I phoned and talked with Kev @kev07713 from the car on the way home from Scotland and we decided that the rain in the forecast was sufficient to suggest we should bird on Sunday rather than Saturday. It was a bank holiday weekend and so we both got permission from our respective partners. We agreed to look again but pencilled in that we'd go to RSPB Frampton Marsh as there was a reported Baird's sandpiper, and a bonus pectoral sandpiper that had turned up the day after I visited last time. On the Saturday late afternoon, the Baird's was reported and so we confirmed the plan - it was going to be a clear night, so fingers crossed.
We travelled up and stopped for breakfast at one of our usual spots,making it to Frampton well before the Visitor's Centre opened. The car park was already full of cars, presumably looking to tick the same bird as me - Kev had already had one at Newport/Goldcliff a few weeks before. We made directly for the sea wall and could see groups of birders already in place, one large group to the left and a second to the right. It appeared that no one had yet spotted the bird but with high tide still some time away, (11.10am) the flocks of waders were still to be flushed up onto the freshmarsh - no panic (yet).
That is not to say there were no waders, as small flocks of ringed plover and dunlin were cutting across the scrapes and landing to gradually bolster the birds already returned from the saltmarsh and shore. We opted to turn left and joined those waiting and scanning. We were. all unable to see the bird, largely because it wasn't there. After half an hour or so, an update on Birdguides alerted us to a sighting of the pectoral sandpiper back down the track on the pool behind the Visitor’s Centre. About a quarter of the birders decided it was worth retracing their steps and we all set off to see if we could find the bird - within a couple of minutes, and before we reached the track back off the sea wall, there was a further update that the Baird's had been located by the birders ahead of us and further along the sea wall. We continued along the sea wall to join them.
Baird's sandpipers are rare but regular autumn vagrants to the UK and are primarily a North American species, breeding in the high Arctic and migrating to South America for the winter. However, during migration, individuals occasionally stray off course and end up in UK with most sightings occurring between August and October. It can be challenging to distinguish it from other small waders, like dunlin or the white-rumped sandpiper. It is a small, brownish sandpiper with long wings that extend beyond its tail, and it lacks the prominent wing bars that some other similar species have.
We arrived and the birders around us pointed out the location of our bird, amongst a mixed ringed plover / dunlin flock. It was unfortunately asleep or at least had its beak tucked under its wings but a tick (lifer) nevertheless. It was only a matter of time, and our bird work with a start and walked quickly left (but only a few feet) before going back to sleep. Then the whole flock was flushed by an unseen adversary - a bit skittish.
We scanned and scanned but found it difficult to pick out the bird - a birder further to our left and further along the wall eventually called it and we were all on the move, another 25m along. Before we could get any images, it was off again. The search started over. Eventually the bird was located again and this time stayed long enough for record photos, but asleep and distant.
We worked through the other birds and found a curlew sandpiper and a couple of little stints. One of the birders and his friends were suggesting there was a white-rumped sandpiper, but I think eventually it was agreed that there wasn't.
We made our way back to the Visitor’s Centre for some lunch and to look for the pectoral sandpiper - it hadn't been seen since the report, now over an hour ago. We saw a common sandpiper but not the pec.
After lunch we decided to go back up to the wall again as the Baird's was apparently "showing very well" and not far from the steps onto the sea wall. It had flown out onto the saltmarsh by the time we got there, and there was still no news of the pectoral. Out on the saltmarsh we could see a peregrine sitting on a post, and closer in a whimbrel stalked across the edge of some pools to feed on an abundant supply of invertebrates, presumably stopping off here on its return south to wintering areas in Africa.
With no other action, and no sign of the pectoral sandpiper, we continued along the sea wall and I took some photos of the ruff just to show the difference in plumage from the birds Charlotte and I had seen in previous days. Out over the scrape were some wet patches, not enough to be classed at pools, where redshank, avocet, and a couple of handfuls of spotted redshanks were showing.
We dropped into the East hide and the occupants relayed that they hadn't seen the wood sandpiper reported earlier in the day. A bit of a shift change, and one of the new birders spotted the wood sandpiper dropping in at the very edge of the reeds but now out of view. We waited patiently but it took some time before walking and preening behind a line of short reeds. I took some record shots, but it refused to come out in the open. Eventually it flew to a distant spit and when it returned, it went back in hard against the front reeds again. We waited for a another view but with time marching on, we moved on. Perhaps the pec sandpiper would return to its earlier location.
We walked past the 360 and Reedbed Hides but saw nothing new for the day. The spoonbills were moving around and feeding, rather than continuing with their most recent sleeping pose. Further round we encountered a couple of snipe feeding in the shallows.
We scanned for merlin or peregrine over the car park field but only had kestrel. We packed away and made for home - not such a great day for Kev's list, but I had my lifer. It is all about me!
Year list: 229.
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