THURSDAY  18th APRIL 2013

Dunstall Park

Strong north westerly wind, cold, broken cloud, 10am to 11.30am.

It's always worth waiting for the waders

All the action seemed to have been at the Compton barleyfield last week, so a visit to the racecourse on Thursday seemed to be in order.  A strong wind and bright sun meant  conditions weren't easy at the lake, but almost immediately a flash of white drew attention to a small dark bird that appeared to have landed on a patch of spiked vegetation near the shoreline. The lack of exposed margins will probably mean fewer wader sightings this year, but this one had chosen to come down during its migration journey, the site's second Green Sandpiper for 2013, its white undersides clear as it stood motionless on top of what would have been open water in recent years.  Five or so minutes later I heard it call as 13 adult and three immature Lesser Black-backed Gulls flew up, and despite a search of the shoreline, it was not seen again.  Soon afterwards a single Lapwing left the site and headed off in its rolling jerky way low towards Newbridge. It may have been checking out the lake for others of its kind, as at least one pair of the species has nested there for many years.  Three Snipe crouching motionless on the lee side of the island brought the wader total for the morning to three species.  The strengthening wind and glittering water made it difficult to pinpoint and stay with  two Barn Swallow and a couple of House Martin as they flicked back and fore over the surface, but close attention to one bird's erratic flight action revealed a light-bellied, brown-bibbed Sand Martin, almost certainly the first record for the valley this year.  Elsewhere on the lake at least four Coot pairs were building nests, the Gadwall pair upended in the shallows and  a Little Grebe appeared briefly among vegetation in which it and its mate are almost certainly nesting. Just one pair of Teal were still present, at least three pairs of Canada Geese were sitting, and a male Reed Bunting sang from the island.  Black tail feathers sticking up from two nests in the nearby oak copse suggested two pairs of Rook were sitting, and a check soon afterwards of rookery nests further along the site's north western edge showed another two were occupied.  A male Shoveler flew high across the site towards the city, two Nuthatches called from trees near the raceourse's north western corner, and song from a Blackcap and at least three Chiffchaff showed that good numbers of migrant warblers were now arriving along the valley.  A pair of Bullfinch were among other birds bringing the number of species seen during the visit to 34.  Things are getting better . . .    

NB.  Dunstall Park is a restricted commercial site.  Access is strictly controlled.