The Magnificent Seven

It absolutely chucked it down from at least 5pm when I left work to 6.30pm when I set off from the house to go to the patch. But my timing was superb because by 6.45pm the rain had passed through and the sun was coming out. It was also appreciably colder.

The question was would this downpour produce birds.

My first success owed nothing to the weather as I finally caught up with the pair of Grey Partridges. They still weren't really playing ball though and scurried over the ridge before I could get my scope set up. Behind them the pool contained eight Tufted Ducks and the pair of Greylag Geese with two surviving goslings.

I got to the flashes and could see a Little Ringed Plover, but next to it was a Ringed Plover, then another, and another. Initially I thought four, but then counted six, and I texted that figure out. 15 minutes later I looked again, and there were actually seven Ringed Plovers and two Little Ringed Plovers.

Steve McQueen

The great thing about watching a little patch like Morton Bagot is that relatively mundane species can take on the mantle of giants. This was only the fourth time Ringed Plover has occurred here, two singles in 2007 and two at dawn on 28 Aug 2010 being the only previous records. So not only were they a great year tick, but they also blew the previous highest count out of the water.

I had no chance of getting all seven in one shot as they were spread quite widely. I did manage four, but as is typical for me everything was horrendously out of focus. The above is my best effort at a record shot.

Roll on the weekend.