CJW was working on the weekend of the 6th May, and I had one or two things to see to, so I didn't venture out until late morning. I was hoping for a BLACK TERN as a patch tick at one of the gravel pits I visit, but I received news that there was no sign of it. So I sat and thought and decided to head off to North Wales where a CITRINE WAGTAIL had been found earlier on.
I was there two hours later and walked to the hide where two birders were already sat there. Unfortunately they had only just arrived, and there had been no reports of the Wagtail for a couple of hours. Indeed one of them proceeded to tell me it had in fact been reported as flying off over on to the saltmarsh.
Following a short scan from the hide, I decided to head off and look for the bird on the saltmarsh. I was a little surprised by the number of cars parked in the lane compared with the number of birders I'd seen, so I hoped I would bump into a crowd somewhere.
I walked round the saltmarsh just down the coast, seeing a few Wheatears and a couple of White Wagtails but not much else. I returned to the hide where the two birders were stood outside. As I walked up to them another birder came from round the corner. "It's still there" he said, "showing from the mound".
We walked down to where at least ten birders were stood. Mystery solved! It took a little while before the female Citrine Wagtail gave itself up as it fed in the vegetation.
So roll on Saturday 13th May. Unfortunately, CJW travelled up to North Wales on Monday but the Conwy CITRINE WAGTAIL had done a bunk. We looked at various trip possibilities, but come Saturday morning and not a lot was happening. CJW came up with a master plan - lets head to Belvide or Doxey. We slowly headed off down the D road. Then a message came on the pager (been in the news recently - we can name two who still have one). The CITRINE WAGTAIL had been seen in Northumberland again. We were literally yards off the A50 turning. I told CJW he had 30 seconds to make up his mind.
The 1st summer female Citrine Wagtail performed incredibly well, showing down to a few metres at times. We also heard it call as well. Several of us commented how very similar it was to a Yellow Wagtail, perhaps containing a few more zzz's but nothing more.
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| Photo to show how close the Citrine Wagtail was (just right of wooden post) |
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| Videograb |
On Monday 15th May, Steve Nuttall found a SPOTTED SANDPIPER at Belvide. I wasn't starting work until 2pm so I shot down. The bird was showing from the furthest hide, and I just managed too see it above the heads of the chatting OAP's who always fill the hides there. Its a good job Steve is there for them isn't it!
I've been fortunate enough to see four Spotted Sandpipers in Staffordshire.
