White-rumped sandpiper in Somerset

September 16, 2012  •  2 Comments

I've hardly been out with the camera over the last few months but had a couple of chances over the last two days.  This coincided with an obliging white-rumped sandpiper, a bird I'd never heard of until yesterday.  This chose to settle on a flooded field by the river Parrett near Steart and it has been keeping company with curlew sandpiper (another bird new to me), a spotted redshank and some dunlin and wagtails.  A lot of these have been disappearing as the tide in the estuary drops and then returning as the level rises but the white-rumped sandpiper stays put.  I understand that this may be the second ever record in the county. (Correction thanks to Ash Warne, at least the 6th WRS in the county.)

At a glance, it resembles a dunlin but it can be distinguished by longer wings that protrude well beyond its rump, a white rump most visible during flight and by buff colouration near the base of the bill.  I was pleased to get some reasonable although distant pics over the last couple of overcast days and some lousy pics that serve to show the rump in flight.

White-rumped sandpiper and Curlew sandpiperCurlew sandpiper and White-rumped sandpiper White-rumped sandpiperWhite-rumped sandpiper - Calidris fuscicollis White-rumped sandpiper in flightWhite-rumped sandpiper - Calidris fuscicollis White-rumped sandpiper flight shot 2White-rumped sandpiper - Calidris fuscicollis

A very pleasant addition to the day today were half a dozen wheatear feeding near one of the piles of soil that has been dug out to make a channel in preparation to making new salt marsh at this site.

WheatearWheatear - Oenanthe oenanthe


Comments

WildImaging
Thanks Ian.

Most of these shots including those in flight were taken with the 600mm with the 1.4x teleconverter mounted on a sturdy tripod with a gimbal head. I know some people do hand hold the 600mm but I find it too heavy.

Cheers

Tim
Ian Thorp(non-registered)
Good to see a new blog Tim, I look regularly and enjoy the content. I think the BIF were pretty good in the cicumstances, I guess 600mm hand held!!?
We have found Ham Wall, Shapwick and Greylake rather quiet in May to September so don't visit. Hopefully it will pick-up in October.
No comments posted.
Loading...

Archive
January February March April May June July August (1) September October November December
January February March April May June July August September October November December
January February March April May June July August September October November December
January February March April May June July August September October November December
January February March April May (6) June (3) July (2) August September (5) October (6) November (7) December (6)
January (4) February (5) March (1) April (4) May (1) June July August September October November December (3)
January February March April May June July August September October November December
January February March April May June July August September October November December
January February March April May June July August September October November December
January February March April May June July August September October November December
January February March April May June July August September October November December
January February March April May June July August September October November December
January February March April May June July August September October November December
January February March April May June July August September October November December
January February March April May June July August September October November December
January February March April May June July August September October November December
January February March April May June July August September October November December
January February March April May June July August September October November December