More fun with the WTP
I had (another) busy day today, after the Haffner yesterday, so I didn’t have a chance to go and get a better view of the Leighton White-tailed Plover (which reappeared on Friday, teasing people by flying around the reedbeds!). At about 6 though, I drove down, and joined what turned out to be dipping birders on the causeway (it had flown off about an hour ago). After standing there for a while, I decided to go to the “road” viewpoint in the EM pool direction, but it hadn’t turned up there either, so I went up to the Crag Road viewpoint to see if it had turned up there. A brief look through didn’t turn anything up, and I was just having a bit of a nap in the evening sunshine when Graham the Chef turned up, excitedly asking me if I’d seen it! He’d seen it on somebody’s pager as showing on the EM pool. I then had another look, and located it on a patch of water just behind the pool. The distance meant it was hard to be sure to begin with, but as we took in the long yellow legs and funny walk, we realised we must be on the right bird. A wingflap was just the icing on the cake, and we then had great views as it walked around on the pool. There was a heart-stopping moment (well, if you were a just-arriving twitcher anyway) when it took off and flew very high over the marsh, only to swing right round and return to exactly the same spot! It remained for perhaps 20-30 minutes, before flying off again. This time, after gaining height in the same way, it descended to land on the marsh, just beyond where the grass stops. We watched this dot for a while, before it flew low, and disappeared between the grass and the mud (i.e. still out there, but not visible). So my verdict is that it’s probably still out there, but there were no further reports as I write this!
