Pectoral Sandpiper

The weather was best in the west today so we headed for Pagham Harbour with the first stop being the North Wall. It was great to see the Breech Pool back to normal with a good mix of water and mud and with plenty of birds in evidence. I am surprised that it has recovered so quickly given the repeated drying out and flooding it received during the early part of the year.

With shallows and mud available many of the waders have returned along with the wildfowl, a few geese and various warblers in the reed beds. The insects are also thriving and there was a mixed flock of Hirundines hawking over the pools.

The birds were there but the weather did not deliver. It was overcast all morning. There were some great birds on show but the resulting photographs are poor.

Godwits, Redshanks and Greenshanks in White's Creek

We were told to look out for a Little Stint and when a suitable small bird turned up we were happily clicking away. It was only later that we realised that it was a Pectoral Sandpiper, but that is the beauty of getting a photograph, you can always check it out when you get home.

Pectoral Sandpiper

The Sandpiper was joined by a juvenile Ruff and we would have had some excellent pictures but without the light you cannot get the colours and detail into the pictures and they end up looking flat.

Pectoral Sandpiper(front) and Ruff (rear)

Ruff

We did check out other areas around the harbour but it all seemed very quiet. The following are all pictures taken in the North Wall area

Black-tailed Godwit

Reed Warbler

Whitethroat - taken during a brief improvement in the light conditions

The Pectoral Sandpiper was a great bird to see, even if we had difficulty identifying it, but overall the day was a bit disappointing. I like to spend the evening sorting out my shots and producing the blog. Tonight I spent my time trying to rescue a few record shots from amongst all the pictures taken today.