Whilst scouring Middleton Lakes RSPB for waders this evening I received a text from my old pal Tom Perrins saying that a Dotterel had been found at Whitemoor Haye earlier in the day but had only just been confirmed as such. Considering it was just a twenty minute drive away and the fact that it would only be my second sighting of this species in the West Midland region I knocked the pits on the head and made my way back to the car at pace. Upon arrival a glorious female Dotterel could be found feeding in its typical run and pause method in the middle of a vast potato field. This constituted my 24th different Dotterel in the past ten days after seeing a group of seven birds in Lincolnshire and an impressive trip of sixteen birds in North Norfolk.
Dotterel (female) - Whitemoor Haye, Staffordshire - May 2011
This individual was greatly received by many Staffordshire birders as it was the first twitchable bird in nearly ten years. The last lingering sighting in the County was way back in April 2002 when a group of four birds spent a couple of days on moorland east of Leek.
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