Pectoral sandpiper and spotted crake at Blacktoft

 Webs count and reception duty yesterday at Blacktoft. I arrived just after 7am. Due to the ongoing work on a new hide the usual path to Marshland hide is closed so I used the grass path that leads towards Ousefleet hide.

This deer was on the path and I assumed that it could see me despite the mist, so I went to Marshland to avoid disturbing it. Lots of waders on the lagoon.

redshanks were still sleeping

After counting all the birds I went to Ousefleet to count the birds there, just as I was leaving Pete and Masha came into the hide. They were checking to see if the pectoral sandpiper that Masha had seen on Saturday was present. From the hide at Ousefleet, the only birds I saw were a carrion crow and a marsh harrier, both were on the ground. From the screen to the right of the hide I could see lets of birds, including 8 little egrets and lots of dunlin.

I returned to Marshland hide where Masha was still looking for the pec sand when she got a message from Pete to sat that it was on Singleton lagoon. As I walked down to Singleton hide this weasel was hiding in the grass.

 Due to the recent heat waves the water had evaporated from most of the lagoon just leaving a few small pools. The sunlight on a morning makes viewing birds on the lagoon difficult at the best of times and yesterday morning with the misty conditions it was even more difficult. However Pete was in the hide and gave me the information I needed to find the bird. It is not a large bird and it was a fair distance away from the hide but I managed to find it using my scope, tick number 192 for this year.

Time to go to reception and welcome visitors, a lot of whom had come to see the pectoral sandpiper.

A steady trickle of visitors during the day then I heard a familiar sound.

 After lunch a visitor came into reception and looked at one of the reference books as he was unsure if a bird he had seen was a spotted crake. After a while he decided that he had seen a juvenile water rail. The team had been working hard all day and had been pumping water onto Townend lagoon, had they been rewarded? Just after 4.30 another visitor came into reception to report that he had just seen a spotted crake on Townend lagoon. Darren and I walked down to hide, Pete and Masha had just returned to the reserve so they joined us.

Not brilliant photos as the bird was a long way from the hide, but I was pleased to see the bird as it was another one for my year list and the second of the day. It was now after 5pm, so Darren and I closed the reception hide for the day. I went to Marshland hide to see if the pec sand was still there.

No sign of the bird but well over 200 black tailed godwits. The team had worked hard during the day pumping water onto the lagoon and the had been rewarded with lots of birds now feeding. I walked down to Singleton lagoon and found the pectoral sandpiper feeding.

Very small when standing near a godwit.

A very pleasant day.