Male Bearded Tit.
I have never considered myself an avid patch watcher and to be honest i still don't however Oare Marshes is the closest i have been to having a local patch , i often find myself here when i am not out and about twitching .
2 male Bearded Tits.
I had two target birds in mind this morning and both would be patch ticks , i parked up by the slipway and walked along the sea wall towards the sea watching hide and scanned the Swale as i went hoping to see my target birds , i was distracted by some very noisy Bearded Tits , i counted 10 birds in total and although not great i was very pleased with my photos of them. i eventually reached the hide and met up with Murray Wright and Richard .
There were lots of waders out on the mud flats including good numbers of Grey Plover , Avocet and Redshank , it was not long until Murray picked out my first target bird , Red Necked Grebe , and this brought my Oare Marsh patch list to 150 , although distant you could clearly see the dark neck and the general jizz of the bird was very evident , there were several Brent Geese flying up and down the Swale and after a short while we were saying our goodbyes when Richard very impressively had found my second target bird Eider and this made 151 for my Oare Marshes patch list , great start to the morning .
Spotted Crake.
I carried on along Faversham Creek and a scan over the East flood produced hundreds of Black Tailed Godwits , Dunlin and, Redshank , I also noticed a Yellow Wagtail walking around the fringes of the main island , i eventually arrived behind the hide on the flood in the hope of connecting with the Spotted Crake and after a short while it was picked out in the reeds and eventually gave us some decent views .
Spotted Crake out in the open.
The Spotted Crake was not as active as the last time i saw it and sadly it has a very noticeable limp , it stayed mainly in cover most of the time and even flew across from one side to another at one point , hope it is not in to much discomfort .
I watched the Spotted Crake on and off for approx an hour then decided to head back along the road checking out the East Flood on route , there approx 500 Golden Plover close to the road plus a Ruff with rings on its legs.
Ringed Ruff.
I also saw a juv Little Stint amongst the masses of Dunlin , i then headed back to my car and headed home very happy .
