Tuesday 27th August - Grimley

Today,  Bev and I popped to Camp Lane Pits at Grimley to see if there were any passage waders about.  There are a number of pools & pits in the Grimley area that are a by product of the gravel extraction undertaken by Tarmac.   The pits are situated near to the River Severn which somewhat of a  flight line for migrating birds and as a result can tend to pick up some really interesting species.

On  arrival I soon discovered a rather stunning juvenile Wood Sandpiper  that was working it's way along the NW shoreline of the main pit.  Wood Sandpipers are passage migrants that pass through in spring and autumn, breed in Northern Europe and winter in Africa.  It has been a great year for passage Wood Sandpipers at Grimley with 3 individuals through in Spring and a further 3 (including today's) so far during the autumn passage.

There had obviously been a bit of wader movement over night/early morning as a number of species had dropped in at Camp Lane including:  2 Common Snipe, 1 Dunlin, 1 Little Ringed Plover and 2 Ringed Plover.

Also of note at Camp Lane were 4 Little Egrets and 3 Common Terns.

A walk along the North bank was productive on the butterfly front with 3 Brown Argus and 10+ Common Blues noted.  The only dragonflies observed today were Common Darters and Migrant Hawkers.

Wood Sandpiper

Brown Argus

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