Late April and early May burst with birding potential. I wasn't expecting another chance to enjoy a Ross's Gull this year but a bird that spent the day on the North Norfolk coast allowed just that. I headed up with Ben and after watching the enigmatic larid circle around into the distance with a flock of Med Gulls, it re-appeared shortly after and strutted around on freshly ploughed furrows. Not quite the expected behavior of this high Arctic species, but I wasn't grumbling.
Returning from a few days away catching some Skua, seabird and wader passage off Dungeness, I detoured slightly on my way home to see a wonderful flock of Black Terns at Dernford Reservoir, one of many that dropped in across the country with persistent easterly elements to the wind through late-April.
A little further off route, a small trip of 6 Dotterel drew me to Gamlingay. The flock was elsewhere during my visit but having walked a loop around the rolling bare field I heard a familiar trill and located a Dotterel, high above, that circled the field before dropping in right by the path. The bird just sat, it felt like it was resting having just arrived, a theory given more credibility when 7 were then present later.
A couple of days later a trip of 4 Dotterel were found inside the Ely10 on the Norfolk side of the Little Ouse near Southery.
Continuing the theme, the Gamlingay group remained for weeks and returning from the Outer Hebrides, where I caught more skua passage, I popped in on the trip as it peaked at 13 birds. Common to many observations of this lovely wader on lowland passage, heat haze, even on close views was a feature across all the fields.
No such issues on the high tops of the Cairngorms where the mountain plover breeds. 15 years ago Ben and I climbed onto the plateau in late summer and enjoyed a memorable afternoon laid out on a carpet of moss and tundra heath with family groups of Dotterel running around us on the return we found equally beguiling groups of Ptarmigan - classic Scottish scenes.
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