It is not often a day off, a rare bird and location less than 15 miles all collide at one point with the added twist of a Friday the 13th but today that was just the case. Ready to set of to Grane I had a look at birdguides and scrolled down for a quick read. Albatross in Yorkshire in red, Beeeater in Dorset, Dotterel, Glossy Ibis in various locations, Spotted Sandpiper in Greater Manchester, Red Rumped Swallow somewhere.....i quickly scrolled up.....Spotted Sandpiper...Greater Manchester....WHAT?! I had a look at the Rare Bird Alert Map...and it was at Elton Reservoir in Bury!!! I jumped onto the Manchester Birding Forum and there was a sighting by a well respected birder at 8.30am but nothing sense. No photos posted. The next stop was birdforum.net and their Rare Bird section where someone pasted a Tweet from the finder with an unclear photo. Were they spots or bad pluamge? David Ousey was called and said it will be genuine and "get going!" Craggy was called but no answer but when he did see he knew something was very local! Finally another update and I set off to Newchurch and then to Bury. Craggy knew the terrain after becoming a bit of a semi-regular at Elton so led the charge. We met a gaggle of birders and the recognised one - Dave Ousey! The bird had moved so we marched back and eventually it was refound with a Common Sandpiper.
Whenever I have seen Spotted Sandpiper photos I always think they have measles and should be quarantined. We watched this American visitor a stateside version of our Common Sandpiper with the spotted belly. The leg and beak colour differed too. There have been over 220 accepted records of this Sandpiper in Britain - a few in both Lancashire and Greater Manchester. It is the only American wader with multiple records with all or nearly all it's Lancashire sightings from east of Preston. A record from Ashworth Moor in the late 70s and others from Jumbles, Wayoh, Foulriuge makes it a serious contender to appear anywhere in Rossendale.
The last time a real scarcity turned up at Elton in 2014 - a White Winged Tern, it was followed a week or two later by a Little Bittern! Will the same happen again? Nice to meet Dave Ousey - as always!
-- Edited by sarfraz on Friday 13th of May 2022 05:50:19 PM
-- Edited by sarfraz on Friday 13th of May 2022 05:50:42 PM
A cracking bird with a good supporting cast of:- Turnstone, Ringed & Little Ringed Plover, Dunlin, Common Sandpiper. Good to see Rossendale regulars at Elton also!
Dave O.