As I've said before there is a hierarchy in ticking birds and a lifer comes top of that. These are birds you have not seen before, mainly in the UK, and trump year-ticks, patch ticks or garden ticks. So, when a rare wader appeared in Cornwall my radar started buzzing. It was a sociable lapwing (or plover) which breeds in Kazakhstan and winters in the Middle East or India. Presumably it got lost on migration. Normally you would think but if that was the case then how come it has only now popped up over here? Well, the grapevine immediately got onto the fact that in fact it has been in Cornwall since about November and had been "suppressed"!!! The county does have a bit of reputation for this though it does explain how the bird got here.
Anyway, I couldn't go for the first few days but then both an opportunity and weather window coincided so I hatched a plan. Although not as far as a trip to Scotland, Cornwall is still a long old drive. However, what I could do was to go and stay in Weymouth with my mother-in-law overnight to break up the journey. This also allowed me to have a bit of sneaky year-listing on the way down at Acres Down.
So, I set off after breakfast and got to Acres Down late morning. The weather was bit lively to say the least but I got goshawk (distant) and woodlark (in full song) on the heath and a flyover crossbill in the wood. Best spot was a firecrest right by the car park which was confiding albeit keeping to thick cover!
I couldn't find the lesser-spotted woodpecker but not a bad haul. I tried Lodmoor next but nothing exciting so I headed for my over night stop!
Although I was already some way down towards Cornwall it was still about 150 miles to the estuary where the lapwing was being seen.
Consequently I was on the road just before 4. The weather was awful on the way down with big puddles on the road and torrential rain. At least the traffic was light. The forecast was for it to clear over by dawn and by the time I was past Exeter the rain had subsided to misty drizzle. After a quick stop in the services I pulled into the very small lay-by at Ruan Lanihorne about 7.15. There were already 3 cars there and the birders were getting set up as the light started to appear.
Basically, it was a small area of marsh and beyond that an estuary, where it was very low tide, and on which the sociable lapwing was being seen in the company of our normal lapwings. I learnt from my fellow birders that it was not seen the previous day. They had all spent most of the day looking for it and one had slept in his car overnight whilst the others found hotel rooms!. Apparently the weather was awful and even though they had seen lapwings the wind was too strong to focus 'scopes on them. The weather now was overcast and drizzly but at least it was still.
We set up and started scanning the mudflats but there were no small waders only Canada geese, shelducks and curlews.
As the light started to get better we finally got onto a flock of about 40 or 50 lapwings in flight. They kept distant and finally came down in the fields beyond the estuary and out of sight. We couldn't see the sociable lapwing in amongst them but it was a long way off. Although superficially similar, even in flight you should be able to pick it out as the wing tips only are dark and its body is a lot lighter.
As we carried on watching, the birds would occasionally come up and fly around, often in the company of golden plovers.
It was really hard to make anything out though. Each time they came back down not onto the estuary but into the fields. A we were discussing whether it was possible to get closer to the fields to have a look a local came past. We ascertained two things from him. First, it was all private land and not really open to view. Second he was the local policeman and therefore we were probably best advised not to think about a mass trespass!!
We weren't exactly getting despondent but the initial excitement of the morning was certainly waning. Three of us had wandered back to the cars, only a minute away, for a coffee and were admiring some greenshank and a common sandpiper nearby (both year ticks!).
The two who had remained then gave out the shout that the flock had not only taken off but were circling over the mud. I dropped my coffee and rushed back to my 'scope just in time to see a steady stream of waders, lapwings and golden plover, descending onto the very far side of the estuary. At least now we stood a better chance of picking out our bird.
They were strung out on a long line across the mud, feeding and preening. Four 'scopes were trained and we started working through them. We are going for a bird a bit bigger than the golden plovers, smaller than the lapwings, lighter in colour and with a distinctive eye-stripe and dark cap. The light was poor and it was proving a challenge, especially as they were constantly moving and flying off short distances.
Eventually the guy to my left gave the call "I've got it!". No chance of describing where it was so he locked down his 'scope and we all took turns to get that crucial tickable view. As we all cycled through we worked out roughly where it was. Fortunately there was a large rock, a tree stump and some shelduck to act as markers. within a couple of minutes we all had it in our 'scopes and had acceptable and tickable views. The general rule is that in order to tick a bird you should have good enough views to be able to make out enough detail to see it is the bird and not just take other peoples word for it. I was happy that the overall size, colouration and eye-stripe were ok. With all of us happy we could relax and a lot of smiles broke out, especially from the guy who slept in his car!!!
I fired off a lot of photos but to be honest I was only really pointing the camera in the general direction and hoping. The above photos are the best I got. To be honest, the only ones where you can just about make out the bird! Within a few minutes the flock took off again for a fly around. With no prospect of them coming much closer we all started to pack off and head off home, very satisfied with what looked initially to be a tricky day.
I did stop off at Broadsands for the cirl burnings on the way back but although I saw them the theme of it being a "no photo" trip continued as they kept themselves very much to themselves in the hedge.
Overall a cracking two days. A potentially tricky lifer taking me to 416 BOU and 8 other year ticks (159 BOU). Second lifer of the year together with the Northern waterthrush. A very good start and potentially a big year coming up!
