Black-winged Stilts, Bowers Marsh

Arriving home today I was met with the news that two Black-winged Stilts had dropped in at the RSPB site at Bowers Marsh in Essex.
From my own past experiences with this species it's a good idea to try to get to the site the day they drop in, as invariably they don't seem to stick overnight too often.

On arrival we find the access track to the reserve is just as uneven as last year and more pot holes had appeared.

The reserve is open at all times, but the gates to the reserve car park are locked at 5pm, arriving at 5.10, sure enough the barrier was locked.

We parked up just outside the barrier and headed off towards the main lagoon.

My only other visit to this site was shortly before the official opening last year for a very showy Red-Backed Shrike.

The walk from the barrier to the main lagoon hadn't got any shorter or easier. Reaching the end of the track we quickly located the two Stilts some way out.

Black-winged Stilts

Good scope views were had of the two birds feeding and preening, but the camera struggled with the distance and the sun position didn't help either.

It's always good to see a few familiar faces and tonight it was Harry and Barry who arrived shortly after us to enjoy the Stilts and then move on to try to bag a pair of Garganey that were meant to be showing from the cemetery grounds, and then on the walk back towards the car we bumped into Lee B who hopefully saw the birds as well.