Pectoral Sandpiper at Stocks Reservoir, Lancashire, UK.

 01-11.07.2000 - by Bill Aspin.

On Saturday 1st July 2000, J.F. Wright and myself made our regular weekend visit to Stocks Reservoir. The weather was dull and overcast, so hopes of perhaps a Common Scoter or an interesting wader were fairly high.

The water level was ideal for feeding waders, with a wealth of exposed mud.

Viewing from the hide, we spent the next hour going through the birds on view in the bay several times over. Several hundred yards away, the area around the mouth of the Hodder inlet was providing good feeding for small numbers of Redshank, Dunlin and Ringed and Little Ringed Plover. As I scoped this area for the umpteenth time, I caught a glimpse of a Calidrid, obviously bigger than a Dunlin, roughly the size of a Green Sandpiper, firstly back-on then side-on.

The view only lasted some 10 seconds, as the bird retreated back into the area of the Hodder inlet not visible from the hide. But, in that time, I was able to note that the bird showed rather large, blackish centres to the upperpart feathers, with contrsting brownish fringes, then, as the bird turned side on, a strikingly dark breast which ended abruptly, forming a strong pectoral band!

It was at this point that I called JFW out of the hide and told him that I had a Pectoral sandpiper. JFW then looked through my scope, at which point the bird re-appeared from out of sight and he agreed with the ID.

We then rushed to a better, closer viewpoint looking down at the Hodder inlet, in the company of Margaret Breaks and family, where good scope views were had of the bird, confirming the original, distant ID.

The Pectoral Sandpiper remained at the site until last seen on 11.07.00 and was seen by many observers.

Description.

Jizz/behavior: Appeared front-heavy. This emphasized by the birds general 'pot-bellied' appearance, small headed look and rather attenuated rear-end. When feeding, the legs were held flexed and when the bird felt threatened, it would often crouch low on the ground, holding it's head at an angle, looking up to the sky. In flight, the long-winged appearance instantly demanded attention. My opinion was that it was reminiscent of a Ruff in flight, but with more purposeful wing-beats.

Head+Neck: The crown was darker than the rest of the head, being a dark brown, streaked black. The bird showed a showed a fairly dull, brown supercillium. The cheeks showed fine blackish streaks, becoming more prominent on the nape. A dark loral stripe was present. The neck was obviously streaked black on a brown ground colour. These streaks became thicker and darker in colour as the neck merged with the breast.

Breast: The ground colour of the breast was an off-white and the dark streaking from the neck continued onto the breast, becoming twice as thick by the bottom half of the breast. The lower third of the breast was very dark, culminating in what appeared to be a balck mass of thick, dark streaking in the centre of the pectoral band. At this point, the prectoral band formed a shallow ' V '.

Upperparts: Weak mantle and scapular 'V's were were visible and the mantle feathers were finely streaked black. Otherwise, the upperpart feathering consisted of dark centred feathering with pale fringes, in particular the scapulars. The wing coverts (when visible) appeared more grey than black centred. The tertials were dark centred with pale fringes. The rump was dark in colour as was the central tail, the outer tail feathers appearing slightly paler.

Wings: The bird always appeared long-winged in flight. A narrow, pale wingbar could be seen. The underwings appeared to be pale.

Bill: Slightly decurved and roughly tha same length as the head. The base of the lower mandible was slightly paler than the rest of the bill.

Eye: appeared dark.

Legs: Ochre-green in colour, often hard to judge as they were often covered in mud.

Size: Oviously larger than nearby Dunlin, probably nearer the size of a Green Sandpiper.

Call: "Chirrup" would be my interpretation. Both JFW and myself agreed that it was reminiscent of Curlew Sandpiper. The bird was only heard to call in flight.

Accepted by the Lancashire records panel.