20171003 Photography Workshop RSPB Titchwell. Tawny Owl & Pectoral Sandpiper

Leaflet for Photo course at Titchwell this autumn.

A great time was had by all on the first day.

Pectoral Sandpiper and Ruff shot at Titchwell.

Birdwatch Scarcities review July 2017.

The  scarce but the commonest  American vagrant  to the British Isles a  Pectoral Sandpiper turned up at Cley on the 9th September and showed well from the East Bank on the Serpentine. Cley attracts this species consistently in spring and autumn as it is a very long distance migrant that has a keenness to go off course. It is actually the longest distance migrant of any North American shorebird wintering in deepest South America,  Australia and even  New Zealand and having breeding grounds in the Canadian Arctic. The bird at Cley was a juvenile of the year and therefore has an excuse for being over this side of the Atlantic and way off course.  Unusually a Pectoral Sandpiper at Titchwell Freshmarsh recently at the end of July was an adult in breeding plumage. This bird was probably a female as it was dull and rather small and the timing suggesting  an early  failed breeder. One theory has it that adult individuals arriving earlier on the east coast may be birds that arrived the previous year and are undertaking the pattern of north south migration, but on this side of the Atlantic and wintering in Africa. Another possibility to consider is that the early birds arriving on the east coast are from the Siberian population and have therefore come in from the east.
Both Pecs associated with the bulkier Ruff providing a good comparison of the two similar wader species. Males of both species are larger than females by up to 30% and can be twice the weight.

Wader return migration is now well under way down on the Marshes with commoner vagrants much in evidence,  the vanguard of much rarer things to come....

Tawny Owl

Day roost beside the Fen Trail just above head height.