Temminck's Stint in the home county!

8/09/14

Having dipped Temminck's Stint back in May I was very keen to catch up with the species. Over the past few years it has become a bird that repeatedly eludes me, or arrives on days that I cannot make it. It was great to hear though that a juvenile bird had turned up at Clifton Pits just south of Worcester and continued to grace the site with its presence for some time. Temminck's are particularly unusual in Autumn in the midlands, so it was well received by many and I'm sure most county birders made the pilgrimage to catch up with the Stint.

Luckily, it was still around on the day I had free, so following a thrash of the patch which was relatively quiet other that a fly-through adult Hobby, I headed down to this new location for me.

Just off the A38 the spot was found with ease, and I was soon overlooking the relatively small 'Southern Pit'. Scanning through the wader assembly, consisting of Lapwing, Snipe, Green and Common Sandpipers eventually paid off as a small wader flew out from behind a small spit and landed among the roosting Lapwings. It was the tiny TEMMINCK'S STINT.

Good views were had as it fed along the shoreline. Mike was on an 'dinner break' twitch, but unluckily for him, the bird was flushed by a Sparrowhawk just before he arrived, and following some circling, and some calling (Sounding rather like a Finch!) it flew off NW.

After having met up with Mike, I took him back down to the Southern Pit, but the bird had not returned, and following a brief talk with the site managers, we headed off over towards the main pit on a 'we might not see you' basis, Again though we couldn't relocate it, and Mike had to head off, but as he walked the path I picked up the bird again, feeding in channels unviewable from our previous location, and we got great views from here.

Temminck's Stint

Temminck's Stint

The route back to Stourport went straight past Grimley, and it would have been rude to not drop in. Both Camp Lane and Wagon Wheel pits where checked. 9 Little Egret, singles of Green and Common Sandpiper and a flock of Yellow Wagtails was about the pick of the bunch.

Always a good day when you get a bogey bird in the home county!

MB