Meare Heath waders

The second lagoon from the Ashcott corner car park is traditionally pumped down at this time of year in order to make it more attractive to passage waders. The exposed mud & shallow open water has already attracted Little ringed plover, Ruff, Common sandpiper, Redshank & Black tailed Godwit. Wood and Green sandpiper also drop in, but not so this spring yet.

Early last week a Wood sand was reported on the sos message board as being present. Birders wishing to add this species to there year list visited & the bird was subsequently correctly identified as a Lesser yellowlegs. A breeder in N America, it is a fairly regular vagrant to europe with 5-10 records annually in the UK & Ireland.

I have made 2 visits in the past week. The first resulted in very poor, long distance (150m +) record shots with the 600mm & 1.7x converter.

 This afternoon i returned & a very helpful Sparrowhawk, flushed the congregation of Godwits & Redshank, along with the yellowlegs to a much nearer point on the lagoon.

Below is a shot of one of the Black-tailed Godwits as it flew from its roost to the feeding area on the lagoon.

Two of the three Common Sandpipers present on my first visit.

Meare heath is a part of Natural Englands Shapwick heath NNR in the Avalon Marshes, Somerset.