Nipped up to Aldcliffe Marshes just south of Lancaster yesterday late morning to look for the Lesser Yellowlegs.
The map said to go down Railway Crossing Lane, which eventually turned out to be called Aldcliffe Hall Road !!!
That was somewhat confusing, but all turned out ok in the end.
There was an exceptionally high tide at around mid-day which completely covered all the land on the estuary to the seaward side of the wall, so the 'legs' could only be on the landward side, and so it turned out.
I looked at several Redshank before I spotted a brighter, skinnier looking wader on, what I think are called, the wildfowlers pools. Getting my scope on it, it was about the same size as a nearby Redshank, but ganglier and brighter, it's legs weren't 'yellow' to me, but less orange than Redshank's and longer, it had a noticeable supercillium coming to a point at the front and a thin dark bill. But for the size, and that's always a guess, and the brighter legs, I would have said Wood Sandpiper.
However, discussions with a fellow birder from Accrington convinced us it was indeed the Yellowlegs, so another lifer !!!
That's 242 for the UK and 419 Western Palearctic.
With the tide so high there wasn't much else to see, and a trip to see Long Tailed Duck on the river at Lancaster was curtailed by the amount of traffic, another thought of Snow Bunting at Fleetwood was deemed too far a detour.
So lunch at Glasson Dock, a quick look at the sea inlet at Conder Green, produced nothing more of note, so home by 3 o'clock.
The map said to go down Railway Crossing Lane, which eventually turned out to be called Aldcliffe Hall Road !!!
That was somewhat confusing, but all turned out ok in the end.
There was an exceptionally high tide at around mid-day which completely covered all the land on the estuary to the seaward side of the wall, so the 'legs' could only be on the landward side, and so it turned out.
I looked at several Redshank before I spotted a brighter, skinnier looking wader on, what I think are called, the wildfowlers pools. Getting my scope on it, it was about the same size as a nearby Redshank, but ganglier and brighter, it's legs weren't 'yellow' to me, but less orange than Redshank's and longer, it had a noticeable supercillium coming to a point at the front and a thin dark bill. But for the size, and that's always a guess, and the brighter legs, I would have said Wood Sandpiper.
However, discussions with a fellow birder from Accrington convinced us it was indeed the Yellowlegs, so another lifer !!!
That's 242 for the UK and 419 Western Palearctic.
With the tide so high there wasn't much else to see, and a trip to see Long Tailed Duck on the river at Lancaster was curtailed by the amount of traffic, another thought of Snow Bunting at Fleetwood was deemed too far a detour.
So lunch at Glasson Dock, a quick look at the sea inlet at Conder Green, produced nothing more of note, so home by 3 o'clock.
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