Pectoral Sandpiper at Pennington Marsh - 1st August

I spent a couple of hours at Pennington Marsh this morning prior to a survey in Dorset. There were many waders around and while I did not count them I would estimate around 350 Black-tailed Godwit and 200 Dunlin on Butts and Fishtail Lagoons alone. As I scanned across Butts Lagoon hoping for a Dowitcher or a Stilt Sandpiper I came across a semi-familiar jizz amongst the Dunlin flock, a Pectoral Sandpiper, nice! I watched it for a while before it took flight and headed towards Fishtail Lagoon so I headed that way. I was pleased to see my first Wood Sandpiper of the autumn at Pennington feeding on the Enteromorpha rafts on Fishtail Lagoon.

Wood Sandpiper - Fishtail Lagoon, Pennington Marsh - Simon Colenutt

As I got to the far west corner of Fishtail there was a high number of Dunlin and Black-tailed Godwit and then on the near bank, there it was, the Pectoral Sandpiper showing brilliantly. The bird fed on the near shore amongst the Dunlin but unfortunately the light was not great for digiscoping but I could a few reasonable shots. The lower photo shows the bird crouching as a Kestrel flew over.

Pectoral Sandpiper - Fishtail Lagoon, Pennington Marsh - Simon Colenutt

There was much argie-bargie amongst the Black-tailed Godwits presumably as they vied for space on the lagoons as new birds arrived. The bird below is in a threat display as another bird encroached into its feeding space.

                   Black-tailed Godwit - Fishtail Lagoon, Pennington Marsh - Simon Colenutt