Wading into the smugness

See me smiling? It's the ugly mug of the smug gloater. We would-be Nostradamuses don't pay too much attention to the odd failure. But just hear us crow about our successes!

I was a few days out with my small-waders-here-by-November. Better early than late, I say. Get on with it, I hear you say?

Didn't spot the bird hidden by reeds in the shallows today till a passing Little Egret took my eye. And led it to a Wood Sandpiper (Tringa glareola). The birds that visit Tyto are usually loners. They may stick around for months and can become almost as approachable as the more gregarious Sharp-taileds (yet to appear in Tyto but plenty nearby).

A shrill call from a more distant area of reeds revealed one of two Marsh Sandpipers (Tringa stagnatalis) wheeling low over the shallows, and landing again in the ankle-deep water.

The tall birds, much daintier than the lookalike but bigger Common Greenshank, will grow in numbers till the shallows evaporate.

Now, where are the plovers, stints and godwits?

Further to yesterday's talk of killing tulip trees, here's a bird today making use of the flowers - for the colour. The scrap of flower closely matches the excited Red-backed Fairy-Wren's (Malurus melanocephalus) glowing colour. The offering is intended to attract a female. Red berries are also used. Without conspicuous success in either case, from what I've seen!