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Flooded fields at Swineham |
When I wrote
this post in April I thought I knew what heavy rain was. That was before the events of early July which saw the winter flood meadows around my local gravel pits at Swineham became summer floods.
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Black-tailed Godwits |
One flooded field near the pits has looked good for waders for several weeks, but there haven't been any. That all changed last night when over 150 of 5 species turned up - the great majority Black-tailed Godwits, many still in smart summer plumage, but also 7 Snipe and singles of Greenshank and Lapwing.
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Snipe |
Star of the show though was a single Wood Sandpiper, which showed distantly at first but was feeding actively and eventually came quite close. If the White-rumped Sandpiper present on Brownsea today sticks until Saturday it could be a good wader week in Poole Harbour...
A couple of Common Gulls were also good to see. I could have stayed longer, but for the second time in as many weeks biting insects forced me to retire early having lost several pounds of flesh to their unwelcome attentions.
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