The day started quietly. There was a nice cool mist still hanging in the air, which sometimes bodes well for local birding. But Deeping Lakes produced just a Ringed Plover, a Green Sandpiper and one or two Common Sandpipers. At 9am, though, when I was back at work (at home, of course), news came through our local WhatsApp group that an Osprey had just flown over Deeping Lakes!
My fortunes changed in the afternoon, though. After work, in the early evening, I headed back to Deeping Lakes to see if I could relocate a dark-bellied Brent Goose that had been seen there at lunchtime. As it happens, the Brent was grazing happily on its own (apart from some sheep and lambs), just east of the reserve, and very close to the road. These largely coastal birds (and strictly non-breeders in the UK) are pretty rare this far inland, and I guess it had become disoriented by the morning’s mist.
Meantime, my friend Ray was, at the precise time I was photographing the goose, watching a Bittern ‘sky-pointing’ in reeds on the reserve itself! I went to see if I could see it too, but alas, it had flown into the reeds. But I hung on to scan the pit for waders and what-not. After a while, I saw a juvenile Greenshank, briefly. And a bit later, when it had come back into view I picked up a tiny wader with my binoculars. A scope view confirmed it was a juvenile Little Stint. This is another ‘elite’ bird around here and my second year tick of the afternoon (taking my Peterborough area year list to 171 birds).
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