Stone Curlew, Pectoral Sandpiper and other Autumn Waders

Although autumn wader passage had already begun by this date, things got really serious on 3rd August when Tim C discovered a fantastic Stone Curlew on Black Hole Marsh just after 6pm. It thankfully remained until dusk.  

If it wasn't for the Red-necked Phalarope this could easily have been my bird of the autumn...  

Just look at those eyes!

Not only is Stone Curlew always a class bird to see, but as you can see from my pictures this one showed absolutely brilliantly, less than 130 feet in front of Island Hide in the most stunning evening light.  The previous birds here showed nowhere near this well, and most my other UK experience of this species have involved distant and hazy birds on a very hot Salisbury Plain, with the birds themselves often looking like mirages!

Stayed in the same spot the whole time I watched it, but it did have a look around

Legs like a Caspian Gull... said no one ever!  Cracking bird and real honour to see up close

 
This was only the *third record of Stone Curlew for the patch, and the first ever autumn record with the previous records being: 

• One on Seaton Marshes, and then the Estuary until dusk on 13th April 2007 (this remains one of my favourite ever finds here).

• One almost in the same place on Seaton Marshes on 3rd March 2012 again staying until dusk. 

The '*' is because there are a couple more to add...ish:

• One sound recorded over Seaton at night on 24th April 2021. Thanks Mark B for alerting me to this record. 

• Somewhere deep in my grey matter I can vaguely recall learning about an old record from Colyford Marsh, but cannot get my hands on the source of this or find any other details about it.  When I posted about the 2012 bird on this blog, I mentioned then it was the third record for the patch which also eludes to an earlier record. If anyone can shed some light on this please let me know. 

• I have seen another here, but my naked-eye only views meant I never submitted it.  To cut a long story short I was on my phone in the kitchen of my old house on a misty and wet mid-April day, when I looked out the window to see a bird flying low head-on having come out of the valley.  I hung up the call and ran outside, realised it was a Stone Curlew, ran back through the house grabbing my bins enroute as it had now flown directly over the house, only to get back out the front of the house at the point it disappeared over a neighbours roof to the west.  I spent an hour or so searching the pig fields west of Seaton later that day without luck.

Another good wader that has graced Black Hole Marsh this autumn was this cracking juvenile Pectoral Sandpiper which has only just done a bunk (I think it was last seen on Thursday 10th Sept). .. 

Almost looks like a proper photographers shot this one!  I was just jammy with my timing - zero skill involved

 

First found on 4th September at around midday by visiting birder David Flack, it spent much of it's time showing really well from Island Hide.  It's the first Pec Sand I have seen here for over a decade as I managed to miss the most recent two (Sept '23 on Black Hole Marsh and Sept '22 on Colyford Marsh), but it takes my all time Axe Pec tally up to ten.  Out of the ten, this looked like the freshest of the lot, an absolutely feather-perfect juv...

Such a tidy bird

Showing all the salient features

More V's than a juv Red-necked Phal!  You can see what I mean about it looking so fresh.

Hopefully this won't prove the only American wader of the autumn though, as there's quite a decent amount of yanks arriving at the moment.  Fingers crossed for a Lesser Yellowlegs, that is the one we are all next expecting and is so overdue here.

We've not had any Little Stints yet this autumn, but everything else you'd expect has been present, including the likes of Curlew Sandpipers (max of two), Wood Sandpipers (max of two, probably four in total), Ruff (currently six present), Little Ringed Plovers (two still present), etc.  Spotted Redshanks have been really reliable this autumn, we would usually get the odd one or two for short stays, but we have currently got three present, with two of these having been around daily since 23rd August (so three weeks now!).   

I haven't managed to get down to Black Hole Marsh or the Estuary anywhere near as often as I would have hoped these last few months, so huge praise from me to the local birders who have been constantly plugging away making sure nothing slips through undetected.  

This was our first Wood Sand of the autumn - I found it during a birdwatching tram on 1st August

One of the more recent birds, showing well but in pretty dull light

I missed a couple of Turnstone that were present late in August, but was pleased to see three Knot that dropped in briefly on the Estuary during a heavy squall on 29th August...

Distant and murky Knot x 3

 

And finally, I need to rewind the clock even more as I realised I never posted this lovely summer plumaged Curlew Sandpiper that graced Black Hole Marsh for a day on 29th May. It feels like both just yesterday and also ages ago at the same time...

Pictured here with a couple of Black-tailed Godwits and a Black-headed Gull

Next blog post topic; Summer Heron's and allies!  Yes, I am going to make you wait a couple more posts until the really good stuff - and by that I mean gulls :)