Bit of a Catch up........Oare Marshes & Scotland !!!

                            July 2020 : Oare Marshes

                                

                                            Bonaparte's Gull on mud by slipway.                                                    

                              

I finally caught up with the returning Bonaparte's Gull on the 4th July , it was first seen in early June and is back now for it's 8th consecutive year.

I have seen the Bonaparte's Gull on several dates throughout July  , on low tide it is normally found out feeding on the mud near the slipway , high tide can find it normally roosting on the East flood.

                                   

Bonaparte's Gull.

The Bonaparte's Gull is still present as i write this blog post (22nd July) and is still in superb plumage.

Another  North American bird was first seen on the 10th July 2019 on the East flood and on the 12th July 2020 the cracking Lesser Yellowlegs was seen again near the pull-in.

I haven't managed any decent photo's this time round yet so here are a selection of the 2019 bird.

Lesser Yellowlegs.

Once again this bird is still present as i write this blog post (22nd July 2020) and favours the right hand side of the East flood nearest the pull-in, it doe's on occasion fly out to Faversham creek on low tide.

The East flood water levels are very good at the moment with plenty of waders to be seen, hopefully in the next few weeks we will get treated to some more special birds and maybe another returning American wader !!!!

5th July :  Dunbar  Scotland

Greater Sand Plover.

On the 5th July i joined RR&  AE on a trip up to Tyninghame Bay , Dunbar Scotland in the hope of seeing the 1st summer Greater Sand Plover.

We arrived in good time and was greeted with positive news of the bird still being present, however the wind was very strong and you had to hang on tight to your scope in fear of it blowing over !!!!

We reached the area the GSP had been seen along with two other birders and started scanning  without success, we all sort of split up checking different areas and i fortunately located the Greater Sand Plover hunkered down behind a small clump of grass.

I informed the others and we all enjoyed some very good scope views of this superb wader , this was a new species for both RR & AE and a very welcome year tick for myself.

Greater Sand Plover.

We had a good walk around the area after prolonged views of the GSP, and had a few birds passing by on the sea , plus the remarkable Bass Rock was amazing to see.

Overdue Kent tick............At Dungeness Arc

                    24th  June 2020 :  Dungeness ARC & NNR


                                                    

Gull Billed Tern.

A successful mid week dash to Dungeness on the 24th June for a long overdue Kent tick in the shape of a superb Gull Billed Tern, viewing from the causeway was abit precarious to say the least and i am pretty sure if one birder was smoking a pipe he would have lost it to a very close wing mirror !!!!

As you can see from the photos some close views were obtained of this smart looking bird.

Here are a small selection of photos :

Gull Billed Tern.

After watching the superb Gull billed Tern and seeing a distant ♂ Black winged Stilt we decided to head to the power station to try and see Black Redstart.

On arrival we bumped into some other birders with the same idea however they had been unsuccessful but did very kindly point out a Peregrine on the power station.

Peregrine on the power station.

Having a fly around.

Peregrine.

Whilst enjoying some great views of the Peregrine i saw a Black Redstart on the fence which then flew towards the 'Desert'.

I was chatting with Chris @lewishambirder   (Good to meet you) , and another Black Redstart flew from the power station and landed on one of the telegraph wires , we were all watching this when Chris found a large raptor flying past, after getting it in the scopes we could all see a superb Honey Buzzard, although distant the views through the scope were excellent, good find Chris.

 Here are some record shots of the Honey Buzzard :

Honey Buzzard.

This was a new bird for my Dungeness bird list, a really great day out in good company.