Dipping

I managed to get in a couple of hours on the patch yesterday evening in the vain hope that the Little Gull would return, or an Osprey would fly over. Neither happened but it was a nice session nonetheless, with my first flock of least 14 Swallow feeding amongst the Sand Martins, and a distant Ringed Plover being my 9th species of wader for the area in 2014. It was hard to walk very far without flushing a wagtail of some kind, and I had some nice views of one of 3 male 'alba' wagtails feeding on the shoreline.

Ringed Plover

 

One Swallow doesn't make a summer, but it sure as hell makes a spring!

I did have the misfortune to experience my first on-site dip, when a text came through saying I'd just missed a fly-over Yellow Wagtail. This would have been easier to take had it been for the fact that the bird flew over the exact spot I'd been standing in 5 minutes previous, whilst I was off staring at some Canada Geese. Ouch.

In my defense, the Canada Goose did look slightly interesting...

But it's still a Canada Goose, and it still made me miss a Yellow Wagtail.