A Spotted Sandpiper at Chew Valley Lake

       

On Wednesday I visited Chew Valley Lake hoping to see an American Spotted Sandpiper. Chew Valley Lake is a reservoir near Chew Stoke in Somerset and is the fifth-largest artificial lake in the United Kingdom, with an area of 1,200 acres. The lake was created in 1950 and now supplies most of the water to Bristol and the surrounding area. It is unusually shallow creating an excellent habitat for birds, with some 260 species recorded to date, and is designated a Site of Specific Scientific Interest  (SSSI).

 

The Sandpiper was located at Herriott’s pool adjacent to the main reservoir where it had been present for two days alternating between feeding on the shoreline viewable from a layby and resting up on a much more distant wooded island. Only part of the shoreline is viewable from the layby with the rest obscured behind a thick hedge.

 

The Spotted Sandpiper is the American cousin of our Common Sandpiper and in non-breeding plumage they are quite hard to tell apart. In breeding plumage, however, it transforms into an attractive little wader with, yes you guessed it, a prominent spotted breast. I’ve seen both summer and winter plumage birds before but that did nothing to diminish my enthusiasm for seeing, and hopefully photographing, this eye catching wader again.

 

The Spotted Sandpiper breeds near fresh water across most of North America where it essentially replaces our Common Sandpiper. It is the most widespread breeding Sandpiper in  North America. They migrate to the southern United States, the Caribbean and South America for the winter and are rare vagrants to western Europe.  The spottiness varies greatly from individual to individual and I have read that the overall health of Spotted Sandpipers is indicated by the spottiness of the bird. As a vagrant it averages three or four records a year in the UK.

 

When I arrived a few other birders were stretching their necks trying to see up the obscured shoreline where the bird was said to be feeding. So it was a game of hope and patience waiting for the bird to walk along the observable shoreline. After perhaps 30 minutes it was spotted (sic)  making its way toward us along the water’s edge pecking, very much like our Common Sandpiper, at invertebrates. It was bobbing its tail up and down as it fed  just like its common cousin. The function of the sandpiper tail-bobbing is unknow with guesses ranging from the mildly plausible such as aiding in balancing on rough terrain to the absurd such as pumping body oils over their feathers to improve waterproofing.

 

It walked almost towards the assembled admirers then turned around and walked back into the obscured area. A short while later it flew across the lake and landed on the distant small wooded island where I suspected it would stay a while.

 

I decided to go for a gentle stroll at the nearby Ham Wall RSPB reserve and return later hopefully when it had come back to feed. Ham Wall had a summer feel to it with tall reeds and vegetation  obscuring views but providing great habitat for breeding birds. On the way back to the car park I heard an insistent cheeping call which was coming from a newly fledged Garden Warbler family telling their parents to hurry up and feed them! Considering the date, 28^th May, it struck me as being very early for them to have fledged. A little research told me that the eggs take an average of 10 days to hatch fledging around 10 days later. So this puts egg laying around 8^th May, quite plausible as they arrive from Africa around mid-April.

    

       

   

      

    

Back at Chew Valley the Sandpiper was again feeding on the shoreline. This time it came even closer but the sun directly into the camera lens tested my photography and post processing skills but I was still very pleased with the results. After 30 minutes or so the sandpiper flew back to its woody Island which was my cue to leave.

 

Footnote – my blogs are posted with sometimes rather imaginative spelling and grammar due to my extreme dyslexia!