Less is more

When you get to September and October you get to thinking about rare warblers in bushes. AS July turns into August though its about waders. Many of them migrate through our country in Spring heading towards their breeding grounds in Scandinavia, Iceland and Greenland. Starting from late July those who failed to breed begin the journey back south, followed by their more successful compatriots. Thus we get wood and curlew sandpipers, little stints and many rarer cousins. Some of them though are slightly more lost. A classic American wader is the lesser yellowlegs. A medium sized, long legged bird it is pretty common on the other side of the pond. Over here it is pretty much annual but will still attract interest from the twitching fraternity.
Titchwell, on the north Norfolk coast, had been playing host to one since the weekend. I risked it again and left it till Wednesday to go for it though. As per my last post, a risky manoeuvre!!!! With Judith abroad I left at very silly o'clock and got to Titchwell just gone 6.30! A short walk got me to the Island hide, where the bird had been showing well the day before. There was one other birder already there and he quickly got me onto the bird, which was about 5 yards away!!! You could not ask for a better view.

Well, actually, you could. The problem with Titchwell is that the marsh is to the east of the path and hide and early in the morning the sun is right in your eyes. The yellow legs resolutely remained in a perfect line between us and the sun for the hour I watched it. Still, the power of Lightroom dehaze tool can work miracles!!
As one person in the hide remarked, it was only just a yellowlegs as the mud was so deep that often it was a brown legs as it busily fed away picking insects off the surface.

It is a medium-sized wader, a bit larger than a redshank with a straight, pointed, dagger-like bill. The plumage on its back is particularly attractive, with a mottled pattern and yellow/ orange highlights in the sun.
Both the day before  and today it was favouring one area. It must have been good feeding as it certainly wasn't quiet. To the left was family of avocets with a young chick, who did not appreciate the yellowlegs getting too close.

There was also a particularly aggressive redshank who flew at it when it came too close.

 The only bird it seemed to get on with was a ruff, one of many around on the pool.

By the time I left the hide was starting to fill up with admirers and the yellowlegs carried on feeding right in front of the hide. Anyone waiting till the afternoon would have got some lovely light for photos.
I had a quick stroll around the rest of the reserve. Nothing really rare but the fresh marsh did deliver with a trio of returning curlew sandpipers, two still showing their red breeding plumage.

They are similar to dunlin but have a much longer, down-curved bill. They are a classic autumn (in birding terms) bird. First ones I've seen this year.
The numbers of avocets and godwits was in the hundreds, most of them roosting as the tide was very high. Although the avocets would stay, the godwits would probably move onto the mussel beds when the tide dropped.

Elsewhere there were a lot of gulls mooching around, including Med gulls, now a common sight anywhere the coast. A few very young gulls (second brood?) were trying to keep out of the way of larger birds as well.

Another good day. Two more to add to the year list, taking it to 234. With August in the country this year I'm still well on target to get a record. Lets hope for a good Autumn.