Cleaning up on Tresco

A whistle-stop tour of the rare and scarce birds (and playgrounds) of Tresco seemed in order today. After an enjoyable soaking on the inter-island launch Britannia, the family headed for the beach while I headed for the Great Pool. A long-staying Lesser Yellowlegs (dwarfed by Redshanks) and Spotted Crake (dwarfed by Moorhens) could be seen well but distantly just a few feet apart. Another long stayer, a Pectoral Sandpiper, was hidden in the reeds at first but eventually came out to feed on open mud with Redshanks.

Pectoral Sandpiper with Redshanks

I caught up with the rest of my crew at the excellent school playground near Old Grimsby - birding Dad's take note - where a brief scan of the fields produced Black Redstart, Whinchat, Curlew and a couple of dozen Red-legged Partridges, seemingly oblivious to the horrors approaching them in the form of tomorrow's shoot. One almost copped it early when a female Merlin dashed through and took a stoop - a bit of a mismatch, I thought, but 10 out of 10 for ambition.

Out of place wader

Couldn't resist going to see this juvenile Pectoral Sandpiper which had pitched up on a lawn on a housing estate on Portland without so much as a puddle in which to wade. I thought it didn't look too well but, encouragingly, it later relocated to Radipole Lake where it might have more luck finding something to eat. A very unlikely location for any bird, let alone a rare one.