Waders on the move.
14th September 2018
Autumn Wader passage has begun in earnest over the last few weeks and although we don’t get big movements of Waders in the Beacons there is always a noticeable amount of birds in August and September. On Wednesday of this week there was a report of a Wood Sandpiper about twenty miles away from where I live and although this is a fairly common wader and I have seen large numbers over the years it’s always nice to have one fairly local. I have been very busy over the summer, taking advantage of the dry weather to work on my house and gardens, but now with all that completed I was ready for some birding and I started off by catching up with the local Kingfishers, see previous blogs and in order to stay in the birding groove, (because we are going to Norfolk next month, our favourite Autumn place in the UK - Good birds, early morning walks on lonely pristine beaches and nice pubs, what more could you ask)!! I thought I’d try and get a shot of this Wood Sandpiper. Yesterday when Susan and I arrived at the upland pool where the bird had been spotted I could see that the light was difficult, harsh sunshine from the wrong direction, it was obvious that the evening would have been the best time for a photo but perhaps the bird wouldn’t stay so I took what was on offer.
I was wearing wellingtons, and a good job too because the area around the pool was very muddy. I could see the bird’s favourite feeding spot, a muddy shoreline, and I knew that sooner or later it would return to feed there. I walked into a bed of tall bull rushes and just waited for about twenty minutes and sure enough I could see it appear out of the long vegetation and make its way to that area. I signalled to Susan who was sitting under a tree on a big log that the bird was on its way over and she had good views as it came into view. The light wasn’t ideal but that’s all that was on offer so that’s all there was and I took a few shots and had some excellent views of a nice bird. We left the bird feeding quite contentedly and had a look at some dragonflies on the other side of the pool, then made our way back to the car.
A nice day and a nice bird, as simple as that.
I was wearing wellingtons, and a good job too because the area around the pool was very muddy. I could see the bird’s favourite feeding spot, a muddy shoreline, and I knew that sooner or later it would return to feed there. I walked into a bed of tall bull rushes and just waited for about twenty minutes and sure enough I could see it appear out of the long vegetation and make its way to that area. I signalled to Susan who was sitting under a tree on a big log that the bird was on its way over and she had good views as it came into view. The light wasn’t ideal but that’s all that was on offer so that’s all there was and I took a few shots and had some excellent views of a nice bird. We left the bird feeding quite contentedly and had a look at some dragonflies on the other side of the pool, then made our way back to the car.
A nice day and a nice bird, as simple as that.