Pectoral Sandpiper - Salford Priors GP

Sitting at home, about to eat my lunch. The phone rings. It's Mike. He has found a Pectoral Sandpiper at Salford Prior GP near Alcester. Sharp exit.

I arrived at 13.50 to find no-one there. The locality is actually a rectangular pool scraped from a former gravel pit beside the road from Dunnington to Broome. Mike had said it was on an island, and there was only one island in the corner of the pool.

Sure enough, it was still present. Phew.

Pectoral Sandpiper

I took a few photos before Jim Winsper turned up with his wife. I didn't get too close as I didn't want to be responsible for a sudden disappearance. A pretty typical Pec. The legs were rather dull green, rather than the bright yellow they usually are, but most of the ones I have seen have been juveniles in autumn.

Ringed Plover and Pectoral Sandpiper

Compared to a Ringed Plover, it was surprisingly slightly smaller. Perhaps a female.

Other birds present included two Little Ringed Plovers, a pair of Shelducks with eight ducklings, a pair of Gadwall, and about 50 Swifts.

An easy twitch. Mike and Jean returned from the pub, and John Yardley also arrived before I left. Not exactly a crowd.