Spent all of my 6 hours at the Flashes today. Had a good chat with the 'cafe' man, so watch this space for future announcements. Oh and yes it is open to us all, some people are not aware of its presence. I will get a price list and put one in each hide.
Monitored water levels which had risen to 0.47 today and took remedial action in light of the next few days 'wet' forecast. I don't know if the Wednesday crew are about tomorrow, but if we get heavy rain could somebody note the water level and post on here or text me B
. It is important that we don't lose water needlessly or on the other hand flood out the place, it is a very fine line between success and failure, so any assistance is invaluable at this time.
The 9
Avocet chicks are doing well, but the size difference is very noticeable between the 4 broods that were hatched within 3 days of one another. Not surprisingly the 2 single chick broods are 'giants' compared to the brood of 4, while the brood of 3 are midway between both. A few more waders today including our first 'Returning - autumn' wader
Green Sandpiper. Also today were 8 LRP, lapwing, oystercatcher and at least 1 poss 2 curlews were heard but not seen.
several BHG chicks are now flying, whilst an adult herring and a few marauding LBBG ran the 'Avocet gauntlet' while others have learned to circumnavigate the Flashes completely. A couple of common tern popped in for a few minutes, as did a female gadwall. Other duck included a pair of Shelduck, a male shoveler, at least 50 mallard and chicks and 12 tufted. The afternoon warmed up and buzzards were all around as were 25 swifts and numerous reed warblers sang from every reed bed. 30 sand martin and 10 house martin fed low above the lagoons. A steady flow of linnets dropped in to feed on the salt plants, I think they are local breeders moving to different feeding zones throughout the day, so it is impossible to quantify the actual numbers involved.