Saturday 20 June 2009

Clean Twitching

Record shots of Spotted Sandpiper
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I had an offer which I couldn't refuse to see the transatlantic Spotted Sandpiper which appeared this afternoon at North Cave Wetlands. It's a really attractive wader with a bill similar to a Redshank in colour, but the remainder of the bird (apart from the legs & the spots!) reminiscent of a Common Sandpiper, although it didn't seem to bob to the same degree. There were a lot of familiar faces present, but it was great to finally meet up with Martin Standley, and Mike Ashforth and successfully diagnose the problems with Garry Taylor's Canon camera - sorry Garry! Some birders jokingly refer to some of their twitches as "dirty, filthy twitching", but I'm glad to report I felt completely unsullied by the experience! It wasn't as if I'd travelled 900 miles & chartered 2 planes to see a miserable-looking LBJ. There was no sign of the crowd thinning, so we came away after an hour or so! I could be persuaded to attend more twitches in future. What next? - a Roller, Bee-eater, or a Red-eyed Vireo, but not interested in a Bobolink, now that is an LBJ!

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