Waders, Woods and Marsh Warbler

30th May

I went down to the seafront to check the presence of any waders which proved fruitful again, the 4 dunlin, 2 sanderling, 9 turnstones, 22 ringed plovers and 5 curlew still lingering on...for what. Another surprise was a lone bar-tailed godwit that kept company with the curlew and oystercatchers. The 37 strong shelduck flock still patronized the area in front of the outfall, now almost a month, why they are here I don't know, I've never see so many at this time before. The only other birds of note were a couple of common terns and 4 egrets.

On the plots the usual species including buzzard, whitethroat, stonechat, goldfinch, swallows and swifts, also a fox in the pumping station grounds.

 A young Fox I Think

Swift

As the tide came in the waders flew to one of the beaches as someone felt the need to walk out onto the 'island that was' and flush them. In a way, fortunate, as I was able to get a closer shot from the top of seawall down onto the beach.

 Dunlin (a big one on the left) and Ringed Plover

The left hand sanderling seems to have a very long bill!

From there I had a diversion to Tesco after which I made a quick visit to a pond in Thornden Wood to photograph some odonata. The only ones on show were broad-bodied chasers and a couple of blue-tails, a bit disappointing.

Watching the chasers I noted that after mating the female went to deposit eggs into some floating weed but escorted/guarded by the male who stayed quite close while she did this.

Early evening, I received a text from Andy Malone who heard a marsh warbler singing whilst walking his dog. Fortunately, Andy stayed with it as my ears would never pick it up but I did manage to get a few distant shots.  

Marsh Warbler