My last day of being 51 (I know, unbelievable, right?!), so I took the day off to go birding. First up, I checked out Ollie's report of a flock of Golden Plovers at Raker Lakes, near Wheldrake. At least 800 birds were loafing and feeding in the freshly tilled fields. I scanned and scanned again but couldn't pull out anything rare. The rain started up, so I jumped back in the car and flipped a coin to decide to go east to the coast or west to the Aire valley. West won, so I gunned the EV back to the A64 and headed down to St Aidans. There has been a few good birds around this part of West Yorkshire during the week, including a Baird's Sandpiper, a charismatic little Yank wader, which I'd not seen for a few years.
On arrival half an hour later, a message came through that the Baird's was now showing on Spoonbill Flash at nearby Fairburn Ings. Back in the car, I drove the few minutes over to Lin Dyke, and was soon watching the long-winged buff speck out on the muddy flash edge. The peep slowly made its way closer along the muddy edge of the flash, occasionally stopping to peer around anxiously. Gradually, I was able to make out its features: long wings, giving the body an attenuated look; neatly scalloped upperparts; a buffy breast and a rather plain face pattern, with a dark loral stripe and paler throat and supercilium.
Shortly, the Baird's flushed, and flew towards the road and New Flash, calling. It doubled back and landed again for a few minutes, before flying off again. It seemed to drop down on to the coal stacks, where I was aware there were some lagoons. Some of the local guys said that one of the lagoons had some mud around the edges, so perhaps that was where it was headed. I bumped into Lee Johnson and Gordon Beck, friends from Flamborough, and we decided to hike up to the coal stacks. After a tiring walk, I was disappointed and a bit surprised to find that the Baird's was not there. So, we hiked back down again.
I speculated that perhaps the Baird's had continued round and back upriver to St Aidans, so I drove the short distance back there. It was a really long walk to the far end of the site, but the birding along the way was good, and I added eight Cattle Egrets, Great Egret, Bearded Tits and a few Cetti's Warblers to the day list.
Down at the Western Reedbed, a smart juvenile Curlew Sandpiper was with a small flock of Dunlin, Ruff and Ringed Plover. There was no sign of the Baird's. Some locals suggested Astley Lake, scene of the famous Long-toed Stint from a few years ago, so I pottered down there. At Astley there was very little habitat for a wandering wader, except one small island, which was Yank free. A very dapper young Osprey put on a fine performance here, so the epic walk wasn't entirely wasted.
As the Osprey headed off over the valley, I decided lunch was calling, so I headed back towards the car park, bumping into a couple of lasses who'd been on one of the Staithes pelagics with me recently. It was good to see them and they enjoyed a look at the two resident Little Owls by the dragline through my scope. A coffee and muffin were in order and as soon as I sat down to enjoy them, the message came that the Baird's was back on the Western Reedbed. Oh FFS! Downing what was left of the muffin, I donned Scope and headed back down the hill. Half an hour later I arrived to find some rather confused birders, none of whom had seen the Baird's nor had put the message out to Birdguides. There was clearly some dodgy reporting. A local said it was back at Lin Dyke and his mate was watching it. Having already done close to 20,000 steps, I needed a sit down, so spent half an hour enjoying the common waders hanging out on the marsh. The juvenile Grey Plover was particularly spanking, a species I don't often see at close range, so I found a bench and studied this and the other waders for a bit.
Grey Plover above, with Curlew Sandpiper below.
I dragged myself back up the hill to the car park, and drove back to Lin Dyke. The Baird's Sandpiper was pretty much where I'd last seen it, busily feeding on the muddy flash shoreline. It was marginally closer - not that my video demonstrates this - but it was nice to watch it in the late afternoon sun. Time was getting on, and after enjoying my seconds, it was time to go. My feet ached - I had done 23,000 steps and walked nearly ten miles, but seen some great birds out in the west.
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