Bonapartes Gull.......... At Oare

Bonapartes Gull at Oare.

I paid 2 visits to Oare Marshes today , i called in at approx 9.30am and  a quick scan over the east flood drew a blank , i then ventured along the sea wall and down Faversham creek and finally located the Bonapartes Gull on the flood near the Black Tailed Godwit roost at about 10am , i instantly saw the all black bill and the smaller size was evident , i no sooner set my scope up when it took off and flew down Faversham creek and out of sight . I decided to head back and try again later when the tide was in so i could hopefully get some photos at roost .

You can see the black patch by the ear coverts.

I added several Common Swifts  flying low over the east flood on my return journey plus there were a couple of Common Terns  flying up and down the creek . On my second visit at high tide at approx 12.45pm i parked up by the pull in on the access road and straight away was on the Bonapartes Gull roosting on one of the small islands along side several Black Headed Gulls , it gave a really good size comparison , a couple of times it was spooked and flew around and you could clearly see the white underside of the primaries , this is a really smart looking gull , it stood up at one point and wing streched and you could see the pink coloured legs .

Note pink legs .

I really enjoyed this bird and watched it for about an hour , other birds seen were a close Yellow Wagtail , up to 3 Hobby although another birder had see about 7 birds , there were lots of Little Egrets  around the reserve plus a distant Cuckoo could be heard .

Yellow Wagtail.

Little Egret looking for Marsh Frogs.

Whites Thrush caught on camera

Amazing news of a  Whites Thrush caught on camera in Scotland during a Wild Cat survey in January of this year is incredible , just goes to show anything could be hiding away somewhere , here's the link to it : http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-highlands-islands-22447693

Of note i saw 2 Swifts when i was working in Chichester on Wednesday , first ones for me this year .

What an amazing Hobby....... at Grove Ferry

 Hobby .

Taking advantage of the Bank Holiday i paid a long overdue visit to Grove Ferry this morning in the hope of seeing a few year ticks , as i paid my car park fee i could hear a Nightingale  in the distance and as i walked along the entrance track i could hear 2 Turtle Doves  " purring " away in the paddocks but they refused to show themselves , i bumped into Phil B along the path and as we headed off to the ramp we met Martyn Wilson on the way and after a brief chat Phil and i headed off to the ramp , it was fairly quite from here , the water level was quite high with hardly any exposed mud to attract waders , we did hear a distant Cuckoo which was my first of the year , i said my goodbyes to Phil and headed off to the Feast hide and had some excellent views of Common Terns .

One of three Common Terns .

I also saw 2 Hobby  and a single female Marsh Harrier  overhead , i decided to head around to Harrisons Hide in the hope of relocating yesterdays Wood Sandpiper , there were plenty of Warblers in full volume plus the odd " pinging " of hidden Bearded Tits , as i approached Harrisons i could hear a Lesser Whitethroat but yet again it never showed itself , i met another birder who informed me there was a male Garganey on a pool west of the hide and i headed off there and within minutes i had some good scope views of this smart Duck , i took a digi scoped photo and as you can imagine with the heat haze and my dodgy camera skills the result was not that good.

Digi scoped record shot of a male Garganey.

As i was checking out the Garganey,  2 Common Buzzards  drifted overhead and then i noticed a small Egret had appeared at the end of a nearby dyke , i got my scope onto it and was delighted to have relocated the Cattle Egret that had been seen on and off over the last week or so , here are some photos i took .

Top 2 photos were digi scoped .

Cattle Egret with Greylag Goose .

The Cattle Egret  must of been hidden down by the dyke and was being harassed by the Greylag Geese which had some fluff balls ( goslings ) with them . I also saw approx : 15 Hobby from here looking over towards Stodmarsh , i then headed back to my car very pleased after a very good birding session with a few year ticks under my belt.

Summers Day ........ at Oare Marshes

Reed Warbler.

I spent a very pleasant birding session at Oare Marshes today ,  l started of  listening to a Nightingale by the entrance track to the west hide , although i never saw it , there were several very vocal Common Whitethroats  here also , i then walked back past the east hide and onto the new accusations area ,  there was 2 or 3 Reed Warblers setting up territory along here and 1 bird showed well at times and was a year tick for me , there was not alot of activity on the new accusation other than several Lapwings and 2 Oystercatchers , although i did add another year tick in the shape of a distant Yellow Wagtail which was perched on top of a distant fence post .

Male Bearded Tit .

I then ventured around the east flood along Faversham creek towards the sea hide , there was a single Wheatear in the field near the sluice and at least 5 Bearded Tits  were " pinging " away all along the reed bed which runs along side the path , and i even managed to get one or two photos .

Bearded Tit in flight .

The reserve was alive with bird song , mainly Sedge and Reed Warblers but i did hear 3 Cettis Warblers  as well as several Reed Buntings , there were 2 Sandwich Terns  flying around the mouth of Faversham creek , as i walked back along the sea wall i saw 3 Common Buzzards over Mocketts Farm and a single Whimbrel in the flooded area west of the slip way .

One of many Sedge Warblers .

On my out of the reserve i bumped into Murray Wright and whilst we were chatting a Sparrowhawk circled around us and then drifted of west , i then had one final listen of the Nightingale and briefly heard the " rattling " call of a Lesser Whitethroat  , so all in all a pleasant summers day birding at Oare 

Grey Heron on pool west of the access road.

Catching up on some Migrants ......... At Oare Marshes

Avocets in flight.

I spent a couple of hours at Oare Marshes this morning in the hope of connecting with some migrants , i saw a single Swallow on the overhead telegraph wires as i drove down the access road to the reserve , i parked up by the East flood and scanned across and instantly saw a Common Tern  amongst the many Black Headed Gulls , there was a few Avocets  on the flood with 2 birds quite close in .

2 Avocets .

I then headed down to the car park by the slip way hearing several Sedge Warblers  as i went ,  as i was getting my gear ready by the car i met Barry and Sam who said hi and we then went off together along the sea wall towards the sea hide , there were several more Sedge Warblers along here and we managed to see at least 3 different birds  , i showed Barry and Sam the Common Seals which were out basking on the sand bank , there must have been about 20 of them , the most i have seen here , just as we passed the hide Sam picked out a Bearded Tit  flying over the reed bed which was good to see , and then we came across another Sedge Warbler .

Digi scoped Sedge Warbler .

I noticed a Whimbrel land on Faversham creek which was a welcome year tick , there were plenty of Avocets and Redshank along the Creek plus good numbers of Shoveler , Tufted Duck and Mallard out on the East flood , there was a scattering of Greylag Geese with a couple of Canada Geese amongst them , i parted ways with Barry and Sam and headed back towards the slip way to try and locate the Garganey which had been seen just west of there a couple of days ago whilst Barry and Sam continued around the reserve  , well i did not see the Garganey but i did see another Whimbrel plus two Common Snipe  were having a fly around , i heard a Med Gull but could not locate it , i then decided to head back to my car and bumped into Barry and Sam again , very good to meet you today , a really pleasant morning in sunshine and 3 year ticks to add to my total.

Stodmarsh.........No Luck This Time.

Coot.

I had a couple of spare hours this morning and decided to head over to Stodmarsh and try and see the Common Crane and to cut a long story short i missed it by about 10 minutes , luckily i have seen one at Stodmarsh before but that was quite some time ago and it would have been great to have connected with this one , never mind that's birding .

Lovely coloured Lapwing.

I met Steve Ashton and Mike Gould in the Marsh hide and they said other than the Crane it was fairly quite , they decided to head of and try and relocate the Penduline Tit and i stayed just in case the Crane decided to come back .

Little Egret with long head plumes.

There were plenty of Common Snipe  and a scattering of Redshank amongst them , i saw 2 Sparrowhawks  and a single Marsh Harrier  , a Cettis Warbler was singing nearby but refused to show its self .

Teal.

I saw 3 Water Pipits feeding in the distance and another birder in the hide picked one out a little closer in summer plumage , these are really smart birds and worth the walk out to the Marsh hide on their own , sadly it was to far for a photo , after about an hour i decided to head back and heard up to 3 Chiffchaff and a single Green Woodpecker on my return journey plus i am fairly certain i saw a Small Tortiseshell on the path but it flew before i could get a good view of it  .