Back home in Hampshire for the weekend I decided to visit one of my local patches - Hook with Warsash.  Except for a 30 second down pour I managed to dodge the rain and despite the strong breeze it turned out to be a very rewarding stroll. 

   Apart from a Grey Heron and a Little Egret the only other species worthy of note from the hide was a group of nine Curlew on the far shore of the scrape.  After leaving the hide I walked along the seawall from where I spotted, what I thought would of been the 'find' of the day, a juvenile Goosander laying down at the western tip of Hook Spit at 1335.  Also present at what remained of the end of the spit at high tide were at least ten summer plumaged Dunlin, at least one summer plumaged Turnstone and a Common Sandpiper. 

   The highlights of a forty minute spell at Links Scrape were as follows:  Black-tailed Godwit - 170+;   Buzzard - 1;   Little Grebe - 1;   Stock Dove - 1;   House Martin - 9+;   Sand Martin - 2+;   Barn Swallow - 2;   Little Grebe - 1;  Dunlin 2 (summer);   Common Sandpiper - 1. 

   With the weather looking particularly iffy I decided to walk back the way I had come.  Back on the seawall the Goosander was still present at 1500 this time with an adult and juvenile Oystercatcher for company.   However, of greater significance was the presence of two Little Ringed Plovers on the mud of the Hide Scrape amongst a group of thirteen Lapwing and a Common Sandpiper.  At 1515 both birds flew off but they soon reappeared and were still present when I left at 1545.  

   After the threat of an immanent down pour had receded I doubled back on myself for a second time and completed my loop of the area.  Back at Links Scrape additional noteworthy sightings included six Mediterranean Gull, one Common Gull, another Common Sandpiper and a flock of 40+ juvenile Starling.

Good birding,

Tony T   BSc (Hons) Geosci (open)