Birding bits in August

My birding during August has continued to be fairly low key. Saturday morning patch visits with the little one have been a feature, but are typically rather brief and superficial, and I have failed to manage many visits at any other times without an impatient 9 month old. 

As a result, hopes of a Redstart, Spotted Fly or Whinchat, or a decent wader, have faded, and I've had to make do with generally low numbers of common passage waders at Mons, interspersed with the odd other highlights- a 2cy Med Gull which lingered at Meering before flying upriver on the 12th, a Whimbrel calling over Mons on the 16th, a Grey Wag south on the 25th (new for Patchwork Challenge in 2018), and a Garganey on Mons on the 27th. 

The highlight of breeding bird activity has been the successful fledging of three Common Terns from the new tern raft on Mons Pool - build it and they will come! These young are still hanging around with their parents. 

Elsewhere, I've managed a few visits to Cotham Landfill, generally on the way into work - the highlight there was an adult (or possibly 4cy) Caspian Gull on 20th. Work took me north on 21st, and a quick look at Hagg Lane Flash near Newington produced 2 Ruff, a Greenshank and a Dunlin, and 52 Little Egrets - a local had had 63 there that morning, and I know there was count of 70+ made a few days later. Pretty amazing given the status of this species not so very long ago... A visit to the new visitor centre at Sherwood Forest was generally unremarkable, save for a party of four Woodcock - at least 2 juvs, and one or two adults. I can't remember ever having seen a family party before. 

Finally, birding from the garden has produced a couple of garden ticks - Hobby and Yellow Wag. The Swifts departed promptly and en masse, with 120 in a high-flying screaming flock being present on the 2nd, and then just the odd one or two in subsequent days. Having purchased a Swift box at the Birdfair, I hope maybe to have a pair nesting on my house in the coming years...