My fortune has changed somewhat since last week. Yesterday I went up for the LESSER YELLOWLEGS at Port Meadow. I met James Grundy at Oxford train station and he kindly showed me to the site where the bird, my 288th species in Britain, performed wonderfully alongside two Ruff and good numbers of Golden Plover. It was nice to get this under the belt and to continue the recent theme of American waders.
This morning I had a quick check of the patch, and I'm very glad I did because I found my 91st patch tick in the form of a very overdue Reed Bunting, a female that showed rather well. This also represents the 96th species recorded at Canons Farm & Banstead Woods this year. I am writing this literally just before I leave for Scilly; tonight I'm staying in Cornwall before getting the Scillonian tomorrow morning . . . let's hope it provides a handful of lifers!
