Pain in the (wry)neck

Thought high tide would be a good time to catch sight of the Little Egrets, I was not disappointed, saw maximum of 10 after various counts over 30 mins, and possibly one or two more present as they were quite active. The Lapwing and Starlings being flushed by a Peregrine added to the atmosphere. 2 Greenshank very busy feeding on a shallow pool, they kept circling round a Grey Heron, which seemed totally unfazed. The hedge by Freeman’s Pool produced some goodies.


Marsh, high tide.
Little Egret 10.
Greenshank 2
Peregrine 1
Lapwing, Redshank, Curlew, Mute Swan.
Raven 2

Flood
Teal 8
Lapwing 1
Moorhen 3
Snipe 2

Wildfowlers’ Pools
Kingfisher 2
Green Sandpiper 1
Shoveler 1

Freeman’s Pools
Canada Geese 170/180
Greylag 30/35
Gadwall 1
Little Grebe 1
Usual Coot
Lesser Whitethroat 2
Chiffchaff 3
Great Spotted Woodpecker 2 in dead tree’s
Swallow, some heading south down river, others
seemed to be hanging around.
SteveW

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Today I made my last ever post-work visit to the patch, given that I am now officially unemployed.

A pair of gadwall and a female tufted duck were on Freeman's Pools along with all the usual suspects. A kingfisher was on the upper pools.
40+ swallow were feeding in the area.

Very little at the Wildfowlers' Pools mainly due to a hare-seeking lurcher and its attendant 'gent'.

8 egret were visible on the marsh, as were the 2 greenshank as seen by Steve earlier.

15 teal & 5 snipe were on the Flood.

Met a fellow birder who visits Aldcliffe infrequently (but given that he lives in Lincolnshire he still gets there more often than a lot of 'local' birders...) by the name of Matthew Strahan who, as well as reporting another kingfisher at the Wildfowlers' Pools and a sparrowhawk at Freeman's Wood, mentioned a wryneck that he and his father had seen at Walled Meadow last September - I later bumped into his dad by the marsh gate who also recounted the tale!
And I was only thinking the other day how nice it would be to see another wryneck at Aldcliffe - it's 20 years since I last saw one there! (03/09/89)

Jon C.