Saturday 14 September 2013

Return to Marlow

Quite a good birding day. morning started off per usual on a Saturday with the work party at Maple Lodge. Weather wasn't great - cold, damp but not rainy. First up got water rail, kingfisher, green sandpiper and hobby from by Rotunda Hide. also had buzzard and kite. What was particularly nice was the large numbers of hirundines - mainly house martins (50+) but also some swallows over the trees. Later on my self and Dave got very brief views of a large raptor over the lake - either the marsh harrier which has been around (probably) or osprey (possibly). My money would have been on the harrier.
In the afternoon myself, Dave and Derek took a quick trip to Little Marlow where a juv black tern was reported. Got straight onto it as soon as we arrived. Fishing over the lake and occasionally coming to rest on the sand bar.



Other birds of note were large numbers of lapwings, estimated at over 200, and many swallows hawking over the lake. Mixed in were a very few sand martins. The whole lot got up every so often when a red kite came drifting over. A small family of grebes kept us company.





Finally we spent about 15 minutes searching the gulls for a yellow-legged gull, which we eventually i'd when it ;lifted its leg out of the water to have a scratch!!

Oh, and 3 black swans were drifting around as well.

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