Little Stint

An early morning visit to the North Wall at Pagham, dawn broke in a rather chilly air and when I arrived at Pagham the area to the north of Breech Pool was shrouded in mist, There were plenty of birds about, a cursory glance of the pool gave all the usual suspects plus the previously reported Little Stint. I actually counted three  Little Stints with five Dunlin. However, subsequent to Ivan finding a "mini" Dunlin I would revise that to two, especially as the mist made ID more difficult. When I returned from Halsey's Farm I could find only one.

 

Out at Halsey's I located some Yellow Wagtails within the cattle herd but they were not confiding and as soon as I approached they flew off. So back to Breech Pool where a Kingfisher was busy fishing. The total bird population had thinned somewhat, certainly there were far fewer Black-tailed Godwits to be found now the sun was up, although the Teal and Little Egret numbers rose as the tide came in.




Little Stint with Dunlin for comparison



Little Stint with Dunlin for comparison

 

 

 Ivan's mini Dunlin for comparison, it was very diminutive!!



Mini Dunlin



Mini Dunlin

Other suspects on the pool included a juvenile Knot, 5 Snipe, a single Bar-tailed Godwit and a single Wigeon. Pandemonium reigned briefly as a dark juvenile Sparrowhawk swooped across the pool but departed hungry.



De Havilland  DH 89A Dragon-Rapide, G-AGTM

All in all a very pleasant morning birding in very fine weather.