Temminck's Stint at Blue house farm Essex

I had a free afternoon today so asked the Jims if they wanted me to run them up to Blue house farm as they still wanted to see the Temminck's Stint and still needed Wood and Curlew Sandpiper for year ticks. They both fancied the trip so we set off early afternoon and after finding a place in the packed small car park we made our way out to the hide straight away which we found quite full but managed to squeeze in.

On arrival the Temminck's was showing well on a small shingle island in front of the hide so I took advantage and grabbed a few more images before scanning the marsh to see what else we could find.

Three Curlew Sandpipers gave me a bonus year tick before finding three Wood Sandpipers for the Jims to add their third tick of the day. Two Greenshank, four Common Sandpipers, eight Green Sandpipers, two Ruff and nine Spoonbill added to the day list. A number of Avocet and hundreds of Black-tailed Godwit were still present and a count of sixteen Snipe in flight was nice too. As the tide pushed a few more birds in we noted six Ringed Plover and several Dunlin. Both Marsh Harrier and Kestrel hunted over the marsh and Yellow Wagtail numbers were lower than the weekend with just a couple seen although people reported more from the other hide.

Temminck's Stint

Blue house farm is a low key reserve but has benefitted from the wet weather this year with some impressive bird numbers using the flood. Breeders this year include Pochard, Tufted Duck, Shoveler, Shelduck, Mallard, Gadwall and even Teal have raised a brood here. I wish it was just that bit closer to home so I could visit more often within the time restrictions I currently have.

Greenshank

Greenshank

Pochard

Little Grebe

Temminck's Stint

Temminck's Stint

Temminck's Stint

Temminck's Stint

Temminck's Stint

Temminck's Stint

The Stint appears to be a juvenile born in the high arctic this year and on it's way down to winter in tropical Africa. An interesting fact I've learnt over the years about Temminck's Stint is that both male and female brood separate clutches with the male brooding the first clutch whilst the female goes on to brood the second which mitigates brood loss to predation.

The pointless year list moved up to 224 as I chase down last years record low of 234 

the top ten targets according to Bubo : 

Dipper

Puffin

Pied Flycatcher

Red Grouse

Firecrest

Manx Shearwater

Snow Bunting

Black Guillemot

Ring necked Duck

Black Grouse

this list according to the birds most other listers have seen that I haven't so far this year.

My target list would be a little different and would include.....Little Stint, Arctic Skua and Great Skua.