Stilt Sandpiper, Hickling, July 11th-12th 2014, T. E. Allwood and A. J. Kane

 

An account of the first record of Stilt Sand in the TG42 square.

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Description:

I was sitting in Caister Tesco car park at 2:30 after leaving school, trying to decide whether to go to football training or Hickling with Andy Kane. Settled on Hickling and met AJK at Whiteslea Lodge 30 mins later to take a boat out. Went out to Swim Coots initially, and had a quick scan through the waders notching up 26 Dunlin, Knot, 90 Blackwits and a nice Curlew Sandpiper still largely in breeding plum. As I scanned past the Curlew Sandpiper, my eye caught the back of another bird… the bird was back on and very little was viewable but I could just make out some dark barring on the rear flanks and largely dark mantle/scapulars.

 

I quickly put Andy onto the bird with a comment of “Have a look at this, bit weird, seems to have dark barring on the flanks…” Andy nonchalantly replied: ”looks like a Stilt Sand” before breaking off and continuing his scanning. I continued to scrutinise the bird and clearly made out the large, dark/black centred feathers on the upperparts and obvious/prominent barring on the flanks. By now I was getting excited and remember saying “We really need to sort this out sharpish…” Despite us both concentrating on the bird, it just wouldn’t shift itself into a more accommodating position. However, with the pattern of the upperparts and the barring we were increasingly sure we would have a Stilt Sandpiper sooner rather than later.

 

I attempted to call Phil Heath without any joy but Mick Saunt answered. He was, unfortunately, shopping in Norwich (!) and couldn’t make it. We eventually got through to Phil, and also called Tim Hodge and Tim Nicolson. We arranged to pick up all three back at Whiteslea. By this time the bird had become a little more cooperative and had finally shown the extensively barred underparts, black centred upperpart feathers, longish, fine, decurved bill and rusty ear covert spot of an adult Stilt Sandpiper – the first record for TG42. 

 

By now we were pinching ourselves, grinning a lot and swearing even more… you can’t beat finding great birds on your own patch. After period of about 50 minutes, watching the bird feeding and resting at around 30-40m and during which I managed to take some poor phonescoped images, it suddenly flew off. It appeared to be heading towards Rush Hills, so we quickly released the news via Twitter and headed to Rush Hill to view the bird further.

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Tim N, Tim H and Phil H arrived, Andy and I went to pick them up and show them the photos, and after a brief fruitless look on Rush Hill, we returned to Swim Coots, where to everyone’s relief the bird was again present and all enjoyed a leisurely look at it. Fantastic!

 

Andy arranged to put boats on for birders the next morning once the reserve was open. He ventured out to Swim Coots early on with Mick Fiszer and both enjoyed further views of the bird, however, the visibility was worsening all the time. At some point after 07:40 the bird flew and was not seen again, despite extensive searching.

 

The bird itself was an absolute beauty: Overall, it gave the impression of being quite a delicate bird, about the size of a Knot, but obviously much rangier and a fair bit bigger than the Curlew Sandpiper very close by. The legs were noticeably long when the bird was actively feeding, less so when it was hunched up. The bill was dark, long, slender and downcurved. The head pattern was conspicuous with an obvious rufous ear covert spot, and slightly less obviously rufous on the crown, separated by a pale supercilium, more obvious in front of the eye than behind it. The whole of the underparts were strongly barred black on white, more concentrated on the throat and breast, to more sparse on the undertail. The mantle/scapulars were striking, being patterned a little like a holly leaf and very dark/black in colour. A narrow white margin could be made out on some feathers.

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When seen in flight on a few occasions, the clear white rump like a Curlew Sandpiper stood out, as did the long legs. The wings were largely plain though, lacking the wingbar of a Curlew Sandpiper. The bird was not definitely heard to call.

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Overall, a straightforward identification, once the bird had decided to play ball.