May 8th

Found two Common Terns this morning on the mere which is good for the site anyway but on closer inspection one looked a little different . It had long tail streamers and at first glance what looked like a all red bill, which would make it Arctic Tern a first for the site. But after taking loads of pretty distant crap photos I am pretty much certain its just a common. In the photos you can see slight dark tip on the bill and flying the wings did look clear underneath . But on inspection of some photos the wings do not look as clear as what they should for Arctic. All said and done it was a interesting bird and I think the photos show its just a Common. Even on the perched shot the Arctic should look smaller with shorter legs and the tail feathers should protrude past wing tips , the photo does not show either . Also noted this morning very good numbers of Sand Martins in their hundreds along with a few House Martin , Swallows and eighteen Swift. A Lapwing was a very interesting bird over the mere they breed nearby but you don't get many sightings here. Three Reed Warblers were in song again along with a single Garden Warbler which Jack found yesterday. The Tern images below were taken at great distance and are for identification purposes only that's my excuse anyway .

The Lapwing sighting now takes us to 81 species the exact same total for all of last year. Still missing for this year is Lesser and Common Whitethroat and Hobby.