Just as I reached the Slimbridge car park the phone buzzed with a message "Lesser Yellowlegs North Devon". I quickly pondered the journey as it was only an hour from our Somerset weekend base. It was certainly a species I was keen to see but I've never been around to see one locally. The village of Fremington was duly punched into the Sat Nav and off I went.
The journey whizzed past as the traffic flowed well for a Friday afternoon and I then pondered where the Quay was, would it be easy to find and the normal variables. No such worries were needed as the turning was signposted and at the first parking bay I noticed another birder….Bingo. Quickly grabbing the optics and camera the Lesser Yellowlegs was just 30 metres from the road feeding well with a group of Redshank.
The only trouble was the single track road was very busy so I was unable to set my scope up properly with having to take it down every couple of minutes so I tried to take a few hand held shots as best as I could.
This North American wader are pretty much an annual visitor to the UK but it's a case of seeing one when you can. There was one in Essex for a couple of weeks but sightings reported were very distant, personally I'd rather wait for views like this.
Just another three hundred yards up the road there was a Glossy Ibis showing well and the session finished with a Spotted Redshank on the way back the car. Needless to add the Coldplay playlist was on in the car to celebrate my 21st new species of the year. Top day.
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