The Rarest of them all

The weather had been in the high 90's for weeks,too hot to go walking,fishing or doing anything really. 

I switched on the television just in time to hear the news and the familiar voice of Iolo Williams(RSPB) telling the reporter that he had never seen so many birds arrive back in Wales on migration so early in the year.

  Apparently the storms in Russia had convinced the birds it was time to move south for the winter.

        Well if they were arriving back early in Wales ,why not sunny warm Turkey as well !!!!!

                  Recovering from its long journey                              Feeding on the muddy foreshore

So it was sun cream and hat on, gear in the car and down the lane to the marsh for a look-see.

The noisy Black-winged stilt were making their presence known ,diving bombing everything in sight to keep their new broods safe from harm.The Ruddy shelduck were cruising around with their ducklings, and a couple of baby Kentish plover,maybe 3 days old  were scuttering around in the margins,guarded by their parents.

Some Wood sandpiper had arrived with a few Little stint and a lone Ruff.

Scanning the marsh with my bins I noticed one of the sandpipers looked a little different from the rest of the bunch, a bit like a Common sandpiper but larger.

    I just could'nt believe my eyes,this sandpiper had an upturned bill,it could'nt be could it????

               Panic !!!!! Get the the scope focussed, get the camera set up,adjust the tripod.,

                         This was my lucky day, it was a Terek sandpiper.

Edging nearer for a better shot I focussed on the bird,only to see the local Peregrine come screaming down the marsh scattering every bird in sight, apart from the poor Kentish plover whose reactions were a little slower than the rest.

He was snatched from the shallows at break neck speed (literally) and away up over the hillside.

Well one hour later,everything was back to normal, I eventually got some half-decent shots of this amazing sandpiper which ,should not have even been within 500 miles of my patch.

   Trying to hide from the Peregrine falcon                               Preening in the sunshine          

   How very fortunate we are  when acts of nature bring us great surprises when least expected.