Following the end of my shift just after midday today I decided to stop off at the muck heap and surrounding water to check for evidence of Wader passage.
I was expecting if anything to find Green Sandpiper as this is the most likely species to be found at the habitat, however, I was more than pleased to find a beautiful
Common Sandpiper feeding around the fringes of the water.
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| Common Sandpiper at Deopham, 22nd August. Alert carriage. Note the buff barring on the wing coverts which ages this as a juvenile bird. |
This Common Sandpiper had a more horizontal carriage than Green Sandpiper, although when alert it would appear a more upright, slender bird. Typical behaviour observed included a constant bobbing, or 'teetering' action of the rear end of the bird, the head was also bobbed. A very nervous bird which was ready to fly when a
Pied Wagtail landed nearby, or when the odd car passed by.
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| Common Sandpiper at Deopham 22nd August. Note the brownish upperparts and the distinctive white 'hook' at the breast side which wraps around the folded wing. The buff barring is still visible at some distance. |
Compared to the similar Green Sandpiper, the Common Sandpiper appears browner, has a more hunched carriage, and has a distinctive area of white hooked around the folder wing. The legs are pale green. Delicate buff barring on the secondaries of this wader shows this is a juvenile bird.
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| Common Sandpiper at Deopham 22nd August. Green and Common Sandpipers are the most likely 'similar looking' passage wader species to be encountered inland. To eliminate confusion between the two species the Common Sandpiper has this very distinctive white wing-bar, the Green has an unmarked, dark upperwing. |
In flight, the most distinctive feature separating this species from Green Sandpiper was seen, this was the very distinctive white wing bar. The flight call is a sweet "
swee wee wee".
Also seen at the muckheap was a couple of juvenile
Pied Wagtails, also, pairs of
Linnets occasionally visited to drink.
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