Passage Sandpipers and Waders!

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 Passage Sandpipers, Waders and More!





We arrived early morning at 5:00 and headed straight towards the sea wall (overlooking The Wash). Temminck's Stint, Pectoral Sandpiper and Little Stint had been seen there. We went over, seeing some Dunlin in summer plumage, a few Common Terns and a Lapwing as it dive-bombed a Pheasant grazing. As we went on the sea wall, huge flocks of Dunlin and Ringed Plover covered entire masses of islands. High tide had just come in while a Hare ran up on the path, paused, and then continued towards the sea. I scanned the islands when I managed to come across something. Feeding along the rocks was a breath-taking, summer plumage Turnstone- a year tick. It ran along and then flew off towards East Hide. A few more Common Terns were landing on islands while Brown Hares were being consistently seen running through the fields. We then made our way towards East Hide, spotting Sedge Warblers, Meadow Pipits and Skylarks on the way. We went in and I scanned. Presently, I spotted my first Dark-Bellied Brent Geese of the year in the field and along the bank. I scanned the flocks for Pale-Bellieds and Black Brants but had no luck. We then went towards 360 Hide- which was fairly quiet except for the Great Crested Grebes. We then went towards Marsh Farm Reservoir, which was quiet the first two times. But we went back a third when a chap said he'd seen the Pectoral Sandpiper. We scanned with two other birders. Redshanks and more Brent Geese were about but no Pectoral Sandpiper. Suddenly, while we were watching a flock of Siskins along the bank, someone spotted the Pectoral Sandpiper along the bank and I saw it! It waded along the corner towards the farm and then went out of view. We then went towards the visitor center to report our sighting, hearing a Lesser Whitethroat and spotting a Common Whitethroat on the way. We then headed elsewhere which will be featured on another post. A brilliant trip so far!







Location: RSPB Frampton Marsh, Roads Farmhouse, Frampton Roads, Wyberton, Boston PE20 1AY, UK

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