Wheldrake Ings

 My last visit to the Ings was back in March. Wood sandpipers have been reported recently so I decided to visit this afternoon.

As I walked along the path I did not hear or see any birds. The first noise I heard was from the wind pump .

the pump is not connected so it is no longer used to pump water into the pool scrape.

From the hide I could see lots of moorhens  feeding and a few lapwings standing about. A greenshank was busily feeding in the middle of the scrape while a few sandpipers were flitting about. The grass in front of the hide made viewing difficult. Eventually I could get a clear view of the birds and identify them as green and wood sandpipers.

 Sand martins were busy chasing insects and a water rail was making its way around the edge of the reed bed. A mute swan entered the scrape followed by 3 cygnets, then another mute swan appeared with 5 cygnets, I thought that it might have been two families but later on I saw the group together and presumed that the adults had managed to raise 8 young.