August 2022: A Terrific Trio of Ticks!

 As a former teacher, I can never get my head round the summer holidays actually being classed as autumn in birdwatching terms, but this is the month when migration movements really take off. Now is the time to get out there and search for any missing summer migrants before they disappear to warmer climes, and it's already too late for Cuckoo.

This is also a good time to pick up some more unusual species that pass through the country en route from northerly breeding sites, or have somehow been blown off course and ended up in completely the wrong place. Pagham is a good location for this, being coastal, and so on 5th August we found ourselves headed in search of a Squacco Heron which had arrived while we were busy with grandparenting duties the previous week. 

We sauntered along North Wall checking White's Creek and Breech Pool for waders, but there were no unusual species found. We finally arrived at the end of the rife where the heron had been regularly seen, to be told it had just flown over the trees! Very frustrating, and a reminder (Tim!) to always go for your target rarity first! It was a scorching hot day so we sat on the grassy bank to wait... and wait... and wait. Fortunately there was an impressive flock of around 40 Cattle Egret and a fledged Reed Warbler being intermittently fed, together with a yellowish Willow Warbler chasing insects helped to keep us entertained. Finally, after around two and a half hours, the Squacco flew in. Alongside the Cattle Egrets it looked decidedly diminutive, being both shorter and a much slimmer build. We had some excellent views before it crept into the reeds, from where we could track it furtively creeping along the water's edge in search of food.

Squacco Heron

Interestingly, this was exactly 3 years to the day since we had previously seen a Squacco Heron in the same area at Pagham. There was much speculation as to whether this was the same bird, which perhaps seems likely, or whether it is just an attractive habitat, with plentiful egrets to draw attention to a wandering bird. One observer noted the previous bird had fed in the field on grasshoppers whilst this one was favouring fishing in the rife.

A few days later on 10th August, we were back to Pagham for a Temminck's stint which Bernie had found the previous day. This was quickly located on Ferry Pool, and we had excellent scope views, with the bird coming pretty close along the left bank. This was our fifth sighting of this species in Britain, and certainly the best views we've had. It is tiny as the picture alongside the redshank clearly shows. 

Temminck’s Stint

Finally, a visit to Essex on 11 August to attend some appointments with mum gave us an opportunity to meet up with Andy for a morning sortie to Hanningfield Reservoir, where we located a Ruddy Shelduck. Interestingly, we also saw this species at Abberton in August last year, also a female, so again, it seems likely it may be the same bird? No photo of this one as it was too far away, but there was a good shot on last year's blog posting!