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.