August 2025
My local birding in August was almost exclusively focussed on Ardley in the hope of a decent wader or two. Last year in July and August, Redshank, Greenshank, Black-tailed godwit, and Wood sandpiper had appeared on the ERF lagoon by mid-August, so naturally the expectation was for similar this year. But it's easy to have unrealistic expectations of a small patch like Ardley, and the reality is August was quite underwhelming on the wader front. There wasn't anything of note. Lapwing numbers were generally low compared to last year. Green sandpiper numbers were also comparatively low, only reaching 6 on a couple of occasions, whereas previous years have seen double figures quite regularly on the lagoon. A couple of juv Little ringed plovers were joined by a juv Ringed plover mid-month and the three knocked about together on the lagoon for a couple of weeks. Other than a few single Common sandpipers, that was it. The quarry produced the waders in the spring, but doesn't seem a...