Alf Mullins got a glimpse of what he thought may be a Lesser Yellowlegs on Saturday 17th September, but it wasn't until the next day that the ID was confirmed by Phil Carter. The bird was still present several days later so time for a visit on my way to Fingringhoe Wick.
I parked the car and started off on the 20-minute walk along the River Colne to the viewing screen, hoping that it was still present. The tide was right out so the river was a bath-tub of mud with only 1/5th of its width full of water. This of course provided ideal feeding conditions for the odd Black-tailed Godwit and Redshank so I grabbed a couple of shots on the way.
Along the river wall were a few small flocks of Linnets, all looking a bit tatty as both young and adults are in moult.
Sadly, when I got to the screen there was no sign of the yellowlegs, just a few distant Snipe, Green Sandpipers and Black-tailed Godwits. However, it was eventually located tight in to the southern bank of the lagoon. The problem here is that when it was tight in to the reeds it was out of sight from the bank, and only became visible when it walked out in to the shallow water towards the middle of the lagoon where it was distant. However, I did manage to get some shots.
At one point it walked past me and I was able to get a few shots through the reeds, but not too surprisingly focusing was difficult. Unfortunately, due to the depth of the water it was never possible to get a good view of the legs.
However, at that point it decided that the mud was browner on the other side of the lagoon, but did at last give a view of those most amazing legs.
Nice shots, well done.
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