Friday, 7 August 2015

The Big Tern Day

6th August

First visit was to Stodmarsh and a rest in the Reedbed Hide after 11 hours with the kids yesterday, some of it at Wingham Wildlife Park (better than Howletts I thought).  It was quiet  just a heron and a few ducks although a hobby and a juvenile water rail perked things up a bit. I was lucky to see a kingfisher for a few seconds and got a few photos. However, the best came in the afternoon, at SS. I saw 8-10 black terns and 1 arctic tern on its own, followed by a flock of 14 whimbrel and 38 turnstones on the oyster dredger.





Then a call from Steve Ashton  alerted me to a big flock of little terns at Oare. I got there and counted 198 followed by another 21 flying in, the various birders there all agreeing 220 was a count most of them arrived at. A supporting cast consisted of 21 curlew sandpipers, 4 little stints and 2 wood sandpipers plus the mass of black-tailed godwits, redshank, dunlin, golden plover, lots of sand martins, avocets and ruff etc..





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