Great Knot: Shard Bridge, Lancashire, July-August 2004

Steve Williams says: “I enjoyed ‘Dipping yarns’, although with a sense of schadenfreude. I permitted myself a wry smile on reading that “we all have one tale of the one that got away” – I have 22! Most fall into the category of me hearing about the bird on the grapevine and getting there a day too late, but this one still causes me sleepless nights.

“On 16 August 2004, I headed north to Poulton-le Fylde, Lancashire, with my friend Dave to see the Great Knot which was delighting the crowds. We had to stop for petrol and on nearing the site we had the classic dilemma of approaching traffic lights as they changed to amber: do we go or do we stay? Being law-abiding motorists, we naturally stopped. After what seemed like an eternity, we finally arrived at the site to find a small crowd peering intently at the mudflats; the bird was obviously in view and no more than 50 m from where we had parked.

“We leapt out of the car and started to get our optics out of the boot, all the time with one eye on the assembled throng just ahead of us. As I closed the boot, a distant throb grew rapidly louder and Dave and I looked at each other, horrified, as a large Chinook roared overhead, scattering every bird on the estuary.

In pouring rain we ran the gauntlet of all the satisfied birders who had had crippling views and spent time getting soaked in the forlorn hope the bird would reappear. The 185-km return journey was filled with ‘if onlys’, and the resolution to fill up sooner and run every amber in future – only joking, officer!”