Solitary Sandpiper at Rye Meads, 13-15th September 2002
Paul Roper, the finder of the Solitary Sandpiper, has kindly sent us his report and description of the sandpiper. Additional photos to those by Jim Lawrence are on our Multimedia page. Paul writes:
On Friday 13th September 2002 I went down to Rye Meads to take Alan Harris the wader nets so he could net for Green Sandpipers on the "scrape" at Rye Meads. This is part of the Green Sandpiper colour-ringing project being undertaken by the Rye Meads Ringing Group. I arrived at about 18:30 and went and signed keys for the site out from the Thames Water works shift charge. The RSPB were running a bat evening and I intended to go along to that later. I had seen Peter Bradley, the RSPB site manager and informed him I would be along about 19:00. I went into the south lagoons and saw that there were some nets up around the sluice. I could not find Alan so I decided to go and see if he was in the north lagoons. I also decided that if he was not there I would go and put the wader nets up for him, so I took the Land Rover in with all the nets and kit on board to save carrying it. On my way round to the scrape, which is on a private part of the site, I passed the Draper hide, which is due to open to the public in October. This hide over looks the scrape. I decided to see if Alan was in there and to just have a "quick" look to see what was on the scrape. At 18:45 I went in the hide (and the time was now 18:45), I scanned the scrape to see what was there. I had only got my binoculars with me (Leica 10x42's), and did not have a telescope in the Land Rover.
I scanned past a small "tringa" and thought "oh nice, another Wood Sandpiper", as we had trapped one here on 2nd August. I immediately did a double take back as I realised this was not a Wood, because there was no supercillium behind the eye. I looked harder at the bird and thought 'No, it is a pale Green Sandpiper, perhaps leucistic'. I then thought no that is not a Green Sand, and I started to panic! I knew the only other option was Solitary Sandpiper. It was getting late in the evening and I knew the light would start to fade soon. The bird was actively feeding so I decided to note as much as possible and took a mental note of the following features.
The bird was a small "tringa" sandpiper slightly smaller than Green Sandpiper (About a fifth smaller and overall more delicate and attenuated to the rear), of which there was one on the other side of the scrape for comparison. The bill was dark at the tip and greenish brown at the base. It was noticeably finer than the bill of Green Sand but not as fine and pointed as on a Wood Sand. There was a very very slight downwards curve in the bill towards the end third of the bill. The legs were noticeably yellower than on Green Sand but not as yellow as Wood Sandpiper. The upper parts were pale brown with a tinge of greeny/olive and appeared very worn. Through the binoculars it was difficult to see if there was any spotting on the upper parts but it appeared that there was but only very faint, also suggesting quite worn plumage. The leading edge of the closed wing was much darker creating a dark line between the upper parts and the white under parts of the bird. There also appeared to be some barring along the side of the breast extending just onto the upper flanks at the 'bend of wing'. The head was the same colour as the upper parts. There was a very very faint supercilium before the eye but not behind joining a thin pale eye ring. The lores were dark as was a thin line above the top of the white line above the lores. The throat was pale and the breast was marked with fine lines not quite meeting in the centre of the throat and upper breast creating a pattern different to that of Green Sand, the pattern on the chest from front view looked like an inverted heart shape, less clear cut than Green Sand. The bird had a peculiar feeding action and the jizz was more reminiscent of Common Sandpiper in that the bird bobbed it's whole body and head, unlike Green Sandpiper which tend to just "tail wag". The bird had a displaced under tail covert which was hanging down and made the bird easy to pick out. The primary projection appeared longer than a Green Sandpiper, it also appeared to protrude longer than the tail, unlike Green Sand which shows a shorter projection and often only as long as the tail, this gave the bird a much sharper tail end than on a Green Sand. The (four or five) bars to the outer tail feathers could clearly be seen from beneath as the bird fed, the Green Sandpipers' undertail appears all white.
There was some speculation about the age of the bird. I at first thought the bird was a juvenile when viewed through the binoculars in the poor light of Friday evening, but after close examination by a number of people and looking at the photographs I concluded it was probably a worn adult, although without examination in the hand I am still not 100% sure. It had probably moulted or lost a few feathers around the head, particularly the eye and down the neck, giving a slightly odd facial appearance.
Whilst I was pretty sure I was watching a Solitary Sandpiper I knew I needed to see the rump so was in a dilemma as to should I go and see if I could find Alan or should I wait and see if the bird preened or flew. I needed to be 100% sure so I decided to give it a couple more minutes. The bird started to preen and I was sure I could not see any white on the rump. I was just about to go and get Alan when the bird flew from the right of the scrape onto the left and landed on the other edge. The following features were then noted:
The rump was all dark, slightly darker than the rest of the upper parts, and the outer tail feathers were heavily barred. I now knew I had found a Solitary Sandpiper. I also noted that the upper side of the wings were all the same colour as the upper parts and there was no wing bar. The underside of the wing did not look as dark as a Green Sandpiper, but was much darker than on a Wood Sandpiper. I noted where the bird alighted and decided I needed someone else to see the bird as soon as possible, as you can imagine the panic was really starting to set in now, and all the things like 'what if it flies off and never comes back again' started to go through my mind.
I probably covered the 10 or so yards to the Land Rover quicker than Linford Christie would have done and as I got to the gate I could hear Alan banging in a guystick in the south lagoons. I jumped out of the Land Rover and just shouted 'AAAAALLLLLLAAAAAAANN'. I drove across to the south lagoons to go and find him. He had heard the call and knowing me well was on his way to meet me. I just said 'Solitary Sand on the scrape'. He went a bit white and just said 'let's go'. I went to shut the gate and he reminded me we needed to be quick (they weren't the actual words he used!) Alan commented "Actually, you were shutting yourself in the south" this shows the panic I was in!. We drove to the hide and jumped out. The bird was still in view and we spent five minutes looking at it in amazement. The only two things I remember Alan saying were "bloody hell" and "well done" the rest was a blur.
I then remembered I was going to the bat evening and also there were probably a few other people who needed to see the bird. I was happy now that Alan had seen it but decided to run round and tell the RSPB bat group what was happening. On my way round I phoned Jim Redwood (another group member) and told him about the bird. I got to the RSPB bat group and informed Peter Bradley what had happened. A number of people wanted to come and see the bird from the group so I brought them round to have a look. By the time I got back a number of other local birders had started to turn up and news was getting out fast.
I had another couple of looks at the bird through Jim's telescope and confirmed all my previous features. I also noted that there was some fine spotting on the upper parts, as I had thought which appeared to be pale creamy spots, but the light was now fading fast.
We had a discussion about how we would manage a mass twitch at the site with the RSPB warden and some other group members and decided to release the news formally.
Several hundred people saw the bird on Saturday. I observed the bird on a number of other occasions, and briefly once again on the Sunday. I was informed that just before 13:00 on Sunday 15th September the bird left to the east climbing high and disappearing out of view, this being the last time it was seen. I thought this was the end of the Solitary Sandpiper at Rye Meads.....wrong!
On Monday 16th I had a day off work and was looking after my one year old son. I still had a large amount on the cash that was taken on the gate on Saturday and was taking it back to the RSPB to bank. I decided to go into the hide just to check that it had gone. To my amazement, Vicky Buckel the RSPB assistant was in there and said 'have a look at this bird, it looks like it may be it'. I checked the bird she was looking at and sure enough it was back. It was easy to pick out with the displaced under tail covert as the same bird. Due to no access arrangements in the week the reoccurrence had to be kept quiet.
The call was heard on at least two occasions. It was a thin tip, tip, tip, without the fullness of a Green Sandpiper, and without developing into a trill.
The last time I observed the bird was at 18:50 on Monday evening 16th Setember 2002.
The bird was seen and photographed on the Saturday, and the Sunday, and over the weekend was probably seen by in excess of a thousand people. Jim Lawrence has kindly donated some photographs to support my description and these are attached with this write up. The bird was also present up to 18:45 on Monday 16th September 2002.
I am very familiar with Green Sandpiper as I regularly grill the Rye Meads ones for colour rings week in week out. I am also very familiar with Wood Sandpiper having seen hundreds and also ringed a few in Africa and Hong Kong; we had also caught one at Rye Meads in August this year.
Paul Roper
Rye Meads Ringing Group