"Autumn" waders

4 Aug - Autumn starts early in the birding world with wader passage ....... another early morning at Slimbridge as it's such a good reserve for shorebirds....... A juvenile Wood Sandpiper and 2 Commons had joined the flock of Green Sandpipers on the Rushy, making a full suite of the regular Sandpiper species. Wood is a very elegant species, especially the fresh-plumaged juvenile, but it never came very close for photos - the usual Avocets were joined by some feisty Black-tailed Godwits and at least 5 Snipe. The 2 moulting adult Curlew Sandpipers were still on South Lake along with a good number of Ruff. I quickly checked Martin Smith hide to see if there was a Kingfisher on the perch in front of the hide....... And there was! On a melancholy note, the local Swifts seemed to have staged a mass departure, I've not seen any since the 2nd....... Another unwelcome sign of autumn, I hope the good summer has meant a successful breeding season for them.