After getting back from Rome yesterday afternoon I wasn't particularly desperate to get out but thought I would give the local patch a look over for a couple of hours. Along the seafront, the 'island' roost held 55 ringed plovers, about 30 brents and 3 sandwich terns plus the usual gulls and oystercatchers and curlew. I moved on up to South Swale where around the beach chalets c.40 meadow pipits were feeding on the grass and beach, clearly an influx as I never see that many. Further on by the wall 2 wheatears were flitting about with a few more mipits and 1 linnet. Overhead, swallows were trickling westwards plus at least 4 house martins.
Out on the arable I counted 54 lapwings although initially there only looked a handful at first plus 61 golden plovers. The tide was going out and the 1250-1500 strong brent flock was spread out all along the shore as far as I could see, so maybe more. Seems to have been a good breeding season as I could see lots of young birds amongst them.
On the way back a couple of egrets were flying east and 4 teal were drifting with the brent flocks which were beginning to get close to the beach by the chalets. Just here I saw another wheatear amongst all the mipits on the beach, then everything went up, some mobbing the short-eared owl that had come over the huts and then dropped down briefly into the grass before moving off again.
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