Irene sends a Baird's Sandpiper

The images below were taken this afternoon of the first year Baird's Sandpiper at Hayle Estuary.  It was found on Tuesday this week by Dave Parker and Phil Rutter and is presumably the start of a nice run of Nearctic vagrants this Autumn !  With some luck, Hurricane Irene will do us all proud.

Regarding past Baird's records in Cornwall, the exact numbers are curiously difficult to reconcile as records rejected by the BBRC are in fact included in the official CBWPS file. Including this bird, there has been a total of approximately 32 birds, the first of which apparently occurred in 1965, though this bird does not appear in the CBWPS Report as it was rejected (presumably by BBRC). A similar fate happened to another report in 1966. Thus the first authentic Cornish record was at Ruan Lanihorne and is attributed to Ted Griffiths and Stan Gay in 1980.

1980 Ruan Lanihorne 31 Aug - 2 Sep
1980 Predannack Airfield 20 Sep
1980 Davidstow 21 Sep - 1 Oct
1981 Davidstow 22 - 24 Sep (not in 1981 report)
1981 Marazion 28 Sep - 10 Oct
1981 Ruan Lanihorne 15 Oct - not in BBRC
1983 Siblyback first year 3 - 18 Sep
1983 Camel ad. 14 Sep
1983 Davidstow 15 - 16 Sep
1983 Marazion Beach 20 - 25 Sep
1983 Carnsew Pool 28 Sep (rejected)
1984 Record at Crowdy Res/Davidstow 12 Sep (rejected)
1984 Siblyback 26 - 29 Sep
1988 Stithians first year 4 - 15 Sep
1989 Stithians first year 24 - 30 Oct (per 1990 report)
1989 Crowdy first year 1 – 11 Oct
1995 Upper Tamar Lake first year 15 - 18 Sep
1995 Colliford Lake first year 23 Sep then Dozmary Pool on 24 Sep
1997 Gannel Est on 3 Aug.
1997 Hayle Est. on 31 Aug.
1997 Devoran, Restronguet Creek on 10 - 21 Sep
1998 Davidstow (2) one 11 - 20 Sep, with a second on 16 Sep
1999 Camel ad 22 - 25 Aug
2001 Long Rock Beach, Marazion 16 Sep – 17 Oct
2004 Crowdy/Davidstow 4 – 21 Sep, but (2) on 7 + 10 Sep
2004 Marazion Beach 7 – 11 Sep and 15 – 16 Sep
2004 Stithians 13 – 26 Sep
2005 Hayle Est 1 Sep (not in BBRC)
2006 Hayle 8 – 13 Sep (possibly another bird 4 Oct not submitted to BBRC)
2006 St John’s Ford 20 Sep
2006 Trevose Head 23 Sep (not submitted to BBRC)
2009 Marazion Beach 3 Sep to at least 17th Sep
2009 Davidstow 1 Sep to at least 16th Sep
2011 Hayle Estuary 30th Aug to at least 1st Sep

Historic Totals Aug 5, Sep 24, Oct 3. The most popular site is Marazion Beach with eight records here.

Baird's Sandpiper on Marazion Beach

These are the final images of my photo session on Sunday morning. OK, I hear you saying not more Baird's images, but the unexpectedly long stay of this bird finally presented itself in the best of photo conditions. This is my third attempt so hopefully you will enjoy browsing these images... promise no more!

EXIF Detail: Aperture priority. Ap F/10. Shutter speed 1/1000s. ISO 250. Exposure -0.3EV. WB Cloudy.

Baird's Sandpiper records in Cornwall

The two long-staying Baird's Sandpipers at Marazion and Davidstow this September have prompted me to look at the past records in Cornwall. The exact numbers are curiously difficult to reconcile as records rejected by the BBRC are in fact included in the official CBWPS file. Including the two this month, there has been a total of approximately 31 birds, the first of which apparently occurred in 1965, though this bird does not appear in the CBWPS Report as it was rejected (presumably by BBRC). A similar fate happened to another report in 1966. Thus the first authentic Cornish record was at Ruan Lanihorne and is attributed to Ted Griffiths and Stan Gay in 1980.

1980 Ruan Lanihorne 31 Aug - 2 Sep
1980 Predannack Airfield 20 Sep
1980 Davidstow 21 Sep - 1 Oct
1981 Davidstow 22 - 24 Sep (not in 1981 report)
1981 Marazion 28 Sep - 10 Oct
1981 Ruan Lanihorne 15 Oct - not in BBRC
1983 Siblyback first year 3 - 18 Sep
1983 Camel ad. 14 Sep
1983 Davidstow 15 - 16 Sep
1983 Marazion Beach 20 - 25 Sep
1983 Carnsew Pool 28 Sep (rejected)
1984 Record at Crowdy Res/Davidstow 12 Sep (rejected)
1984 Siblyback 26 - 29 Sep
1988 Stithians first year 4 - 15 Sep
1989 Stithians first year 24 - 30 Oct (per 1990 report)
1989 Crowdy first year 1 – 11 Oct
1995 Upper Tamar Lake first year 15 - 18 Sep
1995 Colliford Lake first year 23 Sep then Dozmary Pool on 24 Sep
1997 Gannel Est on 3 Aug.
1997 Hayle Est. on 31 Aug.
1997 Devoran, Restronguet Creek on 10 - 21 Sep
1998 Davidstow (2) one 11 - 20 Sep, with a second on 16 Sep
1999 Camel ad 22 - 25 Aug
2001 Long Rock Beach, Marazion 16 Sep – 17 Oct
2004 Crowdy/Davidstow 4 – 21 Sep, but (2) on 7 + 10 Sep
2004 Marazion Beach 7 – 11 Sep and 15 – 16 Sep
2004 Stithians 13 – 26 Sep
2005 Hayle Est 1 Sep (not in BBRC)
2006 Hayle 8 – 13 Sep (possibly another bird 4 Oct not submitted to BBRC)
2006 St John’s Ford 20 Sep
2006 Trevose Head 23 Sep (not submitted to BBRC)
2009 Marazion Beach 3 Sep to at least 17th Sep
2009 Davidstow 1 Sep to at least 16th Sep


Historic Totals Aug 4, Sep 24, Oct 3. The most popular site is Marazion Beach with eight records here.

The two images shown here are the Marazion bird and were taken this evening.

Many thanks to Derek Julian for providing the records from the CBWPS database.

Juv. Baird's Sandpiper at Davidstow

Today was the first opportunity to get to see the first year Baird's Sandpiper at Davidstow. This bird must be one of the longest stayers ever in Cornwall as it first appeared here 15 days ago. Sadly the light this morning was not favourable for photography but the RAW images have been rescued in CaptureNX and brightened up as much as possible.

Baird's Sandpiper and Sanderling at Long Rock

Long Rock beach is busy with migrant waders and this Baird's Sandpiper was found among them on Thursday evening by Mark Warren. Baird's is just about an annual vagrant in Cornwall - from memory tonight whilst posting this blog, I have seen at least four along this exact stretch of beach! Baird's seem to like feeding in the seaweed and on the beach. From the photo's shown, the upperparts look quite worn and abraded and don't have the uniform scaly pattern that juveniles normally show; it can be aged though as first year bird by the white tips to the primaries. Adults would show all black primaries. There are approx 30 records of Baird's in Cornwall, most of which occurred in September.

These juv Sanderling shots were also taken tonight in fairly dull light whilst waiting for the Baird's to show again.

EXIF detail: RAW file. Aperture F/7.1 Exposure -0.3 EV to 0.0 EV. ISO 400 to 640. WB Cloudy. Focal length 840mm. All images sharpened and cropped in Capture NX2 software. Colour unchanged.