Around 07:30 this morning I was scanning out East and North East beyond Lea Farm GP when I picked up what I thought was a Lapwing coming in from the East, about 3/4 mile out, it was flying erratically like any other Lapwing that had been spooked.
One second it was going away North, then it was coming in towards Lea Farm more or less SW, but then away heading West. As it turned side on I suddenly saw it had large white 'crescents' on the upper wing and had noticeable trailing legs, not like Stilt length, but certainly beyond the tail.
It jerked back right again and I said to Geoff "I think it is going to come in to Lea Farm GP", but annoyingly it turned back West again and I saw the white crescents and legs once more, before it got too left of me, so some way beyond, but just West of Lodge Wood, at which point I dashed out of the hide and binned it heading West out of sight behind trees.
"hmmm" I said, that was odd, very odd, a Lapwing sized plover, flying like a Lapwing but with upper wing marks and trailing legs".
Unless something remarkable happens, it will remain another 'one that got away' but you only have to peer at the plovers section of any good guide and look for waders bearing those basic features, before you realize that unless Lapwing has a plumage with white crescents on the upper wing and at some times develops a long legged appearance, then a major rarity may just have been within 500 metres of my patch.
Little else to shout about today, 2 Little Egrets, 1 Green, 1 Common Sandpiper.
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