A Couple of Hours in the Draper Hide

29th July 2023

Nearly the end of July so off to Rye Meads to see if there are any returning waders yet, particularly Green Sandpipers. On my way to the first hide I had a quick look at the dipping pond and found just one dragonfly, a Norfolk or Green-eyed Hawker. These only arrived in Herts a few years ago.

The water levels at the Draper Hide have been dropped and conditions looked perfect with lots of exposed islands and muddy margins.Not surprisingly the Little Grebes were hugging the water right in front of the hide as usual, and this time an adult and a juvenile with the remains of its stripey head.

And of course the resident Little Egret.

Rye Meads is undoubtedly a Stock Dove hotspot and is almost certainly the most reliable place in Herts to see them with normally about eight on or around the scrape. It's a pity they don't come a little closer.

And normally plenty of flight action.

The Green Sandpipers were already back in force with eight present today, Here are five of them.

They spent most of their time sleeping or preening, but occasionally one would wake up and go for a feed,

Also time for a bath.......................

...................a quick dry..................

.......................and a final wing-stretch.

Only just a couple of Shovelers present today and they are now in eclipse plumage. This male had just had a bath followed by a wing-flap to dry off.

The Gadwall were already starting to think about next year's breeding season and were flying around fairly erratically as part of their courtship displays.

The Tufted Ducks were a little more subdued with this female quietly supervising her chicks. Just how high is that on the cuteness scale?

But the stars of the show today were the not one, not two but three Garganey loafing around on the scrape. It appears that Garganey do most of their feeding at night as they generally have a reputation of sleeping most of the day and today was no exception. They did, however, wake up on a couple of occasions when all the gulls got spooked allowing me to get a few shots.

What a wonderful way to spend a couple of hours.