Hudsonian Whimbrel Dip

Hudsonian Whimbrel at Church Norton, Pagham Harbour. Went after work as was in Cambridge for the day. Sailed through the M25 and arrived in two hours. No news all the way down until about 10 miles away when news came through that it had flown into the middle of the Harbour and the directions on Birdguides seemed to suggest that it may be better to look from the Pagham Harbour end, so I diverted there. I was the only one there. Scanned for half an hour, walked around the harbour as far as I could. Then could see people looking at the bird from the Church Norton side. It took me an hour to get from my position to Church Norton. I arrived just before dusk. There had been no sign for over an hour. I’d probably seen the bird but a terrible dip because of that message from Birdguides. Not the first time they’ve messed up (although to be fair I guess they were just relaying a message).  One of my worst dips ever, not because of the distance (it only took a couple of hours) but the bad luck I seemed to have. To add insult to injury, there were apparently three Whimbrels (apart from the Hudsonian). I got on to all three and watched intently. One bird looked highly promising until it flew and revealed a nice white rump! Year ticks I suppose.