Having stopped off at my parents' last night, I took up Roy Weller's invitation to join him in checking out the dawning of a new era back in my homelands at Beddington Farmlands. The public footpath on the west side now leads to three well-positioned screen-style hides overlooking the Southern Lake, Northern Lake and the new main wet grassland area. As well as catching up with Roy, it was great to see Peter Alfrey, Nic Tidmarsh, Dodge and Mrs Dodge.
The visit was also surprisingly productive bird-wise. Roy picked out a juvenile
Turnstone on the Northern Lake, where a juvenile
Dunlin, a
Common Sandpiper, a
Green Sandpiper and a juvenile
Yellow-legged Gull were among the other birds present. There were many broods of
Little Grebe scattered around the lakes and, moving on to the wet grassland, where I noticed a juvenile
Caspian Gull (though imperfect in some respects and presumably from some filthy western colony). Two
Cetti's Warblers, a
Reed Warbler, seven
Greylags and two
Swifts were among the other birds seen, along with the usual
Teal,
Gadwall and
Shoveler.
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| juvenile Caspian-type Gull |
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| juvenile Yellow-legged Gull |
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| juvenile Dunlin (left) with Green Sandpiper |
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| juvenile Turnstone |
