Spoonbills and dunlins

Today, from Losdorp to Breebaart nature reserve.

As we approach the reserve, flocks of starlings.

In the reserve hide, a barn swallow nest, with four chicks which will fly soon, I hope.

Scores of spoonbills, including fledglings.

Snipe. Common sandpiper.

Grey lag geese.

Many dunlins, mostly still in summer plumage.

This is a dunlin video, showing winter plumage.

Bar-tailed godwits.

Oystercatchers. Lapwings. Black-headed gulls.

Between many avocets, a lone ruddy shelduck.

A juvenile little ringed plover.

Two juvenile pied wagtails.

Three common terns, flying and calling.

Photos of various birds seen at Breebaart will come in a later post.

As we go back, near Losdorp, a muscovy duck with ducklings.

Britain: July 2012. The latest figures from the Breeding Bird Survey (BBS) show that four of our breeding waders have reached their lowest levels since the survey started in the early 1990s. Volunteer birdwatchers reported particularly low numbers of Lapwing, Oystercatcher, Snipe and Curlew during the spring of 2011: here.