Staying Local......Oare Marshes

                                                     Oare Marshes Highlights

                                            10th September to 29th September 

                                                             

1Ad  & 2 Juv Spoonbills

A visit to Oare Marshes on the 10th September was rewarded with 1 Adult & 2 Juv Spoonbills flying high over the East Flood (a good pick up by AE).

The Bonaparte's Gull was still present now in it's full adult winter plumage, how much longer it will stay for before it departs to who knows where for the winter is anyone's guess ?!

The latest the Bonaparte's Gull has been recorded at Oare Marshes is the 26th September by MW, my personal latest date is 18th September.

Bonaparte's Gull  snoozing before it's departure.

Wader numbers & variety is improving with a single juv Little Stint & 4 juv Curlew Sandpipers the pick of the birds amongst the 1000's of waders present.

15th September 2022

Pink Footed Goose.

The surprise bird on the 15th September was a Pink footed Goose in a stubble field below the cottages , you can never be totally certain of the origin of wildfowl especially but i have included this bird on my Oare Marsh Bird List so there !!!!

20 different species of wader were seen today including Spotted Redshank (1) , Little Stint (2) & Curlew Sandpiper (3) being the pick of the bunch.

We also saw a single Clouded Yellow butterfly.

17th September 2022

Juv Curlew Sandpiper

All the attention was on the East Flood today and the highlight was seeing 12 juv Curlew Sandpipers which were in immaculate plumage.

The supporting cast included Bar Tailed Godwit (2), Spotted Redshank (1) & Knot (3), we also saw a Juv Gannet flyover the East Flood and head inland.

It was also great to see 50+ House Martins overhead on their migration south.

22nd September 2022

An amazing movement of House Martins dominated our visit today with 5000+ birds counted , i have struggled all year to see a House Martin so to see this many was overwhelming .

 24th  September 2022

6 of the 7 Juv Little Stints.

For a wader fan like myself i was delighted to see 7 juv Little Stints on the East flood on the 24th September, there was also 3 juv Curlew Sandpipers , Bar tailed Godwit (3) & Spotted Redshank (1).

A seawatch was rewarded with 1 light phase & 5 dark phase Arctic Skuas plus a fantastic view of 1 adult & 4 juv Little Gulls .

The 3 Spoonbills were seen again briefly on Horsesands and there were 3 Eider seen nearer to Castle Coote.

The Pink Footed Goose was present on the East Flood first thing and we saw 100+ Brent Geese in the Swale.

29th September 2022.

Leucistic Bearded Tit.

A walk around the East Flood early on the 29th September saw plenty of Bearded Tit activity including a Leucistic bird among them.

It looked completely white in flight bar a darker tail but when we managed to see it in the reeds you could see there was a little bit more colour then first thought, a stunning bird all the same.

Leucistic Bearded Tit.

There was 4 Stonechats  & a Reed Warbler near the Sluice and a further 6 Stonechats & 2 Wheatear near Uplees, on the East Flood there were still 7 Little Stints & 8 Curlew Sandpipers (AE & JBL) I only saw 6 !!

The Pink Footed Goose was back in the stubble field, 2 Sandwich Terns were lingering in The Swale.

An adult Peregrine Falcon spooked everything on the East flood with 1000's of waders all up at once.

The Spotted Redshank (ad winter), Golden Plover (151), Bar tailed Godwit (1),Knot (1) & Ruff (2) were all seen.

 

Dungeness Seawatch & Springfield Bridge

                                             8th September 2022 :  SSW 

                                   Dungeness Seawatch at Fishing Boats

                                                 07.15am  to  12.15pm

BALEARIC SHEARWATER  :  25     (Including flocks of  4 & 5)

ARCTIC SKUA  :  5 Light Phase  17 Dark Phase  (22 in total)

BLACK TERN  :  2+

SANDWICH TERN  :  1000+

COMMON TERN  :  100+

FULMAR  :  3

COMMON SCOTER  :  64+

GANNET  :  500+

CASPIAN GULL  : 2   (2nd summer birds on beach)

                                         Springfield Bridge

                                        12.40pm  to  1.35pm

TEMMINCK'S STINT  :  1

WOOD SANDPIPER  : 1

CURLEW SANDPIPER  :  1

DUNLIN  :  1

RUFF  :  1

RINGED PLOVER  :  20+  (Flew overhead)

COMMON SNIPE  :  5+

BLACK TAILED GODWIT  :  1

LAPWING  :  35+

HOBBY  :  2

MARSH HARRIER  :  2

GREAT WHITE EGRET  :  1

LITTLE EGRET  :  2

YELLOW WAGTAIL  :  10+

MEADOW PIPIT  :  20+

Out & About in East Sussex & Kent

                                                       3rd September 2022

                                                     Pett Level  East Sussex

                                               

Red-necked Phalarope.

A day out & about on Saturday starting with distant but good scope views of the Red-necked Phalarope at Pett Level in East Sussex.

The Red-necked Phalarope remained at the back of the pool the whole time we were there , it's very small size was obvious as it swam behind the much larger Gadwall  & Pochard.

Red-necked Phalarope alongside Gadwall & Pochard.

There was also 3 ♀ Pintail present and the Red-necked Phalarope spent alot of time swimming behind these feeding on the waters surface.

Red-necked Phalarope.

Dungeness :  Galloways & Springfield Bridge

A look along the track at Galloways was rewarded with at least 7 Whinchats , there was also a good number of Common Whitethroats (20+) and 3 Willow Warblers were also seen.

Whinchat.

From Galloways we headed to Springfield Bridge and the highlights there were : 7 Curlew Sandpipers, 1 Wood Sandpiper , 3+ Hobby, Cattle , Little & Great white Egret plus a single Glossy Ibis.

Sandwich Bay

Juvenile Red-backed Shrike.

After leaving Dungeness the next destination was Sandwich Bay in the hope of seeing the recently found Red-backed Shrike .

We bumped into Bernie there who was already watching the Shrike !!

The Juv Red backed Shrike only had a very small stub of a tail but this didn't seem to hinder it at all, it was constantly catching Bee's and other than a missing tail looked in very good shape.

Stubby tail.

Red backed Shrike.

Swalecliffe

Pied Flycatcher.

There have been lot's & lot's of Pied Flycatchers seen so far this autumn and i have managed to miss them all, however  Andy .T.  found a  Pied Flycatcher in the Church yard at Swalecliffe so on the way home i finally connected with a really smart Pied Flycatcher !! 

4th September 

Nethercourt Park

A Sunday morning visit to Nethercourt Park produced 2 Pied Flycatchers which were great to see, however i had no luck with Scott .H. Wood Warbler (thanks for the info Scott)  although it was seen again in the afternoon, can't get them all .....