The first check for this spring migration season revealed a small number of shorebirds on the southern tidal-flat: 113Bar-tailed Godwit (one leg-flagged from New Zealand, one from Victoria Australia), 13 Great Knot (one leg-flagged), 11 Far-eastern Curlew, c. 30 Dunlin; a flock of c. 200 flew over heading southward, 23 Kentish Plover a handful ofGrey Plover and 1 Far Eastern Oystercatcher. Also seen c. 80 Eurasian Wigeon, a few Eastern Spot-billed Duck, 4 Little Egret, 2 Grey Heron, c. 30 Black-tailed Gull and as the highlight 13 Saunders’s Gull; only single individuals had been seen occasionally before.
On the former main roost location of the northern tidal-flat only 3 Kentish Plover and a few Eastern Spot-billed Duck were present, because sand had been excavated to form a lagoon; most likely incorporated with the construction work at the adjacent salt-ponts.
This bird was originally banded on 17.10.1993 aged as 3+ so it is now at least 23 1/2 years old and still travelling.
