White-rumped Sandpiper, Oare Marshes

Sunday 9th August

We decide to take a detour from the planned destination of Dungeness and drop in at Oare Marshes first. 

Water levels look good, and a couple of scans of East Flood produces five Little Stint, several Ringed Plovers, Ruff and Curlew Sandpipers along with Avocets and high numbers of roosting Black-tailed Godwits. A pleasant surprise are a pair of Turtle Doves perched in a dead tree on the opposite side of the single track road.

Brian picks out a smallish sized wader, it's feeding in front of the reeds some distant from us and the heat haze is causing plenty of problems trying to ID it! We quickly inform other birders nearby and get a couple of locals involved. After another couple of hours there's still no positive outcome to the bird's identity.

We concede defeat and make our way to Dungeness, Having spent much longer at Oare than was intended we have little time at Dunge and the birds are thin on the ground, with only Whitethroat, Lesser Whitethroat and Stonechat seen of any note.

Saturday 15th August

The day after our visit to Oare a White-rumped Sandpiper is reported as present! Is this the bird we were struggling with in the heat haze? 

Having seen the reports we found ourselves at Oare once more. A nine hour session fails to find the White-rumped, but double figures of Little Stint are seen with at least five each of Curlew and Green Sandpipers along with the same number of Greenshank. Another scan of East Flood reveals a Wood Sandpiper and a Water rail. Good numbers of both Ringed and Little-ringed Plovers are seen plus several Yellow Wagtails. A surprise bird was the appearance of a late Swift overhead! Swallow, Sand and House Martin numbers were beginning to build. A year tick came in the form of a Whinchat, well overdue and very welcome. At high tide the Bonaparte's Gull dropped in to roost on East Flood, now without the full hood seen earlier in the year.

Wood Sandpiper

Monday 17th August

Brain made another trip to Oare on Sunday the 16th and gets lucky when he finds the White-rumped Sandpiper in the North East corner and then on his return to the car re-finds the bird right in front of him on the muddy island.
With a hospital trip booked I am unable to go and so dad and I make the trip today, arriving shortly after 6am. An initial scan fails to find the bird, but on the second scan I find a good looking candidate feeding at the far end of the long spit in front of us. It drops behind the mud bank and reappears continuing to feed.
It has to be the White-rumped Sandpiper and a short while later as another car approaches us the bird is flushed and shows the white rump as it flies across the flood, thus removing any remaining doubts we had left. With the sun up and straight into our faces the only shot I could get was the poor record shot below, but I'm not complaining I was just happy to finally get a view of it.

White-rumped Sandpiper

The bird would not be found again until almost 1pm, A very elusive bird but after 19 hours and three visits it is finally on the life list!

A morning at Dungeness NNR

Spent another enjoyable morning at Dungeness, starting with a visit to Hansen hide where we were told there was a Little Stint on one of the islands on Arc Pit.
After a few scans it was picked out among a small group of Dunlin. A single Ruff (Reeve) was also seen feeding among the numerous Mallards and Coots. Good numbers of Lapwing were also present.
Several Little Ringed plovers were noted on the islands and after scanning back and forth along the far islands a single Wood Sandpiper was eventually located.
From here we headed for the beach, At the fishing boats we tried and failed to find any Yellow-legged Gulls among the roosting birds on the shoreline. With only the usual Black-headed, Herring, Lesser Black-backed and the odd Great Black-backed on show along with Sandwich and Common Terns.
Another scan from the beach hide opposite the power station finally produced a couple of Yellow-legged Gulls. One seen quite close eating what looked like some kind of flat fish. It eventually took to the air and after a brief rest further along the shoreline, circled back and headed for the patch. Three Common Scoter flew East followed by a single Auk species.
A good number of butterfly species were also on show this morning, Small Blue, Common Blue, Painted lady, Gatekeeper, Large White to name a few. There were also several Hawk Moths on the wall of the power station as we headed back to the car.
A drive along the entrance track to the reserve produced very little bird wise, with a family party of Lesser Whitethroats the most notable.
For the third time in as many visits we found the reserve centre closed. Not sure why this is, the sign on the door just said "sorry we are closed".
Heading back down the entrance track a surprise sighting was a Stoat running cross the road, then another and another. As we sat and watched from the car a Mink then emerged from the same area. It ran across the road and disappeared into the grass. Eventually we counted five Stoat (family party?) and two Mink. Brian managed to grab the shot below from the car window.

Mink

A final drive alongside the MOD land and we found a couple of female Wheatear, a few Stonechat, several Linnet but had no luck finding any Whinchat. The next couple of weeks should see the numbers building and a return visit will be arranged hopefully.

Quail: Orwell, Cambridgeshire

The plan was to head to Hertfordshire and try to pick up any calling Quail at Pirton early morning before heading off to catch a sighting of the montagu's near Baldock. Just one small problem with that, the Montagu's decides to disappear the day before!

So having heard that Quail were calling and occasionally giving views at Orwell, we decided to change plans and head to Cambridgeshire.

It's only 50 miles from home and we were parking the car in Meadowcroft Way, Orwell around 6am. Taking the footpath across a small bridge we headed off along the grass path towards the second bridge listening for any calling Quail as we went.

We arrived on site at around 6am but had no sight or sound of any Quail for the first 30-40 minutes. Plenty of Yellowhammer, Reed Bunting and Linnets were present with smaller numbers of Corn Bunting and Whitethroats.

Having walked passed the bridge to the junction of the grass path I heard the first singing Quail of the morning. Soon a second bird began to sing and a third! Scanning the field we found a single Quail out in the open along the edge, it started singing and gave great views until a second bird came flying in. They both jumped up in the air briefly and then disappeared into thicker cover.

Shortly after 8am Dave Aitken arrived hoping to see his first Quail in Britain. After about an hour wait, he did just that! 

A bird we had heard calling from one field had started calling from the adjacent field across the ditch. Hoping it might appear in the dirt channel that edges the fields we started scanning the area. Sure enough there it was on the edge standing right up singing. Fantastic views of a normally secretive bird. 

Good to see Dave again, having not seen him since the Wilson's Phalarope on the Isle of Wight back in June of 2013. 

The birds remained out of camera range so no photo's of Quail.

Grabbed this shot of a female Banded Demoiselle along the ditch while waiting for the Quail's to start singing.

Spoonbills in Kent

With not much happening locally on the bird front, we decided to spend the morning in Kent and headed for Dungeness this morning.

Arriving shortly after 6.30 we started with a brief sea-watch. As expected it was very quiet. Gannets were regularly seen passing by. Sandwich and Common Terns were seen but only in small numbers and only a handful of Auks were seen.

We headed for the observatory and while Brian tucked himself away with the camera, I went off looking to add Black Redstart to the year list. I walked the power station perimeter fence scanning for any movement, but was a little hesitant when a police patrol car appeared inside the fence. It was probably just a routine patrol and didn't approach me at any point.

After returning to the car, I scanned the wires again and eventually found a single Black Redstart perched up on the barbed wire within the compound. On the drive back along the entrance track on the observatory another two birds were seen.

After a tip off that there had been a couple of Spoonbill present on pools near Scotney GP's, we headed in that direction hoping to connect and add another year tick.

Pulling into the farm entrance, we scanned the pools but only found Little Egrets present. Brian scanned the pits themselves and spotted a couple of likely looking targets. A quick scan with the scope and the presence of two Spoonbills are confirmed.

After driving further along the road, we managed to get a little closer to them, but they still remained distant. At first they were as is usual asleep, but they did wake briefly and I grabbed a few record shots.

Bonaparte's Gull, Oare Marshes Kent

Limited time today, so opted for a trip to Oare Marshes in Kent. Leaving at 5am we arrived shortly after 6am.

Yesterday saw the report of a Bonaparte's Gull on East flood, On arrival the tide was in so we parked up at the first pull in but after a quick scan of the flood we failed to locate the bird.

A Barn Owl was hunting low over the marshes and then it headed towards the hide. Brian did the same while dad and I stayed behind and started another scan of the flood.

Again with no sign of the bird, we decided to head towards the hide. The Barn Owl was still hunting and flew straight across the path in front of us and headed for the sea wall.

A message from Brian saying he had found the Bonaparte's Gull saw us quickly join him in the hide. The bird was quite distant and would regularly disappear behind one of the islands only to reappear a short time later. Great scope views were had but photo's were proving almost impossible! A couple of distant record shots is all I could manage.

Bonaparte's Gull

A large flock of Black-tailed Godwits were also present and some even began feeding a little closer.

Black-tailed Godwit

On the way home we dropped into Elmley and drove the entrance track to the car park. Bird numbers were well down from our last visit. Although numbers were down, There was still a nice selection seen. Marsh Harrier, Hobby, Buzzard, Yellow Wagtail, Skylark, Redshank, Lapwing among them.

Buzzard

As we pulled out of the reserve we found small groups of Linnets and Swallows visiting puddles by the side of the road. 

Hudsonian Whimbrel; Church Norton, West Sussex

Sitting at home I received a surprise phone call from Brian around 1pm yesterday afternoon to say he had the rest of the day off and did we want to try for the Whimbrel?

We quickly met up and set off on the 120 mile journey around the M25 and down the A3 arriving around 3pm. Luckily we found a space close to Church Norton car park and walked through the church yard and over the little stile at the end of the path.

The tide was out but we quickly picked out a couple of Whimbrel busily feeding on the mud. Neither bird was jumping out at us and eventually both took to the air to show the white "V" confirming any doubts that neither of these were the target bird.

A tip off from a guy saying a group of birders had what they thought was the Hudsonian some 300 yards further along the shoreline.

We joined the ranks and were put on a sleeping bird behind a small island! It would wake to preen occasionally giving views of the head, which looked very pale at this distance.

The view while waiting for the Hudsonian to show!

As expected, still a popular bird!

This was the routine for the next two hours. Watch a sleeping bird, watch it wake and preen, watch it sleep again.

Suddenly it started to become more active and gave a couple of wing stretches. The bird was still looking good for Hudsonian. Then it took to the air and the identity was confirmed!

Many of the birders began to drift off back towards their cars, but we stayed and as the tide began to come in the bird took to the air again and was easily picked out among the other Whimbrel flying with it. 

A great afternoon twitch with a good group of birders. 

Thanks Brian!

Titchwell RSPB, Norfolk

We arrived at Titchwell early on Sunday morning to find the car park empty and for the first couple of hours we had the reserve to ourselves.

As soon as I stepped out of the car a Cuckoo was heard calling, and Brian had already spotted a Barn Owl quartering the field running alongside the reserve.

Shortly after leaving Island hide a Chinese Water Deer was spotted from West bank. 

Chinese Water Deer

A scan across the Freshwater marsh located several Little Gulls, with fourteen being the highest count. A male Garganey was seen from Parrinder hide (South) spending most of it's time asleep on one of the islands.

A single Little Tern was also seen from here along with two Little ringed Plovers.

Good numbers of Little Terns were seen during a short sea watch, along with several groups of Auks moving through.

A short drive away is Choseley Drying Barns and while being entertained by the Hares a couple of Turtle Doves flew across our heads and headed towards Titchwell. On the concrete pads outside the barns Yellowhammers and Goldfinch were feeding on seed.

Corn Bunting were seen and heard on the telegraph wires, and another Turtle Dove landed briefly on the same wires.

While watching a fly over by a Marsh Harrier a welcome and very much overdue year tick was added when Brian spotted a Hobby flying directly overhead.