Lesser Yellowlegs & Long-billed Dowitcher

I came away from our last trip to Lepe Country Park happy that I had seen a Lesser Yellowlegs and happy that I had a record shot to prove it. It was a good result after the four failed attempts at the Cliffe Pools bird. However, the record shot was heavily cropped and there was scope for improvement

Looking at the map of the Dark Water area I estimate that it was taken from a distance of over 200 metres so I was lucky to get anything recognisable on the shot. The challenge was to get closer to the bird and with recent report putting it back on the Stansore Point pool the opportunity was there. So this morning Dave and I headed off into Hampshire once again.

It took a while to locate the bird. It was on the back of the pool and out of sight for most of the time so we had a long wait in the biting cold wind. Fortunately there were plenty of small birds around to practice on whilst we waited. My favourite being the Dunnock.

Dunnock

Eventually the bird relocated towards the front of the pool, a distance of about 60 metres. Still not ideal but at least we could get some better shots.

Lesser Yellowlegs

We waited to see if it would come closer but instead it took off and disappeared over the back of the pool. It was getting colder so we decided to relocate ourselves and went off to find the local cafe and a cup of hot tea.

Next stop was Pennington Marsh where I was hoping to improve on my pictures of the Long-billed Dowitcher. Another long wait in the cold wind but eventually we found it on the back of the Jetty Pool. I will spare you most of the pictures. It a shy bird and its nature is to stay well hidden in the reeds and today this one was living up to its reputation.

Long-billed Dowitcher in hiding

I would have liked to have got better pictures but you can't win every time. We were lucky. How often is it that you get see two rare American vagrants in one day?

Lesser Yellowlegs

Back in September we saw a Lesser Yellowlegs at Cliffe Pools. It was a long way off in poor lighting conditions and although there were experts present to confirm that I was looking at a Yellowlegs I could not make the identification. Frustrating but I did not feel that I could count the bird. I went back four times over the next couple of months to see it again but always managed to miss the bird. Then the reports stopped and I assumed that I had missed out on the bird for this year.

I have a hit list of target birds and with a Cetti's Warbler finally seen and photographed the Lesser Yellowlegs had moved to the top of the list.  So, when Dave suggested that we go down to Lepe Country Park to see the one reported there I leapt at the chance.

We set off with our usual ambitious plans, see the Yellowlegs, move on to Pennington to see the Long-billed Dowitcher, and then pick up the Red-breasted Goose. It rarely works out as you plan and by the middle of the afternoon we had little to show for our efforts except a few pictures of Pintails.

Pintail

We returned to Lepe for another go at the Yellowlegs and fortunately we then met up with a couple of birders, Keith and Roy, who we had talked to early in the morning. They had found the location of the Yellowlegs about half a kilometre to the west of where we had been looking and and were just heading off to see it, so we tagged along.

View through the 700mm lens - can you spot the Lesser Yellowlegs

The views were again very distant and at first I thought that I would not be able to confirm the sighting. However, a quick look through Keith's scope and a few shots in the camera that showed the identification points that we were looking for and I was happy that I had the right bird.

Easier to spot in this cropped version

 

and a distant shot of the bird flying away - again heavily cropped

I would have liked better pictures but there was no way to get closer. Are they worth putting on the blog? I think so - this is a record of where I have been and what birds I have seen and the Lesser Yellowlegs has played a significant part in my birding year to date (and cost me a bit in petrol).