Charity Bird Race - 9th September

A sunny day. Highlights were Curlew Sandpiper, Whimbrel, Water Rail, Kingfisher, Yellow-legged Gull, Avocet, Dartford Warbler and Spotted Redshank.

The aim of today was to see how many species of bird could be recorded in one day. We split into 2 teams and searched at Stanpit and Hengistbury Head.
A description of the whole day would be too long winded, so here is a taste of the better birds seen and the commoner ones missed!
Waders were well represented today. Snipe and Whimbrel were seen well at Hengistbury and at Stanpit there was Common Sandpiper, Spotted Redshank, Knot, Curlew Sandpiper, an Avocet and a Bar-tailed Godwit as well as the commoner species. A Kingfisher was watched as it perched for several minutes and Water Rail was seen well at Stanpit by one team. Sadly the rare Wilson’s Phalarope that was there yesterday had disappeared.
At Hengistbury a Dartford Warbler performed well for both teams as did Wheatear and Whitethroats in Barn Field. One team saw a Yellow-legged Gull here too.
One team failed to see any Wagtails, Chaffinch or House Sparrow and both teams missed Jackdaw and Rook. However they are pretty scarce birds at Stanpit and Hengistbury.
The rarest bird for the Stanpit or Hengistbury was a Nuthatch seen by one team – a rare bird here with only a couple of sightings per year.
Most importantly £132 was raised today. Macmillan Cancer was the chosen charity and I am sure they will be very grateful for this.
Many, many thanks to everyone involved, but especially to Durwyn Liley who lead the second team.
Simon Curson