East Chevington

I decided to spend the afternoon at East Chevington, knowing full well that the White Winged Black Tern would have scarpered. It had!

There were lots of terns, mainly Sandwich. At one point, the small perching rail, upon which some great shots of the WWBT were taken during the week, attracted a Sandwich, a Common and an Arctic Tern, all sitting facing the same way. What a pity there was no one present who wanted this ideal opportunity to hone their Tern ID skills.

There are a lot of Gadwalls around this year. At one point I had five pairs plus six males in view on the north lake. Numbers at Druridge also seem to be up on last year.

There were two Reed Warblers rattling away near to the hide, but neither deigned to put in an appearance.

Last time I visited, there were several RB Mergansers, but today there was only one female in evidence.

Another bird that seems to be present in greater number is Sand Martin. Conversely, I have seen very few House Martins. There were a few Swifts swooping spectacularly over the north lake along with the occasional Swallow.

At one point there was a hailstorm and strong wind. It was fascinating to see that the Sand Martins continued to hawk the water in conditions that send mere humans for cover.

I stopped briefly to view Cresswell Pond from the car. I see that the second pair of Avocets have reappeared.