David, Malcolm, Roger and I
were off to Lincolnshire today as there had been a Long-billed Dowitcher at
Saltfleet and a Red-necked Phalarope at Covenham Reservoir over the last few
days.
We decided to go for the
Red-necked Phalarope first and arrived in the car park just before 09:00. Another birder was just returning to the car
park and confirmed that the bird was still present and that it and other waders
were giving superb views.
We climbed up the steps to
view the reservoir and walked east towards a small group of birders. There was a single juvenile Ruff, a juvenile
Dunlin and several juvenile Little Stints showing exceptionally well and we
could see the Red-necked Phalarope on the water. When we reached the other birders, we had
superb views of the phalarope and there was also a single juvenile Curlew
Sandpiper. We spent quite some time
observing and photographing the birds at quite close range and although the
light was rather dim I was very pleased with the results.
Juvenile Ruff
Juvenile Little Stint
Juvenile Little Stint
Juvenile Dunlin
Juvenile Little Stint
Juvenile Little Stint
Juvenile Curlew Sandpiper
Juvenile Red-necked Phalarope
Juvenile Red-necked Phalarope
Juvenile Red-necked Phalarope
Juvenile Red-necked Phalarope
Juvenile Red-necked Phalarope
Juvenile Little Stint
Juvenile Little Stint
Juvenile Little Stint
Juvenile Curlew Sandpiper
As we walked back to the car
there were probably over a hundred hirundines over the reservoir but they were
rather distant but we did confirm that both Swallow and House Martin were
present in good numbers. There were also
two juvenile Ringed Plovers on the concrete surround and giving good photo
opportunities.
Juvenile Ruff, two juvenile Little Stints, juvenile Dunlin & a juvenile Red-necked Phalarope
Juvenile Ringed Plover
Juvenile Ringed Plover
Juvenile Ringed Plover
It had been an excellent hour
with two Ringed Plovers, two Ruff, at least one, possibly two Curlew
Sandpipers, a Dunlin, eight Little Stints and a Red-necked Phalarope all of
which were juveniles.
Very satisfied with our visit
to Covenham we drove the short distance Saltfleet where we would hopefully get
the Long-billed Dowitcher. We had a
little trouble finding the right place but eventually got directions to
Paradise Pool from a local.
As we walked towards the pool
David and I heard a Kingfisher call and I then picked it up over the top of
some tall trees before it dropped low over the creek and disappeared. On approaching the pool, we could see
half-a-dozen waders, which turned out to be three Greenshank and three Redshank. We continued along the path to join a small
group of birders on a bridge that spanned a creek. Apparently the dowitcher had been on Paradise
Pool early but had flown off as the tide started to recede. There were a couple of Curlew and several
Redshank feeding in the creek but there was no sign of the dowitcher. Two of the Greenshank then made a brief visit
and a Bar-tailed Godwit appeared but still no dowitcher.
We scanned the sea, which was
some distance away and picked up several Gannet and we had brief views of an
Arctic Skua harassing a gull. Another
birder who had walked to some woodland alerted us to a Yellow-browed
Warbler. When we reached him, he said he
hadn’t seen it but had heard it calling.
David said he could also hear it and I managed to hear it just twice but
we it eventually fell silent and we didn’t hear it again.
We returned to the bridge when
on one of two birders that had just arrived indicated they thought they had the
dowitcher, which the second birder then confirmed. We then all got on the nicely marked juvenile
Long-billed Dowitcher and watched it for some time as it fed and preened but it
never came close enough to photograph and eventually walked out of sight. Whilst we were watching the dowitcher a
rather nice juvenile Black-tailed Godwit appeared and there was also a Common
Sandpiper.
Juvenile Black-tailed Godwit
Juvenile Black-tailed Godwit
I had received an alert of
three Cattle Egrets at Saltfleet St. Clements and we decided to go and have a
look before having our lunch, seeing a Sparrowhawk as we went back to the car.
We drove along the B1200
almost to Saltfleetby St. Peter before turning back and then right along
Swallow Gate Road but there was no sign of the egrets. Another alert then came through saying they
were now on the saltmarsh and so went to the Rimac car park where we had lunch
before walking to Sea View Farm and looking out on to the marsh. We had a Kestrel and another Sparrowhawk
before we reached the viewpoint and we did see a couple of Little Egrets and
twelve Ruff but there was no sign of the Cattle Egrets. David, who had wandered off, called Malcolm
to say he had found them and we went to join him, seeing another Sparrowhawk as
we left the viewpoint.
When we found David, he was
walking back towards the farm and indicating we should head for the main
road. When he caught us up he said that
we might not be able to see the egrets from where he was and our best chance
was to go across the road and look in same fields we had looked for them earlier. When we got to the other side we could see
the cows in the field but there was no sign of any egrets. There was a footpath that went over a stream
and then alongside the field and so we went along it to get a better view of
the field and found the three Cattle Egrets in the corner of the field. They flew towards the main road and dropped
down out of sight, although we did see the heads of two of them before we went
back to the road.
We walked back along the edge
of the saltmarsh to the car but saw very little and with Roger needing to be
back for 18:00 we didn’t have time to do much else and set off for home.
We did call at Cropston
Reservoir in Leicestershire on the way back but although other than two
Yellow-legged Gulls had little else and went back to Roger’s. It had been an excellent day’s birding with
some quality birds, particularly at Covenham Reservoir.
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