Cliffe Pools - September 2009

Reporting Your Sightings

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Alongside August, September is one of the very best months in the year at Cliffe as the late Summer-early Autumn wader passage continues. Impressive numbers of hundreds of black-tailed godwits and avocets are augmented with waders on passage such as wood, green, common and curlew sandpiper, little stint, greenshank, whimbrel and ruff.  Cliffe has an enviable record for turning up rarities at this time of year, so it is always worth giving the wader flocks a thorough scan just in case something unusual is about.

Early September is also a good month for enjoying the summer plumages of a number of wader species that we're more familiar with in their winter plumage; knot, bar-tailed godwit and grey plover are all typical examples.

By the latter half of the month a change of emphasis takes place, the wader passage starts to dry up with a reduction in the number of species present and greater numbers of the wintering waders (dunlin, grey plover etc) turning up.

September is also a prime month for other migrants on the move. Look out for parties of swallows and martins and a variety of warblers on the move and by the end of the month the first fieldfares and redwings should be arriving from their Arctic breeding grounds.

Finally September is the last month that summering insects can be properly seen, look out for dragonflies like migrant hawker, ruddy and common darters in the more woody, sheltered areas of the reserve. Here too you may see butterflies like red admiral, small tortoiseshell. peacock and comma feeding up before their winter hibernation. In the grasslands common blues, wall browns and late clouded yellows can still be seen with the last of the years bees.

30th: 300 avocet, 100 black-tailed godwit, 10 dunlin, 20 little egret

17th: 2 curlew sandpiper, 5 knot, 580 avocet, 11 black-tailed godwit, 55 grey plover, 51 lapwing, golden plover, whimbrel, wigeon, shoveler

13th: 13+ Arctic tern & 3 little gull on river from Cliffe coastguards (per F. Cackett & C, Gibbard)

11th: 1 pintail, 8 wigeon, 1 little stint, 1 ruff, 1 turnstone, 6+ greenshank, 8+ curlew sandpiper, knot, hundreds of avocet, black-tailed godwit & grey plover, 12+ yellow-legged gull (per C. Gibbard)

10th: 2 buzzard, 1034 avocet, 2 little stint, 2 spotted redshank, 1 ruff, 4 bar-tailed godwit, 140 grey plover, 180 black-tailed godwit, 130 lapwing, 120 ringed plover, 57 dunlin, 2 knot, 2 greenshank, 1 common sandpiper, 10 green sandpiper, 5+ yellow-legged gull around the pools; 4 black tern, 4 Sandwich tern & 1 porpoise on the river (per M. Orchard & S. Huggins)