I 've been laid up for the past couple of weeks with flu but today and teamed up with Geoff Burton I felt I would get out again. We started at Oare Marsh and what a muddy place, the flood was fairly quiet holding just a few ducks, to deep for waders. A couple of stonechats were just west of the carpark and from the path two little grebes were in the ditch plus a distant pochard in front of the west hide and one marsh harrier. On the incoming tide four grt c grebes plus the avocets were taking flight up the Swale.
After a stop by the cottages we moved to Seasalter nearly running over a red-legged partidge in the road as we neared Graveney. A pair of stonechats were in the field opposite the sub-station but little else. Stopping by the Sportsman the field opposite was teeming with birds, the short sward created by the sheep always seems to attract flocks here. Perhaps a 1000 dunlin with ringed plover, turnstones, redshanks, curlews, lapwings and 9 golden plovers. Another stop by the NRA revealed 6 shoveler, 3 mallard, a couple of coots/moorhens and teal in the dyke. On the beach another group of roosting dunlin plus a few redshank, turnstones 3 sanderling and a welcome sight of two lesser blacked gulls. Moving inland to SS Lane we had a great view of a male marsh harrier and 2 buzzards over the levels and later saw them again at Wraik Hill.
A very laid back morning's birding but we managed to scrape together nearly sixty species.
1 comment:
Back to health just in time for the spring arrivals mate!
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