On any distance twitches I like to ensure I
get a full days birding in so when a rare Hudsonian Whimbrel was reported in
Church Norton, West Sussex close to where the Greater Yellowlegs had been
reported in recent months the opportunity was to much to resist.
I was joined by Warwickshire birders Roland
and Paul on the journey south which took around 2 ½ hours. Rolands local
knowledge proved invaluable thoughout the day.
A very short walk took us to the coast line
where the tide was coming in to reach it’s highest point. The Whimbrel had just
taken flight to the bottom end of the harbour and it took us some time to
relocate the bird. Thankfully we all got two flight views of the bird clearly
showing the coloured rump which is different from a Whimbrel which have
a white v on their rump and back. It’s just the ninth record for Britain (and the fifth
away from Shetland).
Like most twitches there was the normal
quality knober to bore everyone senseless with their tales from the 80’s. The endless
drap stories of the good old days proved to much for us so we headed out of the
reserve having to be satisfied with our flight views.
Other birds recorded were 2 Little Tern,
Common Tern, Curlew, Oystercatchers and a Cuckoo. Given the distance no photos were possible however I did find this great snippet of video by Sean Foote.
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