Chew Valley Lake - Sun 9 Oct

After getting up early to watch South Africa vs Australia in the Rugby World Cup I then set off for the morning leaving Ellie fast asleep in bed. I arrived at Chew Valley Lake just after 9.00am and scouted out Herriot's Bridge where a Spotted Sandpiper had been present for the last week or so. Unfortunately there was no sign of the bird in pretty poor conditions, there was a strong wind and steady, albeit light, drizzle. I did see a very obliging Water Rail though. After about half an hour I decided to move on and after collecting a day permit from Woodford Lodge drove down to Stratford Hide, a very brief stop at Heron's Bay produced a Green Sandpiper amongst loads of wildfowl.
From the hide I soon picked out two Ruff feeding on the mud in front of the hide and they were joined by two Pectoral Sandpipers, a small flock of eighteen Dunlin were also present. Scanning across the water I picked out two surviving Ruddy Ducks (a fortunate pair that had evaded the guns of DEFRA) and a drake Red-creasted Pochard. A couple of Meadow Pipits were feeding in the short vegetation that had started growing up on the exposed mud, and they were in the company of a Wheatear.
I was hoping to find the long-staying Ferruginous Duck, but there was no sign of this rarity either. Fortunately another birder entered the hide and after a bit of a chat he told me had just seen the Ferruginous Duck from Moreton Hide, so I thanked him and rushed off!
About five minutes later I arrived at Moreton Hide, somewhat out of breath, and started scanning for the bird. Eventually I tracked it down and it showed pretty well in front of the hide. With time ticking on by, I walked back to the car and drove back round to Herriot's Bridge. The weather was still pretty dismal and there was still no sign of the Spotted Sandpiper, but much of the causeway was out of view. I decided to walk down the road a short distance and luckily found a gap in the hedge which allowed me to squeeze in and view more of the causeway. Another Green Sandpiper flew up from in front of me and there, just to my left, the adult Spotted Sandpiper...still in partial summer plumage with a nice assortment of spots on its breast.
So job done at Chew and so I decided to pop up to Black Down to try my luck again with the Pallid Harrier. On top of the Mendip Hills I could not see more than about twenty metres and the rain was now pretty intense...nothing would be flying in this weather so I didn't waste any time and simply drove back home for lunch with Ellie.