Lincolnshire Waderfest!

So it was back to Lincolnshire for another long days birding last Thursday. The attraction was two fold. Firstly, there has been a somewhat unprecedented influx of Wood Sandpipers into the country. This is a passage migrant that I expect to see in ones or twos every year. Exceptionally large flocks landed last week, for example a flock of over 100 were recorded on the Norfolk coast. The opportunity to see so many of these lovely waders together was simply too good to miss. Secondly, although I did “see” the rare American White-rumped Sandpipers 10 days ago at Frampton it was a very poor one out of ten obscured view.

So I arrived early at Freiston RSPB on the east coast to be greeted by Wood Sandpipers absolutely everywhere on the medium sized muddy pond know as the reservoir. The two White-rumped sandpipers were also showing on and off reasonably well.

The highlight, however, was the big evening 6m high tide which pushed everything off of the salt marshes and onto to the reservoir for a wader spectacular the like of which, in terms of the mixture of waders in a small area, I have never seen in the UK.

41 Wood Sandpipers
Little Stint
2 White-rumped Sandpipers
4 Greenshank
6 Green sandpipers
2 Common sandpipers

and uncountable numbers of

Dunlin
Redshank
Knott
Black-tailed Godwit
Turnstone
Oystercatcher

Wood Sandpiper in the late evening sunlight

White-rumped Sandpiper in the morning gloom

White-rumped sandpiper in the warm evening light

As a mid day interlude, I popped over to the almost adjacent Frampton Marsh RSPB and finally managed to get the American Long-billed Dowitcher on my year list – the first one I’ve seen in summer plumage in the UK.

I also spent a little time at Freiston watching the Tree Sparrows which were a common bird in the countryside around the Wiltshire village were I grew up but are sadly, like so many once common birds, now so hard to connect with.

Tree Sparrow and hungry chick

I arrived home late as a tired but very thoroughly happy chappy!

Comments

Albert the Albatross

What is more improbable - a) England’ football team beating Germany in the knockout stages of a major competition b) Seeing an Albatross in England Actually the answer is a) because it has not happened since 1966 rather than b) as Albert the Albatross, as he is affectionally known, has made a number of passing visits to the UK since 1967! On Monday evening reports started to emerge of Albert associating with the Gannet colony at RSPB Bempton Cliffs in Yorkshire, almost one year after his last brief visit to the same site. During the intervening period there have been a number of sightings of Albert across Europe, particularly from the Baltic Sea where he appears to have spent much of the last 12 months. In fact there were reports that he had been attacked and killed in the area by two eagles. Reports of his death were clearly greatly exaggerated! The Black-browed Albatross is circumpolar in the southern oceans but very rarely seen above the equator. If I t

The Hawfinches of the Forest of Dean

Hawfinch - Forest of Dean, winter 2017 A highlight of my winter birding is my annual trip to the Forest of Dean to see Hawfinches. I was unable to go last year due to the post-Christmas lockdown so this year’s visit was even more richly anticipated than normal. Parkend in the Forest of Dean is my usual chosen location for watching Hawfinches. Here the proven technique of using your car as a hide normally works well. I must also say that, after a number of quite strenuous twitches recently, I was also looking forward to a much more leisurely birding session! The story of Hawfinches in the UK is, to my mind at least, a fascinating one. It is what is known as an eruptive species meaning that it occasionally erupts from its traditional breeding grounds to invade on mass countries much further away. This is thought to be driven by a combination of breeding success and local crop failure resulting in not enough food to go around. Records indicate that the Hawfinch was a very rare

Perseverance or sheer stupidly? – The Belted Kingfisher nailed at the 4th attempt!

Belted Kingfisher I have had three failed attempts, or dips as birders call them, to see the Lancashire Belted Kingfisher over the last few weeks, including two harrowing encounters with the slope of death, see here . So when the bird was relocated a few miles away from its original location in an altogether less challenging spot I was soon off on my 4 th attempt to see this truly stunning mega rare vagrant from North America. We had friends from the village coming to dinner on Wednesday night so I really didn’t fancy a strength sapping silly o’clock departure. I hence left home at 07:00 on Wednesday morning and heading north again up the car park previously known as the M6. The Kingfisher had relocated close to Samlesbury at a place called Roach Bridge on the river Darwen. I arrived at 09:30, found a parking spot very close to the bridge, and set off along a muddy footpath towards the reported location. Disconcertingly, many birders were heading back to their cars alr

The Standlake Birder

Search This Blog