Cresswell Ponds

After recent good sightings at Cresswell, such as black-tailed and bar-tailed godwit, greenshank and many more fantastic waders and ducks, we decided to go back. Just before we got to Cresswell we spotted another little pond and on it, next to a redshank, was a dunlin. After getting a photo we moved onto Cresswell. As we got there we were greeted by 2 kestrels hovering over the fields. We made our way up the path towards the hide greeted by sounds of lapwings as we went in. We had a look out on the lake and the water level had gone up. There was still Lapwings (50+), Golden Plover (20+), 2 curlew and lots of black-headed gulls. No sign of the godwits but when we had a look on the whiteboard to see what there was out we noticed a bittern on the board so we sat down and waited while watching a little grebe (dabchick) diving. 20 minutes later we were just leaving the hide when the bittern flew right in front. We left the hide happy after seeing the bittern and went to try some other reserves. The first one, Druridge Ponds, had nothing at it. Then we went to East Chevington and no sign of life there either so we moved on to the last reserve which was Hauxley. There we saw some snipe (7+) but nothing else of interest so we went back to Cresswell. When we got there "Kingfisher" was written on the board which means it must have been spotted sometime. We waited and eventually someone said "Kingfisher on the post" and sure enough there was a beautiful Kingfisher.

Dunlin Bittern

Some More Sightings at Cresswell in September 08.

Greenshank looking for food.

Black-Tailed Godwit in Summer Plumage

Little Gull Flying

Bar-Tailed Godwit with Greenshank Merlin flying away after chasing some Lapwings