Twitching waders

Hi readers, today I went birding with John and Sharon Holian and Brian Marsh. Our main aim was to get up to Cheshire and see the Stilt Sandpiper at Sandbach Flashes. The journey was not to bad and we got there n an hour or so, at first we were unsure where the bird was exactly more in terms of what flash it was on but with a little direction from birders we soon got there.

The last place the bird was seen before we got there was on the Elton flash which is where we set ourselves up and waited for the bird to show itself. After five or ten minutes it did and we got distant views of the STILT SANDPIPER feeding almost constantly amongst Canada Geese. The bird had to be a quarter if a mile away which wasn't the best for getting good views but we could see it was the bird. We spent about an hour at the Elton Flash the bird went in and out of view and eventually drifting further away after the flock of Lapwings it was with were flushed by something. 

After a while all of the Lapwings on the flash were flushed and the Stilt sand joined them, at first we were no completely sure where it had gone but we eventually came to the conclusion that it had flown over to the Pump house flash which was basically behind us. On walking to the flash to see if it had flown their Sharon began waving us over and we rushed over to see the STILT SANDPIPER offering quite reasonable and close up views whilst it preened and feed amongst Lapwings now on the Pump house flash. 

While watching the bird we also got views of a nice looking Ruff right next to the bird which was a good year tick for me. After half an hour or so the birds were all flushed again and the reason happened to be a large female Peregrine Falcon flying over, after the birds settled we watched for a further half and hour or so and just before we were leaving the peregrine flew back over again and we spotted the stilt sand flying back over to the Elton flash where it had originally been when we arrived. 

Well I have to say that was a great bird to see and I along with everyone else was chuffed to see it. Here's the main sightings we got from the visit to the flashes, 

Sandbach Flashes (Cheshire)- STILT SANDPIPER X1, Ruff x1, Greenshank x2, Hobby x1, Teal 5+, Wigeon 10+, Peregrine Falcon x1, Grey Heron x1, Snipe x1. 

After the success of seeing the Stilt Sand it was decided that we would take a quick visit to Blithfield Reservoir to get me the tick of Curlew Sandpiper. We first decided to go to the Blithe bay hide to see what was about. The water level seemed very low which we thought would help us see waders but we only managed 3 Ruff a lot of Canada and Greylag Geese and a distant Little Egret. Over than that Blithe bay was quite quiet really. 

So we proceeded to Tad bay where the Curlew Sands had been seen lately. On arrival a Greenshank flew across the reservoir whilst calling. We set up our scopes and began looking around for stuff. Almost straight away Brian found the Curlew Sandpipers there was seven birds in total along with a couple more Ruff. I really liked looking at the Curlew Sands they were a bird I have wanted to see for a while and I was really grateful to everyone today for helping me get them on to my list. So with the Curlew sands in the bag we decided to look round Tad bay a little more and came up with a few more good birds. We had literally hundreds of Canada and Greylag Geese but amongst the flock was 20+ Barnacle Geese. Also we had nice views of a Black tailed Godwit. In addition to that we also had a Hobby before arriving at the reservoir. Here's the main sightings from the visit, 

Blithfield Reservoir- Curlew Sandpiper x7, Ruff x5, Greenshank x2, Black tailed Godwit x1, Barnacle Goose 20+, Little Egret x1, Greylag Goose 100+, Canada Goose 100+, Hobby x1, Sparrow Hawk x1. 

So tones of great waders and plenty of species I haven't seen this year personally. I have to say a big thank you John, Sharon, and Brian for helping us see the birds today, I got two new wading species and both sandpipers along with quite a few good year ticks I wasn't really expecting to get. And a bonus from all the good species we saw today of the way back we had a Raven in Rugely. There should be a post tomorrow as usual so keep an eye out for that tomorrow evening. 

Thanks for reading and enjoy your Sundays all- WMBB

P.S.- in addition to already mentioned species there are Tree Sparrow and Green Sandpiper(Sandbach Flashes)