Buckinghamshire bird news
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You searched for all sightings reported between 01/01/2023 and 31/12/2023.
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| Date | Species | Site | Count | Observer |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 14/08/23 | PECTORAL SANDPIPER | Dorney Common, Dorney | 1 | C Heard |
| 15:50 | Spotted from the stile through to the Jubilee River @ 3.50pm. It was settled with Black-headed Gulls at the W end of the flood, but these were then dispersed by another birder approaching directly across the common. By the time I'd moved to view the Pec from a gap in the hedge, it was all alone.... and it soon flew off calling (its trajectory hidden from my view by trees overhead). I think it departed because it had lost its companions, rather than the subsequent appearance of a Hobby - though that may have discouraged its return! | |||
| 14/08/23 | PECTORAL SANDPIPER | Dorney Common, Dorney | 1 | D L Cleal |
| 16:10 | And now to the creme de la creme ! I first viewed the arm of mud stretching out to the road, where the LRPs have mainly been hanging about but no sign. So I walked back towards the main flood and picked up a wader with some BHGs. Taking a better look with my bins I saw it had a standout Pectoral band and otherwise white belly. I got my scope out and had a good look at the head, the bill looked disappointedly Dunlin like, but that Pectoral band !!! Had to be!! I struggled to Digi scope with my hand held phone but managed 3 reasonable images, when the BHG's surrounding the Pec took to the air, swiftly followed by the wader. I switched back to bins, looking for what put them up, while trying to keep tabs on the wader, . I picked up a falcon powering over the flood and switched to it revealing a Hobby, all the while I could hear the wader uttering a dry, almost Skylark 'drizzle' call but quicker and repeated. It circled over the flood twice, calling frequently, before disappearing into the tree line along the Berks border. So it might have landed in a thick area of weeds or flicked over the border into Berks. I can't confirm either, sorry Berks. I've posted photos on social media and they have a consensus of Pectoral Sandpiper, I'll post them on this site, once I've got through the technical tasks of loading them up. There seems in some quarters, some misapprehension that I was too close to the bird, I wasn't! Nor would I ever dare to describe myself as a photographer! My photos are testament to that! Sorry if it's a bit long winded but this is what birding is about, days like this are as rare as, ---well--- as Pec Sands !! Postscript: As my photos clearly show, the BHGs were settled with the PS. They all went up together, flushed I thought by the Hobby but perhaps it was by movement in the hedge along the border !! At no point was it 'left alone', on the mud. . | |||