Red Rumped Swallow.
News of this superb bird at Minster near Ramsgate proved to good to resist , i got down there at about 10 am and parked in the fishermans car park, and was greeted with plenty of bird song , Whitethroat , Chiffchaff , Willow Warbler and Cettis Warbler were singing there hearts out, but there was not a swallow to be seen, or any other birders to get any info from, although i could see the sewage works there is no access to it and i searched round to try and find a vantage point to see over it .
Eventually i come across to a small muddy mound and stood on this and at last i found some Swallows , there were approx 15 Swallows and 3 House Martins ( year tick ) and after about 3 mins the Red-Rumped Swallow put in an appearance , its rump clearly visible, longer tail streamers and pale buff collar were all clearly seen , its overall appearance was much more slender than Barn Swallow , it was showing well but was just to far to get a picture , i then drove round to the other side of the sewage works and bumped into another birder who hadn't seen it and whilst i was giving him directions it flew over us and landed on the wires just to the right of where we were standing .
Red Rumped Swallow.
Although i have seen Red-Rumped Swallow in Kent before this was a new Thanet tick for me and i am only 6 away from 200 species in this area now .
Here are some more record shots , sadly i never got any clear shots of its rump .
Here are some more record shots , sadly i never got any clear shots of its rump .
Red Rumped Swallow
Other birds of note were : Common Buzzard , 2 Cuckoo and 1 Yellow Wagtail .
