Last Friday, 8th October, an adult Long-toed Stint was identified at St. Aidan's RSPB (Swillington Ings) in West Yorkshire, by the Swillington Ings Bird Group. At first it was thought to be a Temminck's Stint, then changed to a Least Sandpiper and later that evening, after photographs had been examined, the true identity was revealed as the third UK record of Long-toed Stint.
Since the last record of Long-toed Stint was in 1982 it was pretty clear many birders would want to see this bird. I avoided the crowds over the weekend, numbering 2000 on Saturday! I played it cool & waited until today, arriving on site mid-afternoon. It was quite a long walk from the RSPB car park to Astley Lake. There was a small crowd of about forty birders on site. The bird was out of view asleep behind a Lapwing when I arrived. After about fifteen minutes it awoke and went about its business of feeding all over the small island nearest the crowd. There were only about twenty birders remaining when I departed after the Long-toed Stint flew to another muddy island further away.
Previous records:
1970 Cornwall - Marazion, 7th to 8th June
1982 Cleveland - Saltholme RSPB, juvenile, 28th August to 1st September
Video by Pete Hines
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