HARDLY SOLITARY

A Solitary Sandpiper may have had trouble with overcrowding in North America because it turned up on a muddy scrape at a farm in Lancashire today. Whoever found it and identified it must have had a far better look at it than we did. It was way off the photo, and obviously to the right. I could see it was a Sandpiper though. Cough.

The owners of the farm designated a field for parking and charged £4 per head, with the money going towards further wildlife conservation on the farm. Some birders parked at the village road end and plodded up the long and winding lane, only to find thay had not saved themselves any money, as they were still charged the £4 for entrance to the farm. For such a rarity the donation was not much to ask, and some birders give the hobby a bad name. For goodness sake, how much do binoculars and telescopes cost!

The farmer said he had been thinking of cutting his field for silage, but seeing the state of it now, crushed and muddy from the weight of cars, it perhaps wasn't worth the bother.