Roundup - August 2026
August has always been a month of tangible about-turn to me. A month where, at some generally unspecified point but often in about the third week, my focus shifts from non-avian to avian. I almost feel that before it my interest in birding has waned and will never get to where it was before, a feeling then completely dispelled, often within one brief moment.
This moment came at Gadsey Brook this year.
Gadsey is an interesting mix of mature gravel pit, still-worked sludge lagoon, pasture, scrub, riverine meadow, and marshy brook. Brilliant, I hear you say? Well...not really. It turns up birds, however it's bloody hard work that's not in proportion to the habitat's potential.
So, it was a pleasure, on the 4th, to find two Black-tailed Godwits on the "sludge pool" (which at the right water level looks absolutely scary for waders) along with a really good local count of nine Green Sandpipers, busy amongst a decent number of loafing Lapwings. Also, one of the Green Sandpipers had a remarkably Wood Sandpiper-esque head pattern; the rest of the bird confirmed it was a Green, but was interesting nonetheless.
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Black-tailed Godwits @ Gadsey, 4 August 2026 - had a brief discussion on whether the left-hand bird might be limosa, but came to the conclusion that there was enough rufous in the belly feathers to make these both adult islandica at different stages of moult. Baffling-headed Green Sand below (both © Leo Bateman)
The confluence point happened then, and I checked Gadsey out a number of times after that. I saw my first Hobbies of 2026, and a Common Sand joined the Greens, whose numbers stayed nicely high. A female Mandarin further east at Willington Lock GP added interest; this is another site that flatters to deceive. The fall-away from Odonata at this time was less so than in 2025. I think this reflects my increased interest in these blighters. Minor contradiction example: Having been alerted to the emergence of Red-veined Darters at Brogborough pools, a good ten miles SW of Bedford (thanks, Steve Clarke), I tried this out for size. Yes, this is very tenuously linked to the "North Wilds of Bedfordshire", but I did it nonetheless. It soon became apparent that late morning to noon was the best time for emergence, as I drew a blank in my first visit in mid-afternoon, but had plenty of joy just before midday on the next (21st). What beautiful and distinctive insects these are - I'm in the camp of preferring a teneral to a full-blown adult male, but it might just be me. I saw at least two, and with a non-stop accompaniment of Common Darters, Migrant Hawkers, Lesser Emperors and Clouded Yellows, it was a very enjoyable time.
Just, don't wear shorts like I did, unless you want to look like you require treatment in a field hospital afterwards. Major contradiction example: Sometimes I lose grip of the patch mentality and have to explore further afield. It goes against the diehard North Beds local mantra, but as they say, sanity is a wonderful thing (or do they? Maybe not - maybe it's just hindsight). Grafham Water is a few miles outside Bedfordshire. I don't think about that too much, because it's a truly wonderful place - and a learned naturalist friend of mine told me that its main purpose on creation was to provide water to Beds, so I'm fine with all this. A walk around delivered a sleepy juvenile Little Stint, alongside Wood Sandpiper, Spotted Redshank, a distant young Caspian Gull, and more Ringed Plover, Greenshank, Ruff and Yellow-legged Gulls than I've ever seen at an inland site in my life. If you're walking the perimeter, be prepared for the hard slog of the west side - it's more than made up for by the other three sides. As we step into the last week of August, I always think of three bird species that could enliven a walk around my patch, Pedley Birches. And I was delighted to find one of them, along the "Brook Slope":
The other two? I'm hoping I can tell you that at the end of September.... |
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