Lesser Yellowlegs - River Axe, 7th - 11th October 2006

I decided to go the Weston STW on saturday 7th October 2006 to look for any storm driven birds. The tide was high and thought I would look over the river at Brean Cross Sluice. To my amazement a medium sized wader with bright yellow stilt like legs was walking around one of the bank pools on the somerset side. I quickly reeled off some images and started phoning people of a probable Lesser Yellowlegs. The bird must have flown during this time as it was no longer viewable. I managed to locate it on some more bank pools further up the river but at this time it was flighty and never gave prolonged views. Several people soon turned up and the bird was quickly located down in the river which is where it stayed for most of the day. Mainly distant I managed to get some record shots of the bird below.

Although initially on its own, the bird was subsequently seen associating with a Wood Sandpiper and then with the Redshank flock and was always loyal to the same stretch of the river just north of Brean Cross Sluice and up to the first bend. The best way to find it was by either looking up from Brean Cross Sluice at low tide or waiting until high tide when all the waders could be easily located roosting together.