Tuesday 22 August 2023

Wader bonanza on the Notsogreat Pool

It's been a while. As is usually the case June and July were quiet affairs with just the four patch ticks in June and two in July.  With returning waders: common sand, greenshank, dunlin and ringo making up the bulk of the total.

The Notsogreatpool is a large, shallow pool in the middle of an ungrazed field.  The water levels fluctuate and typically in July and August it is little more than a patch of dried mud.  Unfortunately, over the years, the pool has lived up to its name and is typically shite and under performs compared to other puddles.  However, with water levels looking perfect the pool is exceeding itself over the last couple of days, with nine species of wader on it including three full fat patch ticks: curlew sand, little stint and LRP.  "Almost Patch Gank" according to Seppy but a reflection on how poor the Notsogreat Pool usually is and how good it could be. 

In addition to these three gems, a couple of adult knot today were only the second record and my first ever autumnal wood sands made up for missing them in May (a definite bonus).

On top of that, a cracking 1st wr Red-backed shrike on Saturday has pushed my total along nicely and shuffles me up to the top of the leader board.

111 species - 92.27%

Happy days


Bushveld

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