Well not so much of a red letter day but more of a Red Knot day. After breakfast I was offered the chance to join Pavel in the field with his continued work on Red Knot. I hadn't been out looking for Red Knot since the last time I joined him and Igor and so of course I jumped at the opportunity. Today was all about looking for adult birds brooding chicks. We headed out on to the tundra (photo above) where we bagan our search. 
We hadn't been out long when we heard a bird calling nearby and so we went in and after a short period of watching the male above we could see that there were 2 chicks visible. We went in and managed to collect the chicks for measurements and ringing.
After processing the 2 chicks I was amazed when Pavel managed to trap the adult male bird in the photo above and 2 below. After being weighed and ringed a data-logger was installed and then the adult bird along with the 2 chicks was released. I spend a lot of my time back home in the winter months surveying the Red Knot flocks of the inner Thames estuary looking for colour and flag ringed birds. I have have had quite a few flag ringed birds from Greenland and Norway with also birds that have been ringed in Mauritania and both the German and Dutch Wadden sea. So to actually be able to see these birds on the breeding grounds is some thing special but to actually see, handle and take part in processing the chicks really was just that extra bit special for me and I really did enjoy this moment of today.
Photo above shows the 2 chicks and below just a single chick. These were really great birds and I felt very honoured to witness and take part in today.
After this we moved on and searched for more Red Knot but were un-able to loacte any and as we slowly headed back we checked up on two nests of Mongolian Plover. One nest had a clutch of three eggs still present (photo below) and the other had two chicks and still a single egg present.
The tundra is starting to turn darker in it's colour but still certain flowers are present to give it that extra special touch of colour. Other note worthy sightings today included: at least 4 Pacific Golden Plover's, a single dark morph Arctic Skua, a White fronted Goose nest with a clutch of 6 eggs, over 120 Pintail, 80+ Scaup, 16 Eurasian Teal, 5 Long Tailed Ducks, 4 Pacific Eider a single Black Scoter, Wheater and of course a single male Mongolian Plover.
