Easily Pleased

I'll be honest, I'm disappointed. The weather forecast looked great. Cloud, rain later. When I switched on the recorder last night I was convinced that a few juicy waders would be caught in its digital net this morning. Even more so when I heard early reports of a nice arrival on the Axe before breakfast. But no. Two brief Moorhens. Sigh...

This afternoon Sandra and I went for a walk at East Bexington, straying over the border a little into West Bex territory. The fields look great. Already they are attracting Canada Geese and lots of Woodpigeons. I'm going to need to carry a scope pretty soon. The only gull gathering of note was at West Bex...

This is only part of it...

There are some 20 Med Gulls in that shot alone, and notice how several birds are only partially visible below the lowest ridge of shingle. You have to go down almost to the waterline to get a decent view. Picking through them all in a quest for more Yellow-legged action I could see at least four juvenile birds, but three of them were Herring Gulls. One wasn't though! Unfortunately they were jittery, and didn't let me get even slightly close, with the big gulls very quickly out on the water...

Juv Yellow-legged Gull. The tertials are not the more usual, simple thumbnail pattern, but already the head is looking nice and pale, with that characteristic dark eye patch becoming increasingly isolated and obvious.

While I was trying to creep up on the gulls, 4 Sanderlings flew through W, just off the beach, calling quietly. It was good to see waders on the move, and perhaps tonight's recording will be better...

Heading back to East Bex I pointed out to Sandra a tangled mass of dead bramble and told her all about what a little bird-magnet it was. And it's true. There is always something perched on it, sometimes several things. On my last visit it held at least 4 Whitethroats, 2 or 3 Stonechats, a brief probable Reed Warbler, and a not-brief definite Reed Bunting. I've seen Corn Bunting sing from it. Right now though, it held absolutely nothing. We paused a while and stared at the resolutely birdless pile of sticks. Still nothing. We turned away and took about three steps along the road...

'Tswee!'

A call I knew, but couldn't immediately place.

And then suddenly there it was, perched jauntily on the bird magnet...

Male Yellow Wagtail.

I was chuffed to bits to see this. In the 17 years I've spent birding (in my on-and-off way) in East Devon/West Dorset I don't need many fingers to count how many males I've seen in this plumage. Less than a hand's worth. And they have all been in spring. This is only my second July Yellow Wag locally, and the previous one was on 31st, so virtually August. What a cracker! It made my day.

Doesn't take much to keep me smiling...