Dragons and damsels

The sunny weather is encouraging lots of odonata (dragonflies and damselflies) onto the wing.

The sunny weather is encouraging lots of odonata (dragonflies and damselflies) onto the wing. A check of the dragonfly pools on the South Finger Walkway (path to Kingfisher Hide) this morning produced Azure Blue and Blue-tailed Damselfly, Common Darter, Emperor and at least 2 Small Red-eyed Damselflies.

Zeiss Hide
At least 75 Avocet were on the Top New Piece this morning along with 118 Lapwing, 61 Gadwall, 2 Common Sandpiper, 2 Redshank, 13 Teal, 2 Green Sandpiper plus an adult and juvenile Little-ringed Plover.

South Lake
The waders were tightly packed on the wader scrape this morning but at least 14 Ruff were found amongst the flock of 324 Black-tailed Godwit. Also present were 50 Redshank, an adult Little-ringed Plover with the chick, 6 Shoveler, 2 Green Sandpiper and 104 Lapwing. The deep lake held 77 Gadwall, a Little Grebe, 2 Pochard, 63 Coot and a Cetti’s Warbler was singing from the willow scrub along the eastern shore.

Summer Walkway
The newly surfaced path is now open. Work will be continuing over the coming weeks and months to install new gates and to bring a wide variety of wildflowers to the provide great habitat for butterflies and other pollinating insects. The juvenile Marsh Harrier flew past Middle Point this morning and on the river were 128 Curlew, 3 Oystercatcher and 38 Avocet.

Robbie Garnett Hide
Little-ringed Plover kept appearing this morning around the shoreline with a final count of 8 individuals, including 4 juveniles. Also seen were a Common Sandpiper, 2 Green Sandpiper, 6 Avocet (4 juveniles), a pair of Cranes and a Grey Heron.

Rushy Hide
A total of 11 Green Sandpiper were on the lower pond this morning, including what looked like the first 2 juveniles of the year. Also on the lower pond were a Greenshank, 3 Black-tailed Godwit, 3 Snipe, 3 Avocet (1 juvenile) and 12 Lapwing. The upper pond held 4 Gadwall and 12 Tufted Duck.

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