September 2026

Sunday 13th September - Titchwell

A trip to Titchwell was more about spending time with the in-laws but there was a compromise that had to be reached, and I feel that I got a pretty good deal. The reserve was busy but my half-hearted demeanor meant that I didn't put as much effort into my time there than I should have. That said, a concerted effort was made to ensure that I'd catch up with at least one of the spotted crake currently on the reserve. So from the Island Hide, a short wait before the crake came trotting out making its way along the reedbed that made me regret not bringing my camera. The usual suspects were also present, a spoonbill flew west and the group of golden plover were starting to increase in number. There will be more focused trips there in the future.

Thursday 10th September - Minsmere

Quick trip after the final day on site. The weather was really pleasant but a steady south-westerly in warm conditions tempered any hope for a glut of waders. There was a modest assemblage on the south and west scrapes that included five green sandpiper, five ruff, one redshank, 18 avocet, six black-tailed godwit, four snipe, two dunlin, eight ringed plover, two grey plover, one common sandpiper, two Sandwich tern and two pintail.

A juvenile Dartford warbler was associating with a couple of stonechat north of the sluice.

Sunday 6th September - Grafham Water

A mid-day trip to Grafham Water with Tonguey wasn't an ideal time of day for connecting with quality migrants but the weather was very pleasant and there was at least a few species to keep us interested. The highlight was probably the two yellow-legged gull (1 1st-year, 1 3rd-year) on the peninsular from Gaynes Cove where four green sandpiper, a single ruff and common sandpiper and four greenshank.

A juvenile hobby dashed past and at least a dozen yellow wagtail were present along the dam.

Wednesday 3rd September - Broom GPs

Chasing the opportunity to catch-up with the local wader-fest at Broom GPs meant a dash across during my lunch-break between meetings. What felt like a very short 20-minutes revealed the two relatively long-staying juvenile curlew sandpiper looking dapper voraciously feeding along the exposed near shoreline. Also present was a single juvenile ruff, two dunlin, a single snipe and common sandpiper. Was really pleased to see Broom attracting a bit of quality at the start of the autumn migration season.