WADING birds were the highlight of August with the pick of the bunch undoubtedly the first local record of Wilson's phalarope. This rare American species was found on the racecourse pools at Catterick on the 18th and was briefly present the following morning (before being scared off by a peregrine falcon).

This was presumably the bird which had been seen at Bishop Middleham in County Durham earlier in the month. A later record in Berkshire may also relate to this individual, which hopefully means it avoided the attention of the peregrine.

The first Wilson's phalarope was recorded in Britain as recently as 1954 and there have been some 150 records since that time, although only a handful have been recorded in Yorkshire.

Nosterfield also attracted a good range of waders during August, although numbers were not particularly high. This included up to seven greenshank, sanderling, knot, grey plover, whimbrel, jack snipe, wood sandpiper, spotted redshank and turnstone. Sanderling, knot and a flock of five turnstone were seen at Scorton and black-tailed godwit and up to nine green sandpipers were seen at Bolton on Swale.

There was a very large influx of marsh harriers to Yorkshire early in the month with more than 50 individuals involved. This area was on the northern edge of this movement but still attracted some birds, with singles seen at Nosterfield, Pepper Arden and Bolton on Swale.

When I wrote Birds of the Northallerton and Richmond Area some ten years ago, there had been less than a dozen local sightings of marsh harrier. Now the species is much more regular with four or five sightings a year.

Other sightings of note during August included hobby, common tern, yellow-legged and Mediterranean gull at Nosterfield and an Egyptian goose among the resident greylag flock at Bolton on Swale. I also received a report of a strange lapwing from ponds near Hauxwell, the normal dark-green of its back replaced by a buffish-white. Even more unusually, the legs were a pinkish-red. I would be interested to hear from any readers who manage to relocate this bird.

Looking ahead to September, this is one of the most exciting months in the birdwatcher's calendar. Waders continue to be prominent.

Birds of prey are often a feature of September too, so look out for ospreys along the main river systems and species like peregrine and merlin at the local reserves.

Finally, September should see the first winter visitors arriving with skeins of pinkfooted geese usually seen by the month-end.