Sawbills Dominate Amwell

The management work in front of the viewpoint at Amwell was intended to give better views over the scrape and also to bring the birds a lot closer. Obviously, not all were convinced when a particular individual with a  party of senior citizens leaned on the rail and stated in quite a loud authoritative voice " I am not quite sure why they dug all this here as no birds are ever going to come this close". That was, of course, before the 3-4 Water Rails, Grey Wagtails and Snipe arrived. This Snipe was photographed just 15 yards below the rail.

Unfortunately the Water Rails are proving fairly elusive and can only be seen flitting across the rides, and the Bittern is even more challenging. However, the other Amwell specialty, the Smew, has arrived and today was joined by its cousin, the Goosander. Goosander are quite uncommon at Amwell, apart from fly-throughs. However, this female seemed quite at home at the northern end of Tumbling Bay.