Sunday 21 August 2016

Sunday sandpiper...

Our intention this morning was to have a family walk on the beach and see the Yellow-legged Gull in Amble harbour on the journey there. It didn't quite go to plan, but not in a bad way...

When we arrived at Amble Harbour it was soon apparent the Yellow-legged Gull had moved off, however the returning adult Caspian Gull was snoozing on the mud and there were also 17 Goosanders on the river. In the distance we could see a number of gulls near the braid so we headed there for a brief look...

I had a quick scan of the gulls and couldn't see the YLG so decided to look at the waders. No sign of any Curlew Sands but looking east I spotted a very interesting looking wader. Despite it being quite distant the grey and long-bodied appearance as well as the obvious supercilium meant I already suspected its identity.

We walked east and stood right in front of the Coquet Yacht Club where the bird was showing really well just across the river and we were able to get final confirmation that it was an adult White-rumped Sandpiper. It continued to show well for the next hour while we were there and showed its rump several times in flight. A great day and nice to get a decent find!









White-rumped Sandpiper

The bird as feeding across the river just behind the boat with the large sail

Goosanders

No comments:

Post a Comment