I was annoyed with myself for not taking the punt and following up on a report of a Least Sandpiper that had been found at Steart Marshes on the North Somerset coast the previous day. The reason of my annoyance was because Mrs Caley and I were already in Somerset, just thirty minutes away at Greylake (see my previous blog) where we we'd been enjoying superb views of a female Merlin. But I had chosen not to take the short trip to where the Least Sandpiper was because I didn't believe that the report would be accurate owing to the fact that it was an odd time of year for a Least Sandpiper to be in the UK. Later developments and photographs taken of the bird in question provided proof that it was indeed a Least Sandpiper, a bird that I'd never seen before. I had let a lifer slip through my fingers because my inherent cynicism and vast ability to disbelieve had kicked in. And to think I made a resolution just tree days before to rein in those traits. Ah well, there's always next year.
I cursed myself often during the drive back to Oxfordshire and continued to do so the following morning which eventually led to Mrs Caley, obviously getting tired of my whinging, suggesting that we should drive back to Somerset for a second successive day. So we did. What a way to start the year!
Steart Marshes, the WWT's newest reserve and only established a few years ago, would be new to us, having never visited it before. We had almost been, when a Richard's Pipit was reported there, but never quite made it. Being the Christmas and New Year holiday break for many, meant that motorway traffic was light and we breezed down arriving at Steart mid-morning. The Least Sandpiper had already been seen that morning and had been reported as showing well from the Quantock hide overlooking an area of the reserve known as Otterhampton Marsh.
From the carpark it took us around fifteen minutes of careful walking on icy paths. It was a chilly morning but bright so it bode well for the rest of the day. Interestingly we didn't meet any other birders until we reached the path that led to the hide. There we were greeted by a lone chap who gave us the dreaded news that, 'The bird was showing well but flew off ten minutes ago' Damn! I got that sinking feeling particularly when considering my poor decision making the day before.
I was amazed that when we reached the hide that there was nobody else there who seemed in the slightest bit interested in what a Least Sandpiper was let alone looking for it. This was going to be fun, having to look for and find the world's smallest species of wading bird myself, would be a helluva challenge for me. Even if it was still there.
We set up in the open area of the hide which gave the most expansive views over the marsh that the Least Sandpiper was favouring. A good viewing point from which I could see, less so for Mrs Caley who wasn't tall enough and struggled to see over the slatted wall. Too many hides are difficult for many people who aren't nearing six feet tall to use comfortably and a bit more thought into the construction of them wouldn't go amiss. I began scanning the marsh, starting close and then gradually studying areas further out. In the bright sunshine, it was easy to pick out the birds. Most notable were a flock of Golden Plover, a small congregation of Avocets and various duck species including Shelducks. As with the day before, most birds were new for the year.
My gaze was cast further and further out until I reached the edge of the marsh to the west of the hide. There was an island which had a few Teal on it but even they were titchy in the scope at the extreme distance. To the left of the island I spotted more Teal and some Shovelers on the far bank. I scanned slowly along and then noticed a tiny bird stood stationary next to a clump of vetch. I zoomed the scope up to the maximum of 80x and strained my eyes against the eyepiece. I was looking at a very small wader. So minute it was dwarfed by the Teal stood next to it. Picking out any detail on the bird was incredibly difficult at such long range. There had been a Little Stint reported on the reserve as well so I had to be careful that I wasn't looking at that bird but from what I'd learned beforehand, that bird was greyer and plainer than the Least Sandpiper. I could make out brown feathering with darker centres on the folded wings so I was pretty sure that I had the Least Sandpiper in my sights. I took a couple of record shots, just in case my views didn't get any better.
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| Least Sandpiper |
We were joined by a couple of other birders and I pointed out the Least Sandpiper to them although it took a long time for them to find it through their own scopes. For somebody who wears spectacles, to hear them say, 'Blimey, you've got good eyes to be able to spot that!' made me chuckle. I was feeling mighty pleased with myself for finding it independently. True I knew it was around and knew roughly where to look but actually locating the bird was extremely gratifying.
The Least Sandpiper carried on snoozing and didn't appear ready to wake up at any time soon so we looked around at what else might be about. I found a Common Snipe closer to the hide, next to the nearest patch of water where the Least Sandpiper had cavorted about earlier in the day. I was willing the tiny bird to make a move but it steadfastly refused to. I spotted two small waders flying over the marsh. They whizzed past the hide and disappeared. I checked the Least Sandpiper, it was still there. The two other wading birds flew back, did a couple of circuits by the hide and then landed to the south. They were a lot closer to us than the Least Sandpiper was, but were still a fair distance out and crucially, viewing was into the sun. Birding places like this marsh is never easy. It really is "proper birding", where a scope is the main tool of use and cameras, apart from gaining record shots, are largely a waste of time. I scoped the two birds that were busily feeding on exposed mud. One was a Little Stint, the plain grey plumage obvious, and the other was a Dunlin, also subdued grey but larger with a longer bill. Seeing both, and getting good views through the scope, nailed my earlier identification of the Least Sandpiper. I was now 100 percent certain that the Least Sandpiper was new on my life list. I fired off some record shots of the Little Stint and Dunlin.
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| Little Stint |
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| Dunlin |
The Dunlin and Little Stint took off and spiralled around the marsh. I checked again on the Least Sandpiper which was still in the same place. Not for long though since it was "collected" by the other two birds and now all three were wheeling around. We waited with great anticipation that the birds would land somewhere nearer to us and our wishes were granted when they pitched down on the far bank of the nearest scrape. Ordinarily that would place a bird into decent photographable range but a Least Sandpiper really is small, half the size even of a Dunlin, so it was still too far away for my lens. However, my record shots were improved by a fair margin.
The three birds were off again. Luckily I managed to take a few random shots as they took off. I didn't expect too much of the results since those three little birds flew extremely quickly. I wasn't even sure that I'd captured any of them, and certainly felt that I hadn't managed to get the camera to focus on them. However, when reviewing the images later, I realised that I had indeed captured a couple of them and better still, one frame had the Least Sandpiper in pretty good focus as well.
Having performed a couple of circuits of most of the reserve, the birds settled again, and this time were even closer. Through the scope we now had excellent views and were able to ascertain all of the features of the Least Sandpiper and how it differed from the Little Stint with which it appeared to be keeping close company. Other than the really obvious size difference, and to think I used to think Little Stints were small, the browner plumage of the Least Sandpiper compared to the greyer upper parts of the Little Stint was noticeable. The Least Sandpiper also had pale yellowish legs as opposed to the dark legs of the other bird, and it had a thinner and, compared to the body size, longer bill.
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| Least Sandpiper & Little Stint |
All three birds fed along the edge of a small creek through the marsh. I stretched my lens to its limit and cropped the photos to the hilt later. I'll have to wait a while longer for another chance at getting good close up images of the species but for now it joins, Long-toed Stint, Western Sandpiper, Semi-palmated Sandpiper and a few other rare waders on my list but supported only by record shots. I should have taken the chance a few years ago by travelling to Lodmoor in Weymouth to see a really showy example. I don't know who discovered this bird at Steart, but whoever it was deserves great credit for picking out such a tiny bird against a vast landscape.
When the gang of three birds flew off again, we decided it was unlikely to get any better so left as well. We had another bird that we wanted to drop in and see on the way home. More of that in another blog.
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