Dipping at Dunge

We set off this morning intent on connecting with the rather shower Crake at Oare marsh but on route the pager bleeped into life with news that a Semipalmated Sandpiper was showing again on ARC pit at Dunge so we detoured for a potential year tick. Once at the viewing screen we quickly located six juvenile Little Stints and an Adult and it became apparent that the adult had been reported as the Semi P. Not only that but the bird seen yesterday was this adult Stint too so it was very likely that the Semi P had last been seen on Tuesday. We gave it a good slog for a few hours in Hanson hide listing, Hobby, Marsh Harrier, Sprawk, Ringed Plover, Golden Plover, Blackwits, Greenshank etc for our trouble. (Oh...and probably our last Swift of 2013)

 Spitfire over Dunge

A Spitfire flew over entertaining the small crowd within the hide for a while before we moved on to the beach  for a spot of sea watching.

We found several Arctic Skua very close in and some very nice light phase birds were seen. A few settled on the sea close in giving great scope views. A couple of distant Bonxie were added and a probable Pom also passed through. We had four Balearic Shearwater (273) fly first west before turning to fly back east and a single Auk was noted. On the patch we found several Black Terns and more Skua action.
A decent day of sitting scanning and plenty of chatting despite dipping at Dunge on a bird that more than likely left town a few days ago and we never found the time to go look at that Crake.