Some juveniles around the Solway ... and an early Black Tern ...

With the presence of juvenile birds always being a welcome sign of renewal of species it was good to see some juvenile Little Egrets feeding among the adult birds at Port Carlisle today ...

... and not far away a juvenile Little Ringed Plover fed in its own distinctive style ...

... showing quite bright yellow legs ...

There were signs of early autumn passage when a Green Sandpiper called repeatedly ...

Back at Port Carlisle a hybrid Carrion x Hooded Crow was again in the bay as it had been a week earlier ...

But more surprisingly very distantly off port Carlisle a moulting adult Black Tern was briefly on the water's edge with Black-headed Gulls before flying off south ...

... checking back through the Bird Reports this is the earliest autumn bird since 1999 when one was recorded on 10th July ... this is lumped in with spring records in that report but surely Brown & Grice ( 2005 ) have it right when they cut spring migration off in early June and have July as the start of Autumn movement ...