Canons Farm, Lodmoor RSPB and Portland, 14th September 2017

A quick visit to Canons while waiting on news from Dorset was rewarded by a couple of Yellow Wagtails and a continuing trickle of Meadow Pipits, plus the regular Peregrine dealing with an intruder. A Collared Dove was an increasingly rare sighting.

Ian J picked me up and we made tracks for Lodmoor, successfully connecting with my first LEAST SANDPIPER and my second STILT SANDPIPER, both juveniles. Other sightings there included a Great Egret, 11 Mediterranean Gulls, a Green Sandpiper, a Yellow Wagtail, a Kingfisher and a few Sand Martins, House Martins and Swallows. A jaunt onwards to Portland bolstered the day's haul with the showy Buff-breasted Sandpiper there (my third) and a Wryneck which sunbathed on a rock in the observatory quarry for a good 30 minutes before slinking into the grass.

Least Sandpiper at Lodmoor

Stilt Sandpiper at Lodmoor

To cut a Long story (relatively) Short

The last couple of days have really summed up twitching for me; most of the ordeal has been extremely stressful and left me very ratty but the end result reminded me what I was doing it for.

It started on Tuesday when, at Canons Farm with Richard and Peter (seeing Common Redstart, Whinchat etc), a message came on the pager hinting that the reported 'Long-billed' Dowitcher at Lodmoor might be something to keep an eye on. This wasn't solid enough to be worth dashing off for straight away but I awaited further developments.

I got up very early on Wednesday, planning a dawn start at the patch, and saw that I'd missed a mega alert from just before midnight saying that instincts were correct. Gah! I had to go, but how? I poked dad and he murmured something that sounded like I had car rights until three in the afternoon. If I were to drive there myself I had to go there and then, little time for faffing around. However, a couple of things ended up faffing me around so I ended up leaving around seven and arrived at ten-thirty. Only to find I had no change for parking so had to drive into Weymouth and break up a tenner for a Diet Coke. I wish I was more organised.

Anyway, I basically arrived to find the bird hadn't shown since about eight and I had to leave just after midday to get the car back to dad. Predictably, half way home the bird came on the pager. Having spent £50 on fuel for a short and frustrating dip-and-run, only for one of my regular lifts (Secret Squirrel) to grip-text me while I was driving to Sutton, I wasn't happy (I could and should have given him a call but was in a such a hurry I just dashed off, and he tried to call me while I was over half way there). What a waste of a day.

Yesterday evening, Liam and I arranged to meet at Waterloo this morning and catch the train to Weymouth. I got to the station just in time to buy a ticket and board but found that my debit card was missing from my wallet and I didn't have enough cash to cover the journey. Shiiiiitttttt..... I ran home and dad kindly gave me enough money to get there and back and took me to Sutton station. The train I needed to catch to get to Waterloo in time was leaving very shortly so I headed for the ticket machines that take cash. After going through the rigmarole of sorting out the ticket details, I tried to pay but it said I could only use a card. Unbelieveable. Thank goodness the queue for the traditional manned desks was short despite being rush hour, as I managed to get the ticket and rush to the platform with a couple of minutes before the train arrived. Phew.

Liam and I teamed up as planned at Waterloo and arrived at Weymouth two and a half hours later. Pager messages throughout the morning had been encouraging so we walked fairly confidently to the reserve. We were greeted by a reasonable gathering of birders including occasional twitch-buddies Micheal and Dan from Sussex who put us on the SHORT-BILLED DOWITCHER. It was tucked behind some vegetation but came out into the open and showed its notched tertials and generally well-marked coverts etc for about a minute before it scampered behind the clump again and hardly moved for two hours. We were debating when we should call it a day when it finally woke up and fed out in the open, not too distantly, for about fifteen minutes before for flying out of sight. A beautifully intricately marked bird, and a performer in the end. Stunner! The stress and hassle of connecting was instantly forgotten and we set off home happy.

What it's all about

Stilt Sand bagged

record shot of the Stilt Sandpiper

Peter 'Polo' Grady picked me up from the farm shortly after 11.00am and we started the trek down to Weymouth. Originally, this trip was pencilled in for tomorrow but Peter became unexpectedly relieved of his arrangements so this was something of a spontaneous decision.

After an average journey (holiday traffic around the New Forest and coastal towns) we parked up and eventually found our way to the gathering of people fixed on a small muddy pool. Our desired tick had shown but had just recently gone out of view. It didn't take much waiting to see the splendid adult STILT SANDPIPER which showed well, albeit a tad distant, on and off for the next couple of hours. It was a really neat and smart bird; a wader that I've always been keen to see. After acquiring a sketch, photographs and prolonged clear views we decided to head home, both satisfied.

showing the combination of a clean white rump and plain wings

Britain Life List 310