Alan Shorrock and I braved the cool wind to venture out to Summer Leys where we enjoyed some good birding and (eventually!) some good weather too. While a couple of uncommon waders were much appreciated it was a small flock of Little Gulls that pleased me the most.
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| Lapwing and Spotted Redshank record dross |
We began at Rotary Hide where Alan picked out a distant Wood Sandpiper on the opposite shoreline. A Yellow Wagtail also favoured the same area and these were the only birds of note seen from here. Pioneer Hide did not provide much of interest and we left fairly quickly, a tip off from another birder had us heading off towards the Screen Hide. Four adult Little Gulls were viewed from here as they fed actively alternating these feeding flights with periods of rest. I'm not a huge gull fan but these delicate beauties are another matter entirely. Scoping the many terns fishing over the main lake produced at least four Arctic Terns of which three were seen by another birder departing over Mary's Lake. Also on view from this hide was the reported Spotted Redshank on one of the islands in front of the hide. Unfortunately that lethal combo of heat haze and distance once again dogged my record shot endeavours as the accompanying dross will testify!
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| Little Gull gallery with Arctic tern in lower pic. |
Alan was lucky enough to spot a Hobby flying over the scrape and had also seen a Raven which I contrived to miss - perhaps some new binoculars might be in order? Garden Warbler was heard singing in scrub near Mary's Lake and was one of many warblers on site. Having left Summer Leys we made a brief stop at Irthlingborough Lakes and Meadows where we had a nice stroll but didn't add anything new to our tally. Some butterflies responded to the warm afternoon sun and these included several Speckled Woods but no new additions to my year list.
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| Another Little Gull/Arctic Tern record and Alan's pick of Black-heads making little gulls! |
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