Seven Glossy Ibis, Whinchat, Wheatear

 Seven Glossy Ibis roosted overnight at the Mere and when Jon msg'd early this morning to say they were still there, I walked down to have a nosey.

They were on the exposed shale just off Heslop's (Snipe Grounds on the OS map), the one with a bent pole sticking out of it.

View from the camera at 600mm, so distant

Too far for the camera so got the scope and phone camera going.

 

Initial view through the scope

Zoomed in through the scope and phone, Dunlin and RInged Plover in background

Glossy Ibis with Dunlin and RInged Plover for company

They left at 07:47 and flew south east - I almost missed the moment of departure - 

Glossy Ibises leaving the Mere

While watching the ibises I confirmed Jon's sighting of a stint on the same patch of exposed land. It was indeed a Little Stint. Unfortunately my photos were rubbish (as were most of ibis pics) as the focus on my iPhone was all over the place this morning.

 

Also in the same place were 22+ Barnacle Geese, 14 Dunlin, 10 Lapwing, 2 Ruff and 5 Ringed Plover. 

 

Walking on from the excitement I found two Whinchat on Heslop's fence posts.

Whinchat

Whinchat

Two Whinchats

As I walked back home through first field I met Mark who had seen another Whinchat and a Wheatear. I was hoping for Wheatear as I haven't seen one this year so that was a stroke of luck.

Wheatear in first field

All in all a very good morning indeed.

 

What else has been about this week? I had 136 Golden Plover on North Cliffs on Sunday morning. Nothing else there so it's a good job I saw those beauties.

Golden Plover at North Cliffs

Golden Plover

Ruff have been present in very good numbers at the Mere with a max of 47. I watched as some flew in and almost touched the water with their wing tips.

Ruff almost touching the water's surface during final approach

A few broods of Little Grebe have been seen at the Mere and I watched an adult and 2 juvs for a good long while.

Adult Little Grebe with 2 juvs

The sun came out at long, long last and it was so good to see butterflies and dragonflies on the wing again. Mostly white butterflies but plenty of them, and only Common Darters and Migrant Hawkers but I'll take those thank you 😉

Large White butterfly close up

Common Darter close up

Drought-like conditions continued through the week with more and more plants, shrubs and trees showing the effects of the dry weather.

 

Arid ground in Wassand Wood

As above

 

 

We are due some rain over the weekend so lets hope it rains for longer than 5 minutes, which is about the length of rain showers we have had for weeks now.