Pectoral Sandpiper.

Brockholes Quarry, Lancs, UK.

The third site record.

13th August 2005.

by Bill Aspin.

Tony Disley and I had been routinely checking the local patch for a couple of hours, on a  morning that  weather-wise had showed promise but had thus far failed to deliver any wader passage.

At 10.30hrs, whilst stood at a vantage point overlooking the north-eastern end of the main pool, I heard a faint wader call, almost immediately followed by the sight of a wader dropping into the main pool with the naked eye. In my mind I thought this single call was reminiscent of Curlew Sandpiper. Keeping on the wader with the naked eye, the bird landed on the side of the main pool nearest to the road, giving a distant view through the binoculars of a wader back on, partially obscured by small trees. My gut instinct on this view was that it was not a Curlew Sand, and I hurriedly trained my scope onto it. The view, although badly obscured was enough to call it as a 'Pec', and Tony who was in a more elevated position than I quickly confirmed the ID.

Moving to a better vantage point, the bird showed well, roosting briefly, but mostly feeding. The news was put out and local birders informed, but at 11.10hrs, the 'Pec' suddenly took flight amidst a minor disturbance possibly caused by a local Sparrowhawk and flew strongly and distantly east until lost to view in loose association with a flock of Snipe. Assuming the Pec had indeed freshly arrived when first seen, the bird was present for just 40 minutes. Bill Berry was the only local birder who successfully twitched the bird in time.

This constitutes the third site record of the species, all since 2003.

1) Juvenile present on 9th-10th September 2003. See article here.

2) Adult/1st summer present on 9th July 2004. See article here.

3) Adult/1st summer present on 13th August 2005.

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Bill Aspin (2nd Oct 2005).

Record subject to acceptance by Lancashire Records Panel.