The Circus Comes To Town - 25/05/2012

I had a day off today so I took myself off to the usual patch and just as I pulled into the lay-by at Sluice Farm, James text to say there was a Black Winged Stilt at Goldcliff! So I carried on driving on the coastal road and arrived there twenty minutes later to find it viewable from the first hide. It was over the other side of the lagoon but luckily Mat from the Wetlands was there with a scope. However I managed lots of distant shots (let down drastically by heat haze and well, the sheer distance!)


It was really interesting watching the Avocet driving away everything that came near, even a Heron three times their size, and any marauding gulls -

Fearing road closures because of the Olympic Torch relays I headed off but couldn't resist a quick exploration down Saltmarsh Lane on the off chance of some Marsh Harrier..

It was a stunning walk with the temperature easily in the high twenties, and there were plenty of smaller bodied birds in the lane, with plenty of Chiff Chaff, Linnet, Blue Tit, and Chaffinch. There were plenty of warblers to be heard too, and I had one short glimpse of a Reed Warbler.

And then I heard the Cuckoo.

I must have chased him up and down the lane for about 45 minutes before I could spot him perched up. After last weekend's brief sighting I was determined to get a positive ID, and I saw him fly over at one point, but it took a while to relocate him before I realised there were actually two calling nearby. This is the best shot I managed, the crafty thing was always one step ahead of me, and I think he managed to drive me a bit cuckoo myself to get this one!

 Just as I was heading off a saw a small family of Swans with some fluffy cygnets in the reen right by the small Saltmarsh Lane car park-