After a day of volunteering on the Dorset Wildlife Trust Brownsea reserve, I had only been in a couple of hours or so when I saw a message on RBA that there was a Red-necked Phalarope on the beach at Pilots Point, South Haven, Studland. Fortunately, I had eaten, so I could leave immediately. I grabbed the Birding optics & the camera, whilst phoning the news around the locals. I didn't know much more at the time, but I did know it was likely to either a first for Studland or at least the first record for at least the last twenty five years.
After about twenty minutes, I started to scan the beach from near the end of South Haven boardwalk. There was no obvious sign & as expected, I had beaten the other local Birders to South Haven. The drawback is it is a long beach & it's just over a half a mile to Pilots Point. The other problem is there were still too many walkers, dog walkers etc on the beach to be good news for finding a rare Wader. I crossed to the tide line & walked along the beach as fast as possible. As I neared Pilots Point, I saw local photographer Aidan Brown walking to me. By this point, I knew it had been Aidan who had found it. He confirmed it was still present & feeding on the tideline with a few Dunlins and sixty Sanderlings, on the far side of Pilots Point. That was good news as it confirmed it was still around and secondly, not that many of the walkers & dog walkers continue beyond Pilots Point. Within a few minutes, I was watching the Red-necked Phalarope feeding on the tide line. I hung back to ensure that I didn't disturb the flock as I knew more locals were on their way.
Over the next hour or so, a number of locals arrived & enjoyed watching the Red-necked Phalarope. Fortunately, there weren't too many walkers on that part of the beach. We headed off a few who were walking along the tide line by explaining there was a rare Bird & letting them look through a telescope: they were interested in the news & happy to have seen it. Typically, there was one fisherman who refused to avoid walking along the tide line. He wasn't fishing at that point & insisted on it being a public beach & he could do what he wanted without considering the wishes of the Birders or the Waders. Obviously, this arsehole immediately flushed the Waders, which fortunately, resettled in a similar position after he had passed. He has encouraged on his way with justifiable comments from one of the Birders present. Sadly, there is always an inconsiderate person in any locality. I hope that other beach users had been suitably inconsiderate to respecting his fishing space since.
I checked when I got home & it was the first Studland record. It was only my third individual in Poole Harbour with the others being an afternoon/evening only individual on Brownsea on 26 Aug 11, found by the late Ewan Brodie & one at The Moors, Arne on 23 Sep 17 which stayed for a few days from 21-26 Sep & was found by Jol Mitchell. They are not a common species in Poole Harbour & there are only three other records: Arne (May 1962), Brownsea (17-19 Aug 1989) & Arne from a Birds of Poole Harbour bird boat (25 Aug 17). I returned early the following morning & was disappointed to find that while the Dunlins and Sanderlings were still present, their rarer friend had departed. But I was not surprising as most records in Poole Harbour have been one day individuals.