Grafham Water - 8 August 2012

After a few days in North Yorkshire searching for and watching such nesting specialities as Goshawk, Red Grouse, Golden Plover, Dipper and Ring Ouzel  it was back to Grafham this morning in promising murky damp conditions which rather failed to deliver anything to raise the pulse despite spending seven hours covering most of the reservoir....

1 Red-crested Pochard a very pale aberrant male with the aythya rafts in Dudney Creek; 23 Teal on the lagoons;14 Little Egrets; 1 juvenile Marsh Harrier south at 10.20 am; 16 Green Sandpipers; 11 Common Sandpipers; 1 Dunlin on the dam; 11 Yellow-legged Gulls (3 adults, 2 juveniles, 2 first calendar years, 4 second calendar years); an adult Kittiwake with Black-headed Gulls in the middle of the reservoir flew off strongly north-west at 07:15 hrs; 4 Common Gulls (1 ad 3 juveniles); c.25 Common Terns; 3 Swifts; c.30 Barn Swallows; 2 Wheatears on the dam wall; c.80 Pied Wagtails; just 1 Yellow Wagtail a juvenile on the lagoons; a good total count of c. 47 Linnets; 13 Yellowhammers. 

adult Little Egret one of 14 today