East Wretham Heath 30 July 2025 (0725-1000)

Lakes, meres and muck heaps are habitats I like to visit at this time of year for signs of wader passage, with this in mind this morning I chose East Wretham Heath where the largest area of water known as Langmere is a reliable location for passage waders.

I arrived at the car park at 0725 and immediately recorded juvenile Coal Tits, singing Blackcap, one Whitethroat, juvenile Blue Tits, Chiffchaff, Chaffinches, and one Kestrel in the many old Hawthorns here. A Hummingbird Hawk Moth was feeding around a buddleia.  

I headed off for Langmere with passage waders in mind, Wood Sandpiper perhaps or Greenshank maybe? An initial overview of the water saw 200+ Lapwings around the fringes of the mere and a single Little Egret probing in the shallows.  Typically, many Little Grebes (20+) seen and heard on the water along with many Coot too.  A pair of Egyptian Geese were present with 3 half-grown young.

Having repositioned myself for better views of the mere I could see that the Lapwings were a mixture of both adult and juvenile birds.

A scan of the far fringes of the mere paid off with a single juvenile Greenshank found probing the wet muddy fringes of the mere as well as wading in the shallows in its search for invertebrate food.  After a long wait the Greenshank eventually made its way to the nearside fringes of the mere with occasional stops for preening.

Greenshank (juvenile) on Wretham Heath 30 July 2025

This beautiful Greenshank offered great views as it walked and ran the margins of the mere, occasionally, it was chased off by Lapwings, it was then that the white rump extending up the back was revealed.  Another notable feature of this bird is the slightly upturned bill, this is probably accentuated by the lower mandible curving up towards the tip.

Greenshank 30 July 2025.  Note the distinctive white wedge running up the birds rump and back.

  

Lapwing (juvenile) at Wretham 30 July 2025

Probably in excess of 220 Lapwings were present around the mere including juvenile birds (see above), this birds exhibits typical juvenile appearance which includes the short crest and the buff fringes to the dark wing feathers.  A very beautiful bird.