Pectoral Sandpiper

I seem to have spent a lot of time over the past week standing around waiting for birds to turn up. I went to see the Ortolan Bunting on Sunday morning. Stood around with a few other guys for about three hours waiting for it to show and eventually went home disappointed. Should have gone on Saturday, it would have been a life tick as well.

Today I went to Farlington Marsh to see the Pectoral Sandpiper. The Bluethroat reported there last night would also have been nice but given the strength of the winds it was unlikely that any small birds would be showing in the open. No point in wasting any time looking for it, so instead I wasted four hours trying to find the Pec Sand.

Got it eventually and even got a couple of pictures but why is it that when you find anything good, you usually end up with trying to take a brown bird against a brown background with backlighting and glare off the water.

Still, at least I did get to see it.

Pectoral Sandpiper

The bird showed quite well, if a bit distant, but unfortunately looked to be injured and was avoiding putting weight on one of its legs.

Pectoral Sandpiper

A few other pictures from the past week. A Corn Bunting from up on Chantry Hill, one of a large foraging flock.

Corn Bunting

and a scraggy looking Meadow Pipit

Meadow Pipit

We kept a look out for Honey Buzzards but they were all commons.

Common Buzzard

The North Wall at Pagham had a few good birds but again all a bit distant. There have been about a dozen Cattle Egrets around the area but it was unusual to see this one at the back of the Breech Pool along with a couple of Little Egrets.

and the Spoonbill roosting on the island along with the Little Egrets and Herons

Spoonbill

Also a Sparrowhawk making a couple of passes over the Breech Pool and causing panic amongst the waders feeding there.

Sparrowhawk

Willow Warbler

The Pectoral Sandpiper brings up my 200 for the year. Still a bit down on previous years but then I am still missing a few of the more common birds, Water Rail, Firecrest, Black Redstart. Must have been going around with my eyes closed. Also a big gap this year from not having an early spring Scotland trip.