WWT and local sightings 21 to 23 July 2006

23 June 2006 At WWT a darker start to the day turned into low cloud and drizzle. This brought in some new birds and was a refreshing break from the heat. A total of 14 species of wader were on site.

The small Martin Smith hide pool had 15 Little Egret at 0710, 2 Grey Heron and the Water Rail family today.

The Top New Piece had a female Ruff, 1 Snipe, 24 Dunlin, 6 Little-ringed Plover, 3 Redshank, 1 Spotted Redshank, 12 Black-tailed Godwit, 1 Common Sandpiper, 4 Green Sandpiper, 2 Greenshank, 70 Lapwing, 1 Little Egret and 10 Teal.

The River produced 1 Whimbrel, 4 Little Egret, 100 Curlew, 4 Black-tailed Godwit, 65 Dunlin and 4 Yellow-legged Gulls.

South Lake was busy with 84 Black-tailed Godwit, 1 Common Sandpiper, 27 Redshank, Common Terns with two fledged chicks, male Greater Scaup and many wildfowl and gulls.

The 100 Acre had a possible 5th pair of Common Terns on a nesting raft. A Clouded Yellow was around Tommy's Loopway/Tin Shed area.

Neil returned to the Cotswold Water Park this afternoon and saw the Lesser Emperor at Swillbrook Lakes getting better views than I had yesterday.

22 July 2006 WWT A flock of 120 Black-tailed Godwits were on South Lake.

I visited the Cotswold Water Park with Neil and saw the male Lesser Emperor dragonfly at Swillbrook Lakes (Pit 46/48) in Gloucestershire. It was a single flypast and the ensuing torrential rain ended any further sightings for the day. 16 Common Terns were over Pit 57 and 10 over Pit 16.

21 July 2006 An hour or two of 'dragging' (dragonfly finding) was productive today. I visited Frampton Court Lake, Stroudwater Canal at Whitminster and Gardener's pool at Saul. Emperor, Black-tailed Skimmer, Broad-bodied Chaser, Ruddy and Common Darter, Brown and Southern Hawker and probable Migrant Hawker were all seen well. 100,s of Beautiful Demoiselle are present along the Stoudwater Canal with a single seen flying along School road Whitminster also.
Five species of Damselfly were also seen including Red-eyed.

A flyabout Yellow Wagtail, 50 Mute Swan, 5 Grey Heron and 6 Great Crested Grebe were seen at Frampton Court Lake.