A fairly easy place to 'drop in on', on the way home from work, it can be pretty hit and miss. However, between myself and fellow regular 'Ardley slogger', Gareth Casburn, we've racked up a pretty decent wader list including Curlew & Wood Sandpiper, Little Stint, Spotted Redshank, Sanderling and most common passage wader species. Not to be sniffed at for this part of the world!
It's therefore shown it was possible for the site to pull in some decent waders and so plenty of times, we've speculated as to what juicy rare we may bump into there one day, with Pec Sand or Lesser Yellowlegs both previously mooted.
This September has seen an impressive number of vagrant, nearctic waders from cross the pond, as a result of persistent westerly winds. This certainly
piqued my interest and spurred me on to check Ardley and other potential, local sites just in case.
This September has seen an impressive number of vagrant, nearctic waders from cross the pond, as a result of persistent westerly winds. This certainly
piqued my interest and spurred me on to check Ardley and other potential, local sites just in case.
Having given Grimsbury Res a good go, early on Sunday 20/09 with not a huge amount going on, I headed home to ready the kids for a family birthday lunch. A short while later I get a call from Gareth C. with the jaw-dropping news that he had found a probable Baird's Sandpiper. That call swiftly followed photos - oh my word, the most perfect, crisp juvenile Baird's indeed!!!
Having showered and dressed in no more than 5, hectic minutes, I groveled to my wife and kids, promising not to be too long and zoomed off on the 15 minute drive to Ardley!! I soon joined Gareth, relieved to get there in time to enjoy his amazing find - Oxfordshire's 1st Baird's Sandpiper no less! My 3rd Baird's and without a shadow of a doubt, the most enjoyable, seeing it on one of my local sites. Yes, it is incredibly gripping not to have found it myself, but I was super chuffed it was my fellow patcher! Even better it spent it's time on the closest bit of shoreline possible, allowing some wonderful views.
Away from the excitement of the Baird's, it's been a slow month with little reward, for plenty of effort! But that is local patching in the Midlands!
Still, it's been a joy to encounter Clouded Yellows on a pretty regular basis. Hinton Airfield, has held a few and luckily, I've managed a few half decent photos on the rare occasions they settled for more than 2 seconds! If the sun was out though, I had no chance! Got to make the most of them as it could be many, many years until the next big Cloudie year!
The airfield has also produced both Redstart and Wheatear, although very surprisingly I've just have not been able to connect with a local Whinchat, despite hammering suitable habitat at the airfield and elsewhere too!
The garden butterfly season is just about continuing. Having only recorded them once before, I had a very unexpected succession of Brown Argus sightings, across a couple of warm days during the first week of September. Painted Ladies and Hummingbird Hawkmoths are still making occasional appearances.
I'm now hoping and praying I can get a Clouded Yellow on the garden list before the weather really starts to turn - won't get many better opportunities than this year!
Elsewhere, not much else to report other than still regular Green Sandpipers in several places and the odd juv Ringed Plover (including a very approachable bird at Grimsbury Res).
Autumn though is really getting going now and before too long, the first Redwings will arrive and vis mig will hopefully come to the fore. Mipits and Skylark movement is certainly in full swing!
No comments:
Post a Comment