Another morning of Uskmouth and Goldcliff. Uskmouth was, as yesterday, quiet on the bird front, a lone Whimbrel on the foreshore may well have been the pinnacle. Slightly better on the 'things without backbones' front though; plenty of Hairy Dragons and both Four-spotted and Broad-bodied Chasers plus all the usual damsels, flutterbies and a few day-flying murths. Or, to put it another way, lots of bird food out there.
Goldcliff was a little more exciting, the stilt had gone but one Garganey, a Ruff, two Knot, ten Barwit and six Blackwit all dotted about under gin clear skies. A trickle of larid overhead kept the waders in a state of punctuated agitation whilst their offspring cowered in the, slightly lusher than normal, vegetation. Cute ickle babies of three wader species were noted including my first fledged Lapwing of the year (well, more-or-less fledged, it could fly a few yards when chased by an irate Redshank). The waders also provided a brief OMGWTFBBQ moment. The Ruff flew into an area of longish grass and thistles at which point a chick appeared and walked straight up to it - I nearly fell off my bench cum stool [hide pew?]! However, normality was rapidly resumed, another perturbed Redshank entered stage right screaming blue murder. I was just about to claim the first record of breeding Ruff for miles around,... I was gonna be famous.
Bet they bred in the wider Severn area back in the day though, when half of Gwent and Somerset was squidgy bog and King Arthur did his shopping in Glastonbury. If they were bigger and more likely to attract punters' cash some muppet would have started a feral population in Somerset by now. The males are all colourful and everything you know,... I give it three years.
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