Lesser Yellowlegs

The Port Meadow Lesser Yellowlegs, October 2010 (c) Nigel Forrow

All Records of Lesser Yellowlegs in Oxon

• 2010 Port Meadow, juvenile 14th Oct to 8th Nov. Adam Hartley
• 1999 Otmoor, 25th May. Jason Gosler
• 1998 Otmoor, adult, 29th Aug to 5th Sep. (British Birds 92: 577)
• 1983 Banbury Sewage-farm, 1st winter, 2nd to 18th Dec. (British Birds 78: 551, plate 258)
• 1970 Stanton Harcourt Gravel-pits, 1st to 17th Oct. (British Birds 64: 351)

Finder's Description Oct 2010: Port Meadow (Adam Hartley)

"I'd been down to visit a client in Surrey that morning and had intended to some birding down there. However the meeting had dragged on too long so in the end I came straight back feeling rather frustrated so to clear my head I went down to Port Meadow to check out the patch. It was very overcast and gloomy though with little wind down by the floods. I had just started my scan when I came across a couple of waders: one was the ruff which had been there for a few days now but the other bird I couldn't immediately recognise. It superficially looked like a wood sandpiper with a brown speckled back but the jizz and proportions were all wrong. After I while I was able to make out the bright yellow-orange legs and I realised that it was a lesser yellowlegs that I had in front of me. I gave Nic Hallam and Jason Coppock a call and they came down to confirm the ID but it was getting too dark by this time for anyone else to connect that evening. There were a few anxious county birders that night, hoping that it would stay and quite a few people were there at dawn to look for it. Fortunately the bird seemed to like the floods and stayed for almost a month in the end and lots of visitors from far and wide were able to come and admire this cracking bird."

Adam Hartley

Some video taken on the last day that it was seen.