27th May Blacktoft Sands

Old Moor let me and Roy down again by not holding on to the Least Sandpiper over night. Anyway Ive seen one before in Yorkshire at Blacktoft in 1999 but it would have been a lifer for Roy. We went to Blacktoft in stead but before we got there I picked out a Honey Buzzard flying along side the M62 between juntion 35 and 36 heading south west at 11.25AM, unfortunatly for Roy it was on my side of the car and he couldnt see it (another lifer for Roy gone). Blacktoft started slowly with few waders about apart from the usual Avocets and the odd Greenshank, 26 Black-tailed Godwits flew in later on. A Water Rail and Yellow Wagtail were found at Marshlands and Marsh Harriers were seen food passing on 4 occasions and a female was seen to kill a young coot and carry it off. A Common Gull was an unusual find at this time of year and Sedge Warblers were singing and showing well. We were running out of time and we still hadn't seen the reported pair of Garganey, with only 15 minutes left before we had to go we found them out side first hide and watched them for 10 minutes before they flew off. A great afternoons birding and good to get out of Calderdale for a change. Photos to follow later.