I resisted temptation the previous day, thinking it might be a distant proposition but with images trickling out and clearly, this Spotted Sandpiper in summer plumage, could be an obliging bird, I just had to get a dental appointment out of the way and it was all systems go....
I made the mistake of wearing wellies too, the path was as dry as a bone and my reward after the mile plus yomp to the West End was a blister! Never mind, it was distantly on view from the hide (c100m) on the far side of the bunded scrape so things could only get better!
And they did! After two close calls, Spotty walked around the bund and flew across to the spit you can see mid right of picture, it was now less than 25m away!
Wow, the last time I had seen one of these fully spotted was back in 2012 (in New England) and the UK juvs I've seen have never been awe inspiring! This one certainly was... a distinctly infectious look if ever there was one...
Happily feeding and creeping closer all the time!
Plenty of small insects / invertebrates, just the ticket for a passage wader...
Ahhh, just loving these head on moments :-)
An then the closest approach...
Just about close enough for a tighter crop!
But I'll settle for all and any of these!!
There was a brief distraction earlier in the morning when this Great Crested Grebe took on more than he could chew? Or did he... we shall have to see what happened in another post!
Thanks to Steve Nuttall and the Belvide team for allowing access, the site shows what good reserve management is all about! I'm seriously tempted to renew my WMBC membership now that Spring at Venus Reservoir has become a pretty pointless venue! I'll hopefully change my view come the late Summer / Autumn once some mud finally appears there but we shall see?
A reminder of better times :-) VP 15th May 2013
VP 15th May 2017....
At least the Ducks, Coots and Moorhens are happy?
