Royston Wildlife Blog: September 2025

With low pressure dominating for the first time in months, the start of autumn was decidedly different to the vast majority of summer. It was (relatively) cool, it was breezy and there were rain showers which were particularly lively on the 3rd, when over an inch (28mm) fell in the day, including a torrential shower in the early afternoon that deposited 15mm in around 20 minutes. More rain fell on the 3rd than in the whole of May, or the whole of June, or the whole of August. There was still a little butterfly activity when the sun came out between the showers, but my macro lens was redundant as I switched to local bird watching. A visit to Phillup's Lake on the 2nd produced at least one Little Grebe, a single adult Coot, three Tufted Ducks (one male) and, a local 'first' for me, two Teal.

There was no mud, and consequently no waders, at Phillup's Lake, but there was plenty of mud at Dernford Farm Reservoir where the water level was still, despite the rain, extremely low on the 2nd. I counted at least six Ruff and five Common Sandpipers feeding around the reservoir, as well as a Common Snipe that flew off as soon as I appeared. A single Yellow-legged Gull was with the (resident?) Lesser Black-backed and Black-headed Gulls. The Tern family had departed, but large numbers of juvenile Tufted Ducks were seen after what has clearly been a very successful breeding season. As usual, the reported Ruddy Shelduck was nowhere to be seen. More gulls (mostly Lesser Black-backs) were seen when I went on a short (rain shower clouds spotted) 'there and back' walk east along the Icknield Way from the A505 layby, again on the 2nd, and they included a Herring Gull.

Ruff, Dernford Farm Reservoir, 2 September

Juvenile Tufted Duck, Dernford Farm Reservoir

Poor weather (but with welcome rain) and a whole load of admin. jobs restricted my activities in the first week of September. The appearance of a juvenile Grey Phalarope at Rutland Water on the 3rd, however, was too good an opportunity to miss and I decided to risk the trip to see it that evening, despite only being able to set off at 5.30pm. Heavy rush hour traffic slowed me down but I got to the Sykes Lane car park at 6.45pm, to find that it was closing at 7.00pm. I decided to dash down to the northern end of the dam, where the bird was located, at least see the bird and then dash back. Fortunately, the phalarope was only three minutes away, typically picking up tiny invertebrates from the rather windswept water, and had been located by another photographer, virtually on the shore line (phalaropes tend to be very confiding birds and rarely stray far from the edges of lakes and reservoirs when migrating cross country). I managed to take 37 photographs of it in a little over five minutes before dashing back to the car and exiting less than 15 minutes after I arrived (and hence not having to pay a parking fee!). Although this was the briefest of 'twitches' and very unsatisfactory, I would still prefer it to the 3.5 hours that I sat waiting for the Zitting Cisticola to give decent views (and no photographs - see last month's blog).

Juvenile Grey Phalarope, Rutland Water, 3 September

Following on from my trip to Suffolk to see the Zitting Cisticola, the chance to see another UK 'lifer' arose on the 8th, when I visited the Norfolk Broads, where the UK's third (I think) Black-winged Kite had been showing, distantly, for a few days. Plenty of people were on hand to point the bird out to me at Hickling Broad NWT - it was sitting in one of several dead trees, perhaps 300 metres away. Being forewarned that it would be distant, I had brought my telescope - just as well, as it was a tiny speck in my (10x42) binoculars. Of course, I tried to get photos of what is a fairly small raptor anyway. If you look carefully at my 'best' photo below, you may just about be able to make out a black, grey and white blob in the centre of the frame.

Record Shot of a distant Black-winged Kite, NWT Hickling Broad, 8 September

After getting back from holiday in Spain (more anon) my next excursion was as part of an RSPB Local Group coach trip to Cley NWT on the 21st. As I wasn't leading this trip, I sneaked away along the coast in the afternoon to look for a long-staying Pectoral Sandpiper off the Iron Road in Salthouse. I was lucky, because the elusive bird (apparently one of two here) appeared briefly after about 15 minutes, before disappearing into the reeds again: some people had been there for two hours waiting to see it! There are no photos of the bird, I'm afraid. Earlier, with the wind having turned round to the north overnight, I had gone down to Cley beach to do some sea watching. I had hoped to see a few skuas and shearwaters, but it appears that I turned up a little too late. Instead, there was a distant stream of Gannets (mainly juveniles, which were shearing the water and looking like large shearwaters - if only!). I did see three Razorbills, a couple of Arctic Terns and a variety of flying ducks. A Spotted Redshank was seen on the reserve, but annoyingly I missed out on the Wood Sandpipers that virtually everybody else in our group saw! Hundreds of Pink-footed Geese had already returned to their winter quarters. Several Cattle Egrets were closely attending some black cattle. A Curlew Sandpiper and a Knot were on the same pool as the Pectoral Sandpiper. Insects seen included several Wall butterflies and Common and Ruddy Darter dragonflies. Some of the images that I took are shown below.