Thursday 19 May 2016

Sanderling & Marsh Harrier at Upton Warren

Two Sanderling
Two Sanderling
Marsh Harrier under attack
 Marsh Harrier
 Black-tailed Godwit
Avocets 
Coot chicks

After completing my morning walk around Salford Priors I headed over to the Flashes at Upton Warren for a quick visit. This ended up being about four hours with the reserve being full of good birds as well as catching up with Terry "Gullman" Hinnet and fellow pitter Mike Inskip.

Two Sanderling were the original star attraction and were showing well with three Dunlin. This was the first sighting of the species since May 2013. The waders were creeping closer to the hide when everything was flushed by a Marsh Harrier hunting the far reed bed. The larger gulls mobbed the Harrier every time it tried to get near to the reeds until it eventually gave up and headed south. 

Other sightings included a Black-tailed Godwit, two Oystercatchers, Cetti's Warbler, two Shelduck, Lapwings with 11 chicks, a Shoveler, four Gadwall, 34 Avocets with just one chick & five Little Ringed Plover. Finally there were three Common Tern on the education reserve as I headed back to the car.

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