Thursday 7 August 2008

Thursday 7th August

Ross had come up with the goods again. A phone call in the afternoon informed me he had seen a Common Sandpiper strolling around the edge of Bradbourne House lake, East Malling at lunchtime. I made my way down there, and sure enough, there it was....as easy as that! Only the second record of this species at this location (that we know of). 50+ Canada Geese sat in the shade of Plane trees and a adult Little Grebe bobbed along on the lake.

7 comments:

Simon said...

Welldone with the Common Sandpiper. I had 1 thismorning down at Allington Lock.

Steve said...

Excellent! My friend is getting married at Bradbourne House in October...I wonder if we'll be too late for autumn migrants!

Greenie said...

Adam ,
I have just got the loan of an insect book , and according to that , I'd say your ID Volucella zonaria is spot on .
Nice one with the Common Sandpiper.

Warren Baker said...

Looks like a Green Sanpiper to me Adam.mmmm.....but then again!

The Bald Birder said...

Ad, Definately a Comm'n Sand. Though the pictures were taken looking in to the the dark, making the bird look dark, there are still several features ruling out Green:
The long tail.
Angle of the dark front - producing a white gap between wing and chest.
Dark line behind the eye.
What this picture doesn't show was the wacking great wing-bar, flight action, dark rump or distinctive call, first three of which I got in my blurred flight snap.
A common.

Warren Baker said...

Hi Bald birder,
I was going to ask did it have a wing bar. The pic doesn't show the white gap between chest and wing, mainly 'cos there is a piece of grass in the way! :-)

The Bald Birder said...

Hi there Warren, Have added another of my snaps on to my blog. Tis only cos it's in to the light that the bird appears dark. If you have a look at my crap flight shot, it looks too pale! If the flippin thing hadn't been quite so wary, both Adam and I might have got some better snaps - as it was all images were taken at 40metres distance - not good when you've got a 150mm macro lens on!
http://baldbirder.blogspot.com
Regards, The Bald Birder