Two juvenile Long Billed Dowitchers have been seen regularly at Marshside reserve near to Southport!They have been frequenting the large wetland in front of Nells hide.Hidden amongst hundreds of Godwits,it has been quite challenging to see them, never mind photograph these American waders.Undeterred,I made a few visits to see if I could capture an image or two.
They are a lot smaller than the Godwit with a very pale supercillium.Not much to go off,I know ,but its a start.Obviously plenty of birders were in attendance, which helped my course!Sifting through the flock of Godwits was a hard task, but a shout would go up that they had been spotted and people would be directed to the position of the birds!The trouble was, they were about a hundred yards away and the light was usually in the wrong direction, but I was determined as ever to get on them with my lens.The shot above is of one of the birds coming in to land, not a bad start!
Occasionally a raptor would put the waders up,and the task would begin again of trying to find them!This would sometimes work to my benefit as it would split the birds, and as above, would make them easier to relocate.
The distance was always going to be the problem, but a good few record shots were gleaned of the juvenile dowitchers!
They would paddle across between what bits of dry land they could find and were constantly feeding, probing rapidly with their bills on the edges of the islands!They were a bulky little wader, ever so busy and really not much bigger than a Snipe,but a real welcome addition to any reserve.A few had been reported up and down the country, mainly a confiding individual at Saltfleet in Lincolnshire and at Oare marshes in Kent.To have two on our doorstep here in Lancashire was a real bonus and people travelled from far and wide to view them.
