Two Temminck’s Stint, Cley NWT, May 2014

Yesterday was my first ‘duty day’ at Cley NWT since returning from our GPOG holiday on Lesbos. I was relieved to discover that,  whilst we were away, the weather had been pretty foul and that I’d not missed any really good birds, except perhaps Temminck’s Stint. However I was delighted to find that the two birds were still present, on Pat’s Pool , when I started my morning rounds. Temminck’s Stint is a scarce passage migrant in England with occasional breeding, away from their regular summer haunts in the Scandinavian tundra, in Scotland. Longer and squatter than the more common Little Stint, summer birds show a distinct pectoral band, blotchy black scapulars and yellowish coloured legs – they have a preference for feeding on drier, grassy ground. It seemed slightly strange that only a couple of days before we’d been watching another pair of these birds on the beach pool at Faneromeni!

The bird in the centre, flanked by two Little Stint for useful comparison, was a very dark looking thing – possibly due to oiling

The second bird was a much more typical example, showing the longer ‘rear end’, distinct pectoral band, black scapular feathers and ochre legs