With a juvenile Least Sandpiper making an appearance down at Lodmoor RSPB in Dorset and staying on throughout the week, it would have been rude not to pay a visit, especially as it would be a new addition to our British lists. Unfortunately two back to back leaving parties meant Sunday was the only free day to travel down, and with Alex agreeing to wait a day we made the mammoth journey down south in an attempt to connect with this transatlantic vagrant.
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| The Least Sand! |
With news coming out early in the morning and with the Least Sandpiper already having been in residence on the Dorset scrapes for a week, we were relatively certain it would hang on for the remainder of the day. Sure enough. pulling up in the car park 4 and a bit hours later (via several closed road diversions - it turns out a local Ironman Triathlon was taking place right on the roads surrounding Lodmoor RSPB and rendering them impassable!) we were met with the alert going off to signal the Least Sand was thankfully still showing from the viewing platform.
Navigating the many fences, bikes and lycra clad runners that the triathlon had brought with it, we eventually made it on to the reserve, and after a quick check around the shallow scrapes and pools we were soon watching this dainty American wader.
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| The Least Sandpiper tended to loosely associate with a small flock of Dunlin as well as the Little Stint |
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| Lodmoor RSPB |
Extremely small in size and helpfully accompanying a Little Stint for comparison, once you got your eye in it was relatively easy to pick out as it foraged through the mud – the slightly more russet tones and light green legs of the Least Sandpiper standing out from the much paler Little Stint, as well as its slightly smaller size.
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| Least Sandpiper on the left and Little Stint on the right - note the paler colouration of the Little Stint and the stronger markings |
Having seen Least Sandpipers during our trip to Florida the previous spring this was our first individual on British soil (mud?!) and it was great to finally catch up with one after the showy Devon bird last year prematurely departed before we could organise a weekend visit. With no sign yesterday evening or this morning, it seems the Lodmoor bird has also finally departed – thankfully it stayed until the Sunday for us!
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| The south east corner where the Least Sandpiper favoured |
A less than annual visitor to UK shores, the Dorset bird (also being a first for the county) is just the 40th record for Britain, and is one of a long line of American waders to recently make landfall in the South West, alongside a strong supporting cast of Stilt, Buff-breasted, Spotted and Baird’s Sandpipers.
Alex's video of the Dorset Least Sandpiper
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| The dubious of origin drake Hooded Merganser at nearby Radipole Lake - luckily I've already seen a legit female in Gloucestershire! |
After a quick stop at nearby Radipole Lake on the way home to get my very first glimpses of the notorious drake Hooded Merganser that now resides there (of slightly dubious origin and unfortunately in eclipse plumage), we braved the M5 closure traffic and the 2 hour detour that came with it, heading home happy that we had made the effort to travel down south. With just Upland Sandpiper the missing piece of the jigsaw in terms of the sandpiper family on my British list, here’s hoping one makes landfall soon – preferably in the North West!
