If only the blog title had been true....there was certainly no larking about,as Chris and myself put some serious effort into finding this bird today,but eventually found it.
We arrived on site just after six and after getting the kit together,we had a quick look for the previous days Garganey,to get some nice views of 1 of the birds as it dabbled it's way around the mere and a ghostly Barn Owl hunted the freshmarsh behind.The walk to the birds chosen area,was a grueller to say the least,particularly in wellies,but on the journey a couple of Arctic Skua were watched harassing Sandwich Terns offshore and 2 Whinchat sallied for flying insects in the dunes.We walked up and down the area were the bird had been reported the previous day and could not find a sniff of the bird and were just about to give up,but after talking to John Harriman it gave me more incentive to look again so off we went and unbelievably after 5 minutes i found it..bingo!.We most probably walked past it several times,but on watching the bird it soon became apparent why it was easy to lose the bird.It had a habit of landing and running like hell,not unlike a miniature Road Runner and was a buggar to locate.But after we got a little too close,it thankfully flew onto the beach and showed fairly well,albeit not really close for any good pics,but i gained a few record shots thankfully.This was the first sighting of this species for me and a new species for Chris in the UK.This is the first record of this Southern European and Asian species for Lincolnshire since one here at Gib in October 1991.After making the walk of hell back to the car park,we had something to eat and drink and began to explore the remainder of the reserve seeing 9 Greenshank,9 Curlew Sandpiper,2 Ruff and 8 Spotted Redshank all on the excellent Tennyson's Sands and Jackson's Marsh area,coupled with 2 hunting Common Buzzard over Croft Marsh,Kingfisher and 2 Green Sand on the mere and 2 more Whinchat on the saltmarsh near the visitor centre.
Non avian highlights today included several species of Dune flora and included the impressive Sea Holly,Hare's-foot Clover,Evening Primrose and Sea Sandwort.Mammal sightings included Muntjac and Bank Vole seen at the feeding station in the plantation were several butterfly species included Red Admiral and we also managed to find a lovely female Short-winged Conehead.A very productive,if not a little knackering visit to this superb NNR.
We arrived on site just after six and after getting the kit together,we had a quick look for the previous days Garganey,to get some nice views of 1 of the birds as it dabbled it's way around the mere and a ghostly Barn Owl hunted the freshmarsh behind.The walk to the birds chosen area,was a grueller to say the least,particularly in wellies,but on the journey a couple of Arctic Skua were watched harassing Sandwich Terns offshore and 2 Whinchat sallied for flying insects in the dunes.We walked up and down the area were the bird had been reported the previous day and could not find a sniff of the bird and were just about to give up,but after talking to John Harriman it gave me more incentive to look again so off we went and unbelievably after 5 minutes i found it..bingo!.We most probably walked past it several times,but on watching the bird it soon became apparent why it was easy to lose the bird.It had a habit of landing and running like hell,not unlike a miniature Road Runner and was a buggar to locate.But after we got a little too close,it thankfully flew onto the beach and showed fairly well,albeit not really close for any good pics,but i gained a few record shots thankfully.This was the first sighting of this species for me and a new species for Chris in the UK.This is the first record of this Southern European and Asian species for Lincolnshire since one here at Gib in October 1991.After making the walk of hell back to the car park,we had something to eat and drink and began to explore the remainder of the reserve seeing 9 Greenshank,9 Curlew Sandpiper,2 Ruff and 8 Spotted Redshank all on the excellent Tennyson's Sands and Jackson's Marsh area,coupled with 2 hunting Common Buzzard over Croft Marsh,Kingfisher and 2 Green Sand on the mere and 2 more Whinchat on the saltmarsh near the visitor centre.
Non avian highlights today included several species of Dune flora and included the impressive Sea Holly,Hare's-foot Clover,Evening Primrose and Sea Sandwort.Mammal sightings included Muntjac and Bank Vole seen at the feeding station in the plantation were several butterfly species included Red Admiral and we also managed to find a lovely female Short-winged Conehead.A very productive,if not a little knackering visit to this superb NNR.
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| Short-toed Lark,record shot. |
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| Short-toed Lark,record shot. |
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| Short-toed Lark,record shot. |
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| Short-toed Lark,record shot. |
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| Short-toed Lark,record shot. |
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| Cormorant,Tennyson's Sands. |
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| Juvenile Swallow. |
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| Roosting Black-tailed Godwits. |
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| Sea Holly. |
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