Reculver - Baird's Sandpiper

Today was a mega day!  A day full of Waders.

The Baird's Sandpiper at Coldharbour Lagoon gratefully remained into the weekend.  A 25 minute walk from the Reculver Towers car park along the Viking Trail to a modest stretch of pools located between the path and the river wall.  En route, a surprise Great Skua flew west close into the shoreline momentarily dropping onto the calm waters before lethargically heading off west.

The Lagoons held a small selection of waders including six Ringed Plover, Redshank, Greenshank, Little Stint, two Dunlin, and of course our American friend.  The bird showed brilliantly despite the disturbance of passing cyclists and vocal birders that included myself and Adam Hudson whom I was thrilled to meet.

We both headed back seeing Yellow Wagtail, a single Northern Wheatear, and a Turnstone posing on the exposed rocks.

After a late lunch and cake in Margate with Kat and her friend, we headed over to Oare Marshes.  This place is insanely good.  A festival for Waders.  Waderfest.  The East Flood was packed with waders, everywhere, and with so much variety.

Most numerous were Black-tailed Godwit, but the highlight were a dozen or so Curlew Sandpiper, three or four of which were still holding onto their precious summer plumage.  Such little crackers.

Two Little Stint flew in, but the wader selection included conservative counts of 15 Avocet, single Green Sandpiper, crazy numbers of Redshank, maybe 20 or so Spotted Redshank, 10+ Ruff, 5+ Bar-tailed Godwit, 10+ Golden Plover, 20+ Dunlin, and a single Common Snipe.  This put my cumulative wader count over the course of the weekend to 19 species.

Then there was the little matter of the returning adult winter Bonaparte's Gull that was casually feeding on the shore left exposed by the receded tide.

Work can be a frustrating place to be when the joys of the natural world beckon, but the odd weekend like this can provide the perfect anti-dote to corporate incarceration.

Rainham Marshes

A lovely but hasty walk round the reserve on a warm and humid morning yielded a couple of juvenile Sandwich Tern on the river which was a well overdue first for London.

The old landfill held three Northern Wheatear where two Yellow Wagtail flew over.  A Hobby then shot through low towards Aveley Bay.  A couple of Common Sandpiper called as they flicked low over the Thames.

There were plenty of waders.  At least 25 Black-tailed Godwit, three Ruff, a Wood Sandpiper, Green Sandpiper, four Greenshank, Redshank, and several Snipe.  A lone Curlew sat on the receding tide on Aveley Bay and there were at least two Yellow-legged Gull there.

A male and female Marsh Harrier were quartering the fields over Wennington, but I inexplicably missed a flyover Osprey.

Isles of Scilly

So some words about this trip.  The Isles of Scilly are magical and it was a joy to be back.  Someone did actually comment that I was there two months early.  Well my friend, I was bang on time because the place looked pristine in the radiant summer sun unadulterated by urban smog and the distemper of city life.  The highlight was a sun-soaked walk all the way round St Mary's with a convenient stop at Pelistry Bay to lie out on the golden sands and to remind myself that this was indeed the UK.

This time we opted to sail to the Isles as this time of year there are possibilities for rare seabirds and marine life.  The crossing was appreciably calm, and despite the overcast conditions, the sun was never totally hidden behind the thin veils of grey cloud.  It was a pleasant passage across, livened up with a pod of around 15 Common Dolphin flirting recklessly with the wake churned up from the boat.  A couple of Harbour Porpoise surfaced somewhere in the middle distance.  An Ocean Sunfish was also seen very close on the port side, but you had to be quick as the ferry made steady progress.

Birdlife was a little disappointing, but a couple of Storm Petrel were the best of seabirds.

This was the main reason for the Scilly trip, having booked a ticket on the Sapphire in the hope for some of our rarer seabirds.  The skipper headed out 11km southwest of the archipelago, cut the engine and the wait began.

Let's cover the sightings first.  A new bird came in the form of a juv Long-tailed Skua that flew round the boat a couple of times allowing Joe Pender to take some stunning photographs.  It's one of the many things he does best.  In addition, there were at least three Great Skua, a juv Kittiwake, and the imposing sight of two Blue Shark that were landed by the prolific fishermen.

The thing was, that I wish I could have appreciated it more.  What I discovered was that bobbing up and down on the choppy seas for three hours had a profound affect on my equilibrium.  I don't wish to labour the point but I hocked my guts out for much of our time there.  This was a little inconvenient, acutely embarrassing, and palpably frustrating.  At the time, I couldn't have given a flying fuck if a Wilson's had turned up.  In some ways, I'm glad it didn't - I'm not sure how much I would have appreciated it.  It was bad - I couldn't even bring my camera out to take any photographs without immediately feeling woozy.  Apparently this is normal for first-timers.  It was scant consolation.

Other sightings were ten Greenshank, a single Dunlin and Green Sandpiper on Porth Hellick, a couple of Willow Warbler on the Garrison, and two Northern Wheatear by the airfield on the island walk.  The Painted Lady above made an appearance on the final day.

Needless to say, I upgraded my ferry ticket to the comfort of a 15 minute flight back to the mainland.

Here is the video of the flight

Minsmere and a Honey Buzzard

At long last.  It's only taken 24 years to see my first UK Honey Buzzard.  We returned back to Walberswick to the Westwood Lodge viewpoint, but today I felt positive that the bird would show.

Almost on cue at around 3.20pm, the HB was seen flying reasonably distantly being mobbed by a Hobby before flying left along the tree-line.  I appreciate that there is generally a degree of ID confusion between this and it's more ubiquitous cousin, but when you see it, it really is a different beast altogether.

Having lost it to view, the bird then reappeared much closer soaring with a Marsh Harrier before drifting off again.

Also on site was a Woodlark and a Red Kite.

Then it was onto Minsmere for a gentle stroll round the reserve where to the chagrin of many visiting birders, the Swamphen had disappeared overnight.  Typical of rare birds to do a bunk on a Friday night and I feel the pain of all the visiting birders hoping to connect with it.

From the North Wall, a pair of Stone Curlew were actively feeding a single young bird.

The skies were clear, and the warm sun coupled with a warm breeze made for a stunning afternoon.

There were plenty of common waders on the east scrape, with Black-tailed Godwit present in good numbers, accompanied by the Avocet, and around 15 Dunlin.  Also observed on site were seven Spotted Redshank, four Ruff, Green Sandpiper, two Common Sandpiper, Ringed Plover, three Little Ringed Plover.  At least 30 Little Gull settled on the scrape, many of which were seen flying offshore later in the evening.

Along the eastern shoreline, two returning juvenile Whinchat and a single young Wheatear were present.