NT
On the 15th August:
1976
A visit to Frampton where around the lakes we saw c30 Greenshank, 5 Spotted Redshank, 10 Common Sandpipers, a Green Sandpiper, 2 Little Ringed Plovers, a Kingfisher, a Little Gull, a Little Owl and a Lesser Spotted Woodpecker.
On the foreshore out from Splatt Bridge there were 10 Common Sandpipers, 17 Greenshank, 36 Redshank, lots of Curlew and Shelducks, 95 Teal, 3 Gadwall, 6 Wheatears, 3 Hares, a Spotted Redshank, 2 Ringed Plovers, 2 Dunlin and 2 Yellow Wagtails.
1977
A drive from Norfolk to Portland to see 2 Melodious Warblers, new birds for us.
The two birds were seen in the Coastguards Garden with at least 10 Willow Warblers and a Garden Warbler, they were fairly skulking preferring to feed low down in the bushes, but occasionally they did come to the edge of the hedge to feed and preen.
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Drawing of Melodious Warbler by Laurel Tucker.
1999
A seabird trip on the Scillonian from Penzance to 90 miles southwest of Land's End, with shearwaters with us almost the whole time. I saw 178+ Great Shearwaters, a new bird for me, with probably over 200 present, also 24+ Cory's Shearwaters, 9 Manx Shearwaters, a Sooty Shearwater, lots of Fulmars and Gannets, 18 Great Skuas, 2 Arctic Skuas, 12 Sabine's Gulls, Kittiwakes,
30-40 Storm Petrels, 3 Wilson's Petrels, another new bird for me, and, 3 Pilot Whales.
2005
A visit to Slimbridge where I saw 5 Green Sandpipers, 150+ Black-tailed Godwits, 20+ Redshank, 3 Spotted Redshank and a Greenshank.
There was very strange behaviour by one Green Sandpiper, which on three occasions stopped feeding and crouched, then started calling and vibrating its tail. This went on for several minutes each time, at first I thought it could be a reaction to a predator, but none of the other sandpipers or other birds reacted, then I though it could be a form of appeasement, but there were no other sandpipers near to this bird. So, I don't know, perhaps it was just tired!
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