Just to make the challenge a bit more difficult, I decided to take my bike and go on the train, also carrying my telescope, tripod, camera, binoculars and packed lunch..... it seemed a good idea at the time! I left the train at Meols and cycled down the promenade, and almost immediately bumped into Jane Turner who was scanning through a flock of mainly calidris waders. There were about 400 Dunlin, 3 Curlew Sandpipers and a few Sanderling, Ringed Plover, Redshanks and Curlews. After about 15 minutes, Jane was trying to get me onto a Curlew Sandpiper, when suddenly the peep walked out from a gutter and right into view.
Its back was similar colouration to a Dunlin, it had pure white underparts and in many respects looked like a miniture Sanderling. It was quite aggressive, running around in a Sanderling like way and bulldozing Dunlin out of the way. A really nice bird. The debate is still on going as to its identity, and may never be resolved, but for what it's worth, it's a Western Sandpiper for me, though I'm more than happy for wiser birders than me to prove that it's Semi P. My only logic for saying Western is that it looked exactly as I expected a Western to look, and looked nothing like I expected Semi P to look. Convincing or what? The bill did look a fraction long for Semi P, but the Collins Bird Guide says for Semi P "...beware some longer-billed birds with slight decurve".
I saw the bird very well on and off for about three hours as the tide approached, and the flock gradually moved west, we all presumed towards the lifeboat station where they usually roost over the high tide. However, eventually they flew right past the lifeboat station and landed near Kings Gap, which was not a problem for me, since I was on the bike. I was just approaching the bus shelter near the lifeboat station, when another birder called to me "White-rumped Sandpiper at Kings Gap!".
Two minutes later I was with a group of excited birders at Kings Gap all trying to get onto this latest unexpected arrival. White-rumped Sand is another North American vagrant, much more frequent in the UK than either Semi P or Western Sand, but still a great find and only my third ever and first for 25 years. With a bit of help from Phil Woollen and Mark Turner I was able to get onto the bird, and saw it well for a minute or two, before it flew with the rest of the flock, allowing me a decent view of its rump through the scope.
Then it started to rain and I decided it was time to go home, I didn't really want to have to battle my way onto a train with my bike at Lime Street in rush hour. A wonderful day, cost me £4.60 in total!
View over the beach from Meols and Western Sandpiper with Dunlin. This is the photo to clinch the id, the Western sand is the pale looking small bird facing right in the middle at the back (but then I guess you could tell that from the photo anyway!).
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