Full Of Eastern Promise

Reading dispatches yesterday evening - well, okay, birdguides - my attention was drawn to a report of a Black Tern at Marbury Country Park.

Following a few hacks through the welsh mountains I was feeling a little sore in the leg department, so a trip to the flatlands of Marbury Country Park and neighbouring Neumann's Flash seemed just the ticket, especially as the latter site has been productive in the past for rarer waders at this time of year.

I started at Neumann's Flash and began by scanning the jheel from the pathway. I noticed a large white bird roosting on the island that immediately had me thinking Spoonbill, but the heat haze and distance from the bird prevented me from being sure. I quickly repaired to the hide at the south of the flash in order to both move closer and to stand with the sun behind me.

Looking through the scope confirmed my suspicions: Spoonbill! Predictably the bird was asleep; is there any other living organism, aside from a Spanish builder perhaps, that dozes more in the daytime? A very appropriate name too, Spoonbill, although it's scientific name of Platalea Leucorodia is a bit of a bill full.

Ten minutes passed before the bird decided siesta time was over. A little flap of its huge wings followed by a short glide landed the bird in the shallows. With a full shaggy crest, black legs and orange-tipped bill, the bird was obviously in breeding plummage. However, it either lacked - or it was too indistinct to see - a yellow breast band. Moreover, the edges of the primaries seemed to have a hint of darkness to them. A third or four-year-old bird perhaps?

It was prevented from feeding by a pair of protective parents in the form of Canada Geese who proceeded to chase it away from four young goslings. Dashing away - in that rather human-like gait - seemed to be an exertion too far and there was only one agreeable course of action. Time for another snooze!

Very little else of interest on the flash apart from two Little Ringed Plovers that I would have overlooked had they not been pointed out to me by a kind lady from Winsford. Marbury was quiet too, the Black Terns - having continued with their migration - were nowhere to be seen.

Let's hope the continuing easterly winds blow some more this way!

Until later.