What an amazing Hobby....... at Grove Ferry

 Hobby .

Taking advantage of the Bank Holiday i paid a long overdue visit to Grove Ferry this morning in the hope of seeing a few year ticks , as i paid my car park fee i could hear a Nightingale  in the distance and as i walked along the entrance track i could hear 2 Turtle Doves  " purring " away in the paddocks but they refused to show themselves , i bumped into Phil B along the path and as we headed off to the ramp we met Martyn Wilson on the way and after a brief chat Phil and i headed off to the ramp , it was fairly quite from here , the water level was quite high with hardly any exposed mud to attract waders , we did hear a distant Cuckoo which was my first of the year , i said my goodbyes to Phil and headed off to the Feast hide and had some excellent views of Common Terns .

One of three Common Terns .

I also saw 2 Hobby  and a single female Marsh Harrier  overhead , i decided to head around to Harrisons Hide in the hope of relocating yesterdays Wood Sandpiper , there were plenty of Warblers in full volume plus the odd " pinging " of hidden Bearded Tits , as i approached Harrisons i could hear a Lesser Whitethroat but yet again it never showed itself , i met another birder who informed me there was a male Garganey on a pool west of the hide and i headed off there and within minutes i had some good scope views of this smart Duck , i took a digi scoped photo and as you can imagine with the heat haze and my dodgy camera skills the result was not that good.

Digi scoped record shot of a male Garganey.

As i was checking out the Garganey,  2 Common Buzzards  drifted overhead and then i noticed a small Egret had appeared at the end of a nearby dyke , i got my scope onto it and was delighted to have relocated the Cattle Egret that had been seen on and off over the last week or so , here are some photos i took .

Top 2 photos were digi scoped .

Cattle Egret with Greylag Goose .

The Cattle Egret  must of been hidden down by the dyke and was being harassed by the Greylag Geese which had some fluff balls ( goslings ) with them . I also saw approx : 15 Hobby from here looking over towards Stodmarsh , i then headed back to my car very pleased after a very good birding session with a few year ticks under my belt.