Above: Adult Little Egret, Brockholes Wetland LWT - 18th July 2009.
Above: Adult Med Gull, Brockholes Wetland LWT - 18th July 2009.
Above & below: Whimbrel, Brockholes Wetland LWT, Lancs - 18th July 2009.
Above: Eclipse drake Garganey, Brockholes Wetland LWT - 18th July 2009.A cracking day on the local patch began with a phone call from Mark 'Milvus' Fanshawe to say a Red kite was showing at Brockholes. At the time of the call, it was impossible to twitch the bird as I was stood in a long queue at the Bank trying desperately to avoid contracting Swine Flu from the several sniffing and coughing people present amongst the queing horde! - The Kite is the fourth site record and the third since easter 2009, MF has seen three of these hence the proposed new nickname! - I keep saying it, but surely it won't be long before i add this species to my own Brockholes list!
News of other patch goodies kept coming throughout the afternoon: Juv Peregrine, 2cy Hobby, then the first Little Egret of the year, and a Whimbrel, the latter typically represented in autumn by just a handful of records, a total contrast to spring at the site.
I wasn't able to get down until late afternoon, but was able to contribute some noteworthy sightings. The Little Egret was present on the Main Pool upon arrival, but only briefly before flying north. An adult Med Gull, different to the bird seen a few days ago appeared briefly at 17:15. Presumably the same Whimbrel seen earlier by others was still present but flew SW at 17:30 and an eclipse drake Garganey, the first of the autumn at the site was located at the eastern end of the Main Pool at 18:37 and still present at 21:00.
Whilst onsite, another local birder, Carl Partington, dropped an extremely belated bombshell with the news that he saw an adult drake Long-tailed Duck on the Main Pool on a date in December 2004!!.... The only site record.
