Pectoral Sandpiper shows well at Reculver

Pectoral Sandpiper.

Having been told i was not required at work this afternoon i took the opportunity to try and see the Pectoral Sandpiper at Reculver , so after a 25 min walk from the car park i had reached cold harbour lagoon , i bumped into Chris Hindal and his good lady and we thought we had it in a near by inlet, however  i walked along the sea wall and had a clearer view it turned out to be a Common Sandpiper , there was also Turnstone and Redshank here.

I decided to walk around the other side of the lagoon and soon had great views of the Pectoral Sandpiper , it was keeping company with 2 Dunlin , these are really smart waders and this has to be the best views i have ever had of one although my photos don't do it any justice , i spent an hour here and enjoyed watching its feeding habit and also at one point it decided to have a rest and the whole it kept its beak open as a cooling down system .

Resting with its beak open .

I have 100's of pics to sort through and have only posted a few to give you an idea of how well he showed , there were also several Redshank and a single Greenshank .

Close Greenshank.

Another pic of the Pectoral Sandpiper.

Don't forget to check out the new "Mystery Bird " photo in a previous post .

Just a bit of Fun Quiz week 8 Answer plus new Mystery Bird

Female Ring Necked Duck.

Sorry for the late posting , i have had a busy weekend however here is the answer to last weeks mystery bird and it is indeed a Female Ring Necked Duck which was seen in Norfolk in 2011.

Well done to Ellis L & Ben M who all got the correct answers and also to Martyn Wilson and Chidders  who also correctly got the right answer.

Unlucky to those with the wrong answer , as always many thanks for taking part and better luck next time.

This weeks Mystery Bird ???????

Here is this weeks  " Mystery Bird " as always just leave your answer in the comments and i will post the answer and correct entries next Saturday , and as ever i will only post the correct entries so don't worry about giving the wrong answer , you can have as many guesses as you like .

I had planned to just run this quiz through the summer however if you want me to continue beyond let me know in the comments , if not the last quiz post will be next week , ok many thanks for taking part and good luck .

Patch and Year Tick at Oare Marshes

Huge numbers of Black Tailed Godwits. 

I had another very enjoyable birding session at Oare Marshes this morning and my primary target was Temminck's Stint which was seen yesterday , i parked up near the slip way and made my way back towards the east flood noting several Little Egrets as i went , there were huge numbers of Black Tailed Godwits  on the flood which i would estimate in the region of 2000+ birds .

I spoke to a couple of birders and they said it was seen earlier but not for a couple of hours , i then walked around to the hide where i met up with Steve Ashton and Adam , who informed me it was seen in the small pool west of the road .

Golden Plover in various states of plumage.

We made our way back down the road and bumped into Chidders , whilst we were chatting an Egret caught my eye flying away from us fairly high and i noted it seemed to have dark feet however i could not get anything else on the bird , another birder felt sure it was the Cattle Egret and to be honest it could have been however non breeding Little Egrets feet can appear very dark especially at a distance so for me this will have to go down as a possible and no more.

There were lots of waders on the flood including 3 Curlew Sandpipers in with the Godwits plus Dunlin , Avocet  and Redshank were well represented .

Record shot of Temminck's Stint.

I then said my goodbyes and headed to the sea wall to try and see this Temminck's Stint , well i put in quite a bit of time here and the Stint was not playing ball however both Greenshank and a single juv. Ruff were seen from here , i was chatting with another birder when we were waved at by some other birders from the road , when i joined them they said they had just had the Stint right at the back of the pool which was not viewable from the sea wall , well after about 15 mins it flew out of the pool and circled around and landed again out of sight , i was very pleased to see it as it was both a new patch tick as well as a welcome year tick .

After another 30 mins the Temminck's Stint had still not appeared although i did see a Little Ringed Plover whilst i was waiting , i decided to head off and join with Chidders and gang and i added a few butterflies to my days trip including a single Clouded Yellow although there were more around , after a while we all decided it was time to head off and Chidders and myself had one last look for the Temminck's Stint and to my delight i got some great views through the scope and then went home very happy.

Just a bit of Fun Quiz week 7 Answer and New Mystery Bird

Yellow Browed Warbler

Last weeks "Mystery Bird " was in fact a stunning Yellow Browed Warbler , which was seen on Shetland in 2012.

A very big well done to all who got the correct answer and they are :  Martyn Wilson , Chidders , Ben M and Ellis L .

And unlucky to those with the wrong answer , and thanks to everyone who had ago .

This Weeks Mystery Bird ?????

The bird i would like you to try and I.D is the left hand bird and you get an extra mention if you can tell me if its male or female .

I will post the answer next Saturday along with all the correct entries , and you can have as many guesses as you like and as ever don't worry if you give the wrong answer as i will only post the names of correct entries .

So good luck to all who have ago .

Just remember to post your answer in the comments if you fancy a try .

Good Wading Session at Oare

Golden Plovers.

I had a very enjoyable birding session at Oare Marshes yesterday , the main focus of attention was waders and there was a good selection to look at , there were approx 12 Golden Plovers in various plumage detail , these are really smart looking birds , Black Tailed Godwit were everywhere and although i never did a proper count there must of been nearly 2000 birds here .

Some close Black Tailed Godwits.

There were large numbers of Redshank and Avocets all around the East Flood , a single Greenshank was on the far side of the flood , in with the large number of Black Tailed Godwits were 4 Knot although there probably were more . close by the road was a very impressive 4 Curlew Sandpipers .

2 Curlew Sandpipers.

3 was the most i could get in a photo .

The water level on the East flood is just right at the moment and hopefully in the next few weeks we will get a bumper load of waders on show , there were several Dunlin , 3 Little Ringed Plovers and 2 Ringed Plover  close by the road , and there was a small scattering of Ruff.

Ruff in flight.

Although i spent most of my time looking at the waders there were other birds around such as a large number of Little Egrets , i did a couple of counts and totalled 18 birds at anyone time , a family party of Mute Swans was nice to see .

Mute Swans .

Smaller birds noted were several Pied Wagtails , a single Meadow Pipit and a small flock of approx 5 Sand Martins flew over the flood . 

Of note the 1s summer Bonapartes Gull was present on the East Flood all morning keeping over the back of the flood near the sea wall .

Just a bit of Fun Quiz week 7 Last weeks Answer and New Pic

Male Blue Winged Teal and Female Shoveler.

Indeed last weeks main " Mystery Bird " was a male Blue Winged Teal and a very big well done to all of you who got the correct answer and they where :

Ellis Lucas,  Ephraim Perfect , Martyn Wilson ,  Chidders , Mick Davis , Ben Moyes and Peter .D.

And also a very well done to Ben Moyes  who also named the female Shoveler too.

Unlucky to those with the wrong answers , and many thanks to everyone who had ago .

Here is this weeks " Mystery Bird "

Mystery bird ???

I will post the answer next Saturday and i will only post the names of correct entries so dont worry if you give the wrong answer no one will know , you can have as many guesses as you like and remember its only a bit of fun , good luck and thanks for having ago .