Keyhaven and Pennington

31 Aug - A beautiful late summer's day and an excellent array of migrant shorebirds on the pools at Pennington - 2 juv Little Stints on Butts lagoon later joined by a juv Curlew Sandpiper - also an elegant Spotted Redshank, 2 Greenshanks, 2 Knot, 50+ Grey Plover including some in stunning summer plumage, and Curlew and Ruff - and 2 ghostly white adult Med Gulls. A total of 16 Little Egrets counted around the lagoons and coastal marshes.

Slimbridge waders......

30 Aug - A good couple of hours at Slimbridge with plenty of waders moving through - 2 juv Little Stints (1), 1 from Zeiss Hide and 1 on South Lake - also from Zeiss Hide, 8 Ruff (2), 2 Greenshank and 3 LRPs. Good numbers of Black-tailed Godwits (3,4) on South Lake and the Rushy. Also a juv Garganey from Zeiss Hide in the Teal flock. Photos JM.

Hirundines......

26 Aug - Late summer brings the highest numbers of Swallows and House Martins, as the young of the year join their parents in the continuing fine weather, feeding conspicuously and noisily in the evening sun. Photos from the patio, JM.

Scilly pelagic.......

24-26 Aug - A trip to the SW to look for seabirds, in particular Shearwaters, that have been seen in good numbers this summer. Crossing from Penzance to Scilly on the Scillonian, several hundred Manx Shearwaters seen, with a distant Cory's and a distant Great Shearwater also logged, both showing their distinctive flight actions. The pelagic trip itself from Scilly was a little disappointing, in that a single Cory's and no Greats were seen (recent weeks have given regular close views of both on these outings) but the highlight was excellent close views of 2 superb adult Sabine's Gulls, together with 20-30 Storm Petrels, Great and Arctic Skuas, more Manxies and 2 Sooty Shearwaters. A Black Tern also flew by together with Common and Arctic Terns. In retrospect a trip earlier in August would probably be better for the large Shearwaters, but northerly and easterly winds prior to our trip probably did not help. Porthellick pool on St. Mary's held a flock of 8 Greenshank, also a flyby Kingfisher, and 2 Wheatears were on the airfield. My quest for a good look at a Great Shearwater in the UK continues!.....

Farmoor.......

22 Aug - A morning look at Farmoor, still and humid, 6 Dunlin (2,3) and 10 Ringed Plovers were around the causeway or flying around - also at least 6 Common Terns (1) and 5+ Yellow Wagtails (4). No Black Terns however. Photos JM.

And sunset tonight!......

11 Aug - A complex shower cloud pattern, and gradual evolving colour changes from grey/pink to red, then dying as the light faded.......

Just sunsets......

9 Aug - All taken from my house this summer....it's been a relatively fine few weeks, with some dramatic shower cloud effects at times....