Shorelark Tops The Month

19th Febuary

A frosty and sunny morning, first stop was at SS lane seeing c.80 lapwings over on the back fields plus, 3 reed buntings, 1 grt tit, 4 mipits, 7 swans, crows, starlings, w.pigeons, 1 heron and a peregrine hunting across the levels. From the 'village green' on the seafront, 64 brents, c.50 redshank, 300 dunlin, c.60 ringed plovers, turnstones and just one sanderling.  At the NRA pumping station 2 greylags landed in the dyke and a walk around the plots revealed several skylarks, 1 snipe, chaffinch, 3 distant buzzards, 1 marsh harrier, 2 teal, 4 gadwall, 2 stonechats and mipits.  Further on, opposite the Sportsman there were c.800 golden plovers plus a big flock of starlings.

20th

A visit to Hampton finding the two purple sandpipers and a Mediterranean gull.

23rd

A cold morning and the same birds more or less with 65 ringed plovers, 300 dunlin, 1 marsh harrier, 48 brents and 1 sanderling.

26th

I thought I would have a look for the long staying shorelark at Minster, Sheppey.  I walked up and down the beach section four times before I saw it, a needle in a haystack.  It melted into the beach vegetation so well that it was nigh impossible to see it unless it moved but finally it revealed itself enabling me to get a few photos.

27th

Another visit to SS, nothing much but a shoveler amongst the c.70 teal was new for the month plus 4 lesser black-backed gulls just off the outfall. Most of the big wader numbers were reduced with just c.150 knot off the outfall, 1 barwit and 2 brents. Around the plots, 1 stonechat 2 skylarks, 3 gadwall, 1 SEO and 2 pheasants. PM.  I saw 3-4 SEOs in the ares.