Ever wondered why bird folk set such store in a good pair of binoculars or a telescope? Birds like little stint, that’s why!
Here’s what was seen out there today…
At Edderthorpe today, a juvenile curlew sandpiper was recorded along with garganey, three pintail and three golden plover. Not to mention over a thousand geese and over eight hundred lapwing!
Adwick Washland was the place to go to catch up with whinchat and stonechat along yellow wagtail, ruff, snipe and green sandpiper.
A single golden plover hiding in the shadow of a lapwing on Wath Ings today
Meanwhile at Old Moor, the Reedbed Trail produced excellent sightings of bearded tit, hobby, kingfisher and peregrine. There was also a lengthy bittern sighting here today and plenty of little grebe!
On the Field Pool (and, if not, on Bolton Ings) the star was the great white egret but, look closely, and you could also find a single common sandpiper and five little egret. In fact, the waters in front of the Field Pool West Hide today were bubbling with small fish and it’s only a matter of time before the rest of the birds work that out. It’s not by accident of course, the water levels are being managed to concentrate the ‘food’ in places where it is accessible.
Six dunlin and one little stint over Wath Ings this afternoon
But, for most visitors, it was the little stint and the terrific mix of waders at the other end of the Field Pool and at Wath Ings that drew their attention.
Smaller than a sparrow, little stint are widespread but scarce migrants. Around 750 of these tiny waders visit the UK each year, mostly on their way southwards for the winter. Even though they can be hard to see, they are terrific to watch - and surprisingly fast on those tiny legs! Even more impressive, these miniature migrants are travelling from the Arctic and heading towards Africa.
Little stint compared
So, to end tonight’s blog, here’s one last picture of the biggest small bird at Old Moor today.
Until next time.
Ahh. Someone a bit smaller to the left? No, didn’t see that one.....