After yesterday’s disappointment with being unable to see the Wood Sandpiper clearly at martin mere, I arrived at Marshside to the news that a juvenile Wood Sand had departed the scene.

The blow was softened by the presence of 27 Ruff in their assorted late-summer motley, mingling with a couple each of juvenile Redshank and Black Headed Gulls. That would be a sight to bewilder a novice birder! Also present: Common Sandpiper, two young Avocets in their now customary position and a selection of ‘the usual’.

Junction pool was deserted apart from a young Moorhen and a trio of Shovellers, and the now grassy area in front of Nel’s Hide populated only by hares, with a couple of Curlews in the distance