Osprey and Black Tern

Bank holiday monday gave us yet more wonderful birds on Black Hole Marsh with the best being a black tern and an osprey flying above the river.  The osprey was taken from the Island hide flying above the river.  Wish I'd been in the tower hide

The black tern did not stay long and was a bit distant for my camera but here are a few shots

Elsewhere on Black Hole Marsh was a smart ruff 

a turnstone

 10 curlew sandpipers

   the 2 little stints remained

plus plenty of snipe

It just gets better

Have finally got around to posting some pictures from the last week including some of the curlew sandpiper that has been around on Black Hole Marsh for the last few days.

The 2 little stint are also still present

and this week has been wonderful for snipe watching

There are plenty of beautiful black tailed godwits present

a ruff from earlier this week

and on the river the lapwing are beginning to return

Little egrets are plentiful

and a few whimbrel are being quite vocal

and finally our redshank numbers have grown

Mud and waders

Lots of mud and lots of life on Black Hole Marsh this past week.  Plenty of dunlin and ring plovers, 2 greenshank and wood sandpiper all showing well close to the hides as well as having several sightings over the past week of the cuckoo.  How lucky we are.

Lapwing with dunlin

Greenshank

Wood sandpiper

There are also plenty of green and common sandpipers

Green sandpiper

Common sandpiper

Ringed plover

Black tailed godwit

Cuckoo

And finally this little egret had its eye on a very large meal!

Little egret

Cuckoo and wood sandpiper

Todays highlight on Black hole marsh was a cuckoo.  Having been to both Dartmoor and the Levels earlier this year when they were only heard but not seen I was hopeful when Ian M found one early, (well early for me), this morning.  Not really expecting to be lucky enough to see it I cycled over 20-30 minutes later and as expected it had gone off somewhere in the Stafford Marsh direction.  However as luck would have it 30 minutes or so later while I was lapping up all the dunlin and ring plovers I suddenly saw the cuckoo on top of a distant tree.  It then immediately flew towards me and settled briefly in a closer tree and then on the wires close to the platform before heading over to Colyford Common.

And here is Steve on the platform (taken from the tower hide) desperately searching for it.  Am pleased to say his search was eventually rewarded.

The wood sandpiper managed a brief 2 second view before being disturbed and disappearing again 

and here are some of the ring plovers from this morning

and the recent sanderling