I had gone to Birmingham
Airport at 04:00 today to pick up my daughter and her family who had come back
from Turkey. I had then arranged for Roger to pick me up at 09:00 and then to go
with him and Dave to the Birdfair volunteers meeting at Rutland Water. Dave drove us to the meeting, which started
at 10:00 and finished at 11:30.
With nothing of note reported
at Rutland Water we decided to go Frampton Marsh as the Lesser Yellowlegs had
been reported again on Birdguides.
We arrived in the car park at
Frampton only for Dave to find out that the legs had not been reliably
reported! However after a bite to eat we drove to the old car park near the sea
wall in the hope that it would perhaps show.
We scoped the area to the north of the road and found a nice summer
plumage Spotted Redshank and there was also a nice summer plumage Knot as
well. There were at least 100
Black-tailed Godwits on this part of the marsh and we also found a few Dunlin
and a single Wood Sandpiper. As we
reached the sea wall we met Bob who hadn’t seen the legs but had seen two
Little Stints earlier. Whilst I was talking
to Bob we picked up a single Golden Plover feeding alongside a Ruff to the
south of the road. Dave, Roger and I
moved further along the sea wall and scanned back over the area we had been
viewing from the road. There was at
least another four summer plumage Knots and we picked out two Spoonbills close
to a distant party of Little Egrets. We
sat down on one of the seats on top of the sea wall and continued scoping the
area and were gradually joined by other birders. One the closest pool we had found two more
Ruff, a couple of Snipe and Redshanks but there was still no sign of the
legs. Dave decided to wonder further
along the sea wall and not too long after he had left another birder questioned
the identity of wader on a spit a little further away. Roger and I both got on the bird and watched
it for some time and gradually the number of birders swelled. The light was poor and very little detail
could be made out on the bird and we were mainly relying on jizz. Whilst we were watching the bird it was seen
alongside Redshank and Ruff and it appeared a little longer legged and more
elegant. The light did improve a little
and it appeared a little spangled on the back and the legs did appear yellowish
at times. It also flew on a few
occasions but not very far but on one occasion I saw it land with its wings and
tail spread and there was definitely no visible wing-bar, which ruled out
Redshank. However the tail pattern
although seen briefly seemed right for the legs or perhaps a Wood
Sandpiper. Dave had now returned and
felt it looked good and he set off back to the road to see if he could see it
better. Roger and I stayed and continued
to watch the bird but eventually went back to the road. However on reaching the road it was clear
that the area we were watching was not as viewable but all Dave had seen as we
did were a few Ruff, Redshank and a single Wood Sandpiper. We hadn’t been back too long when a Peregrine
flew over, as it had done before, and caused some disturbance but all we
continued to see were Ruff and Redshank.
This particular Lesser Yellowlegs has been extremely elusive recently
and so it wouldn’t be too surprising that it was perhaps being so again. That fact that it wasn’t seen from the road
didn’t necessarily rule out we had seen was the legs but conversely we could
claim it with any certainty either. A walk
down the road produced several Yellow Wagtails and views of the long staying
Glossy Ibis. With still no sign of the
Lesser Yellowlegs we finally decided to call it a day.
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