Purple Sandpiper at Draycote Water

Purple Sandpiper, Draycote Water : Photo taken by Dave Hutton

Purple Sandpiper : Photo taken by Max Silverman

Purple Sandpiper with Dunlin, Draycote Water :Photo taken by me with a very small camera!

Friday 6th November 2009

It had been a difficult journey fom the depths of deepest Somerset. We had foolishly let the Sat nav take the strain and it simply wasnt up to it, guiding us through the back streets of Bristol rather than find the quickest route to the M5 via Glastonbury. Anyway we finally gave up on the Sat nav and just followed signs to the M5. On approaching Stratford I picked up a text from Dave Hutton via Tom Perrins that there was a Purple Sandpiper at the overflow at Draycote Water. After assuring Jan that she needed a break and that the cafe latte from the van was as good as anything Italy had to offer we made the slight detour to Draycote. Purple Sandpiper is a huge bird for Warks. well worth getting a few dirty looks for. I met Francoise, Bob Hazel and Max Silverman on the way in. They tried the old 'it flew off 10 mins ago' routine but I wasnt having any of it. I was surprised though that there was no one at the overflow when I got there. I quickly located the Sandpiper in company with 4 Dunlin, but it was frustrating having no bins or scope let alone camera with me. Finally Kevin Groocock arrived who kindly let me use his bins as did Steve Haynes when he arrived shortly afterwards. It was a cracking new Warks tick for me so Im very grateful to Max for finding the bird, Bob H for Id-ing it, Dave Hutton and Tom Perrins for putting the news out and Kevin Groocock and Steve Haynes for helping me to see it properly. I tried to take a few photos useing Jan's compact camera but as you can see with limited success.