The Lincolnshire Bird Club

On the late evening July 11th Neil Drinkall found a small tringa sandpiper at Alkborough Flats it was in one of the most difficult parts of the site for watching being only visible from the hillside 600m away and into the light; details were difficult to ascertain and naturally he was cautious about making a rash claim of a rare wader; fortunately the bird moved into the flooded area opposite the main hide after about 30 minutes and allowed him to confirm what he thought that it was indeed a Marsh Sandpiper the first for Alkborough and the Scunthorpe recording area and only the forth for Lincolnshire. Local observers were on site within 30 minutes but by then the bird was back in the inaccessible centre of the inundation area where views were distant; at about 20:30, but on one of the dullest nights of the summer, it flew and landed closer to the hide and a few photos were taken three of which are in the album and more on my blog at http://pewit.blogspot.com/. The bird was a moulting adult. The bird remained in view until about 21:15 when it flew out of sight again and the light had virtually gone. The following morning ND again found the bird by the hide with two moulting adult Greenshank at 05:40 and it stayed there until 06:20 when all three birds suddenly took off for no apparent reason and headed for Blacktoft! It seems the bird had certainly arrived on the 11th as the site was checked by ND the previous evening and I had checked all the area early on the 11th seeing just 5 Redshank and 3 Greenshank but did I miss it hidden in the reed edges? That evening there were up to 22 Redshank and wader numbers often do increase late in the day but I still wonder if I missed a big chance!

ND visits Alkborough almost daily after work and at weekends and puts up with the very long periods when there are very few birds to get excited about so his recent list of finds, including several Temminck's Stints, Buff-breasted Sandpipers, Stone Curlew, Whiskered Tern, at least 10 Pectoral Sandpipers, two Cranes, Green-winged Teals, Great White Egret and of course Semi-palmated Sandpiper is well deserved. Persistence pays eventually but it can be soul destroying looking at the same few bird day after day. This was the 36th species of wader to have been recorded at Alkborough Flats since the flooding in 2006 and only Hudsonian Godwit can be added to that list pre-dating the recent development

As noted this is the fourth record for Lincolnshire all the birds having been adults: from the Birds of Lincolnshire and LBC reports
One was watched feeding on the mud of the Welland estuary near Holbeach St Marks by I C T Nisbet and other observers on 8th August 1954. At the time this was the 6th British record
The second record concerned a bird seen at the Witham mouth between August 8th and 15th 1987. This bird was only seen on odd occasions during this period and on most days was not present and like the first record was unusual in being seen on a tidal estuary whereas most birds occur on freshwater marshes
The third occurrence concerned a full summer plumaged adult found at Bardney pits on May 18th 1992; although it flew off on that date it had returned early on the 19th and according to the LBC report was seen by large numbers of observers and photographed by John Harriman with a photo appearing in the 1992 LBC report

Up to the end of 2009 there had been 135 accepted British records of Marsh Sandpiper

Hi Graham

Thanks for that interesting account. I went for the bird yesterday morning having heard about it from Birdguides the previous evening and arrived on site around 0745 as everyone was leaving. I spent the morning having a good look around and discovered it is possible to see the Ousefleet hides at Blacktoft from Trent Falls, though not the lagoons. Thanks for your text stating the bird had been relocated at Blacktoft around 9.15. That enabled Chris Grimshaw to get round to Blacktoft to see it. I stayed at Alkborough till midday hoping it would reappear. Interesting to hear it flew off with 2 Greenshank because none were on the lagoon up till 10 when a couple flew in. Sadly they did not bring the Marsh back with them!

It is still at Blacktoft this evening so we can live in hope it will come back from the dark side.

By the way SE82 in which Alkborough falls has 84 confirmed breeding species, second best in Lincs after Far Ings TA02 on 86. You can see why looking at the range of habitat in that square. Despite the high confirmed number 17 species still require confirming, including Feral Pigeon! If I'd realised before I went I would have had a look round at a few barns.

Out of interest can anyone confirm seeing the Witham Mouth Marsh Sandpiper on the saltmarsh/mudflats to the left of the LBC hide at Cut End? If so then it was on RSPB Freiston Shore and would represent the 41st wader species for the RSPB Lincs Wash Reserves (both reserves individually are currently on 37 species). Frampton has recorded 35 species since the new habitats were opened to the public in spring 2009. I wonder how many more Gib has?

John

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Contact: recorder_south@lincsbirdclub.co.uk

The Gib wader list is 45 from a quick tot up.

The Mere is the only freshwater habitat here and at less than a hectare it is quite amazing that 34 sp of wader have been recorded there since it was created in 1973.

The brackish lagoons on Croftmarsh have provided some good wader interest since they were created in the 2000's, but do not get particulary good coverage.

Most wader recording on the estuary involves trying to estimate numbers on the high tide roosts - birds either in tight flocks of hundreds or thousands in flight or bunched up, asleep - so many unusual birds are doubtless overlooked. Even white-rumped sand has only recently been added to the reserve list.

In addition to that list, a spotted sandpiper record has not been formally submitted yet and there was a possible Pacific Golden Plover calling from a flock of GPs overhead last year.

Cheers

Kev

for anyone interested in a challenge ND is pretty sure the Marsh Sand flew back into Alkborough this evening with 6 Greenshank but they disappeared into the middle of the site which is inaccessible and only visible from the hillside to the south -- it was not there this afternoon!!!
Ruddy Shelduck and 3 more on Whitton Sand earlier along with 2 South African Shelducks

no sign this pm and only one Greenshank left -- looks like it left to the SE last night as it was last seen calling repeatedly and circling over the eastern end of the site --