Having completed
my morning on Soil Hill, I was just settling down for some work when a message
came through that MH had found a Curlew Sandpiper at Whiteholme Reservoir. With
no Calderdale record for 10 years, per the blog, this was an overdue Halifax
tick for me so I headed straight up.
The wind was
certainly a problem upon arrival, but I quickly made my way round to the NE
corner of the reservoir where MH, PD and LD were all watching. Once there I was
quickly put on to the Curlew Sandpiper on one of the near exposed islands but
still distant. It then proceeded to fly to the far shoreline becoming even more
distant, so that was great.
Fortunately it was
not long before it, and the posse of Ringed Plovers it was associating with,
returned to the island where better views were possible. It was at this point
that I noticed that the Curlew Sandpiper was stood right next to… a Curlew Sandpiper!
Two birds together! An excellent development to the mornings birding. They
shortly returned to the far shoreline, and it was another 45 minutes before
they came close again, but this time they actually came close and I finally got
some photos, including of both birds together.
In addition to the
Curlew Sandpipers, the Little Stint (which I had first twitched on Monday) was
still present but it was always distant and difficult to pick out in the windy
conditions. A Dunlin was present, as was a single Golden Plover, but most of
the action was made up of the 18 Ringed Plover present. Such a lively scene
with so many waders seemed a little out of place on the Pennine moors, more
familiar to the east coast!
Species List:
Whiteholme Reservoir: Eurasian Teal, European Golden Plover, Common Ringed Plover, Curlew Sandpiper, Dunlin, Little Stint, Lesser Black-backed Gull, Common Kestrel, Merlin, Carrion Crow, Barn Swallow, Western House Martin, Northern Wheatear, Grey Wagtail, Meadow Pipit,
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