SPOTTY RED

a trip to bothal ponds yesterday and i heard a rumour that a spotted redshank was about so i was off hoping to see it as this has been my bogey bird for a while now when i arrived all was looking good another birder was there watching the ponds a good sign as i pulled up on my trusty scooter i quickly got off and headed for the low hedge to get a view the usual birder crack
out about mate only for the reply to be well apparently they were showing well this morning
meaning there's sod all here now .
So i decided to have a scan anyway and could only see lapwings loads of them and a fair number of snipe and nowt else so i had a crack at the garganey that was apparently here as well with all the ducks in eclipse plumage this was not going to be easy and it turned out that way and i gave up i need more time in the field to pick that one out.
Then after about another half an hours scan a large wader appeared on the left hand side bank and it was wading fairly deep by the waters edge but looking into the sun it appeared silhouette like this was certainly something different but i needed a better view suddenly all the lapwings etc took flight and i managed to stay with the bird and yes the legs were red and long and as it returned to the ground i still needed a better view to confirm the mystery wader scanning left again the wader began to move closer but the hedge started to get in my way so i waited for it to move again ,but i was in look today as it decided to keep moving round the corner and appeared right in front of the low cut hedge where i got some cracking views and
it certainly was spotted and a very elegant bird to watch and a much thinner and longer bill than its more common cousin.
and most important of all a lifer for me.
i only managed to get a handheld photo which will need some editing work done on i will stick it on my next post which should hopefully include another lifer but a much rarer one if i get the look see you soon.