Prior to doing my WeBS count at Girton with my mum, we had a look at Mons Pool. The water levels had dropped slightly even since yesterday, and the site held 2 Turnstone, 34 Dunlin and 28 Ringed Plover - I don't think I've ever seen a flock of 60+ waders in Notts before! It was just like the scrape at Minsmere (well, almost) - it just needed a Temminck's Stint to cap it off nicely. Annoyingly I'd left my camera at home...
Girton wasn't quite as exciting, although we had a Hobby briefly, the Cetti's Warbler again, and nesting Oycs on Spalford Pit, plus 2 Little Egrets. Annoyingly, motorcross bikes had been in the old works site (we'd heard them but they'd cleared off by the time we got round there), and evidently they'd not just been burning around on the flat but also going up onto the sand mound, trashing some of the bank which I'd cut back previously and presumably destroying some Sand Martin nests in the process. There were still 90-odd nest holes in the south-facing bank, but even these must've been horribly disturbed whilst the bikes were there.
When we finished out walk, a motorbike teared past us, and I took his reg plate. A few moments later, a cop car turned up (follow up on a complaint about motorbikes..); we flagged him down and passed on the details. Hopefully he will have at least deterred the bikers from coming back, but I doubt it. A call to Tarmac might be required tomorrow to see if they can do something to limit access into the old works. On a positive note, there was a healthy Sand Martin colony at Spalford Pit, which are nice and safe.
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