The 27th was largely mixed - despite the good birds, my dad and I watched Manchester United lose to Spurs in what was largely a decent match. Except it was the first time I'd seen my team lose when watching live.
The 28th dawned littler brighter and remained gloomy, and my mum, sister and I got a few hours to trudge around RSPB Middleton Lakes before visiting family friends in Birmingham.
A quick lunch in the cafe/hall area was followed with a half an hour walk across to the main part of the lakes - a few Nuthatch were the only birds that stopped us along with finches.
http://ww2.rspb.org.uk/Images/middletonlakes_tcm9-283749.pdf
Fisher's Mill area was quiet, though a single Dunlin was noted. West Scrape was extremely quiet, though walking there had a Little Egret, Reed Bunting and Water Rail.
Walking past Jubilee was productive - first the Great White Egret showed distantly, then a Ruff flew by. All the while House and Sand martins whizzed above us - more birds preparing for the long journey South. A Hobby also flew by in pursuit of hirundines, before heading strongly S. Also present were Kestrel and Great Crested Grebes, as well as 2 overhead Yellow Wagtail.
When we reached the East Scrape the very first bird I saw fly in caught my eye and kept me wondering - it was definitely a Snipe and not a Jack Snipe, but it was just...weird. Anyway it was distant and might have been that I hadn't seen many for a while. It was late August after all sadly. Also on this scrape were 2 Ringed Plover inc 1 juv, and a Common Sandpiper.
We started to move around, conscious of time, and 2 late Common Swift swept by, while a Kingfisher was heard only. A few Reed Warblers loitered in the bushes, and I accidentally got a picture of another snoozing Ruff - there were definitely 2 as the first bird was feeding on the other side later on.
With time running out we had a quick visit to the lookout hide, but it was so dirty that it was hard to see much, though I did pick out a BTG and Green Sandpiper (I confess, until I saw my awful pics recently, I'd thought it was a Common!)
Leaving produced a few Linnet in the bushes, a few more Little Egret and then a Green Sand and Ruff feeding on an island. However, a bogey bird fell as we began our walk back to the car park. A last scan of the ducks on Fisher's produced a group of unusual looking ducks, that were probably Garganey (at a guess an eclipse ad and juv.) These Garganey were distant, and I was slightly hesitant to accept them onto my life list as I struggled to identify them. But after a summer failing to see them I had to abandon my plans to only tick birds that I felt sure I'd seen!
A second Hobby went E, before we got into the car and left to go to Birmingham.
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