!