Mega flock of Little Terns.
I paid an evening visit to Oare Marshes yesterday the 6th August in the hope of seeing the large number of Little Terns that had been reported and wow what a sight it was to , the most i can ever recall seeing in a single flock , the agreed amount was 220+ birds roosting on the East Flood , every so often they were spooked by a juvenile gull and took to the air giving a tremendous spectacle.
Little Terns.
It was very difficult to get a definite total of the amount of Little Terns present but as i said earlier the general consensuses was at least 220 birds , fantastic to see so many and they are most probably from the East Anglia population .
Coming into land.
Roosting on the East Flood.
There were 1000's of waders present including 20+ adult Curlew Sandpipers , 2 Wood Sandpipers , 2 Little Stints , 14+ Greenshanks & 10+ Knot.
4 moulting Ad Curlew Sandpipers.
Adult Curlew Sandpiper .
Two Little Stints.
Wing stretching .
Whilst having another look through the Little Terns Geoff Burton picked out a couple of Black Terns which seemed to appear out of nowhere and were a very welcome year tick.
Black Tern.
Black Tern calling.
There were in fact 3 Black Terns in total , with the other two in quite a bit of plumage moult.
Two Black Terns in moult.
Two Black Terns.
Other waders noted were 2000+ Black Tailed Godwits , 200+ Avocets plus large numbers of Redshank & Dunlin , 3 Common Snipe flew out of the flood towards the West Flood plus approx 3 Ruff & Golden Plover plus a single Common Sandpiper were on the far side of the East flood.
3 Golden Plovers alongside a Common Gull.
Wood Sandpiper.
Another digi scoped Wood Sandpiper.
A really enjoyable birding session .
Thats a stunning sight Rob I would imagine and a super session you had by the looks of it. Not many places in Kent can contend with Oare Marshes I think.
ReplyDeleteCheers Marc , the water levels are near perfect at Oare at the moment , really great looking through so many birds , well worth a look when you get a chance.
ReplyDeleteIt's more than stunning, especially when you consider that directly opposite Oare, on The Swale NNR, we are currently counting birds in ones and twos if we're lucky!
ReplyDeleteHi Derek , yes that does seem a bit surprising considering it's only just the other side of the Swale
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