It was rather chilly on the Ramp just after
6.00 this morning with a fresh Northerly blowing straight through. Not much
seems to have changed with 6 Wigeon amongst the 400+ Teal, 7 Black-tailed
Godwits still present, the long staying Ruff still wandering around and a
Garganey close in. The first of 6 Water Rails called from the left side of the
pool and as I watched 2 Spotted Redshanks amongst the Godwits a Common Redshank
walked in to view and a Little Stint dropped right in the centre of my scope. A
new species for me for the year I watched scurrying around before noting it in
my book turning to tell Alan as he approached, looked back and couldn’t find
it! Two Green Sandpipers flew out to the east from the Feast hide direction. A
nice surprise was the discovery of a tiny Bank Vole running around our feet for
ten minutes at first light, a delightful little creature.
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| Bank Vole at 1/50th of a second |
Marsh Harriers started leaving roost with 5
out by the time we left the Ramp, a Little Egret and 3 Snipe were all that were
noteworthy from Feast hide while other than 6 Teal the only bird at Harrison’s
hide was a Green Sandpiper. Walking through to Marsh hide we added nothing but
the odd Sedge Warbler and Goldfinch, Marsh hide was birdless and very little of
note through the Alder Wood. We met Tim and Andy in the Reedbed hide where we
eventually saw a Great-white Egret fly in and land out of sight before shortly
after another flew towards us before turning and flying west towards Collard’s
followed by what was probably the third bird. A brief Kingfisher never allowed
any photographs but a high Osprey east at 9.00am flushed the lake and allowed a
couple of record shots.
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| High flying Osprey |
Three more Marsh Harriers were seen here as well as
another Green Sandpiper and 3 more Black-tailed Godwits. Alan and I carried on
along the Lampen Wall past the lake where we had another view of one of the
Great-whites, yet another Green Sandpiper on the far side as well as 1 Pintail
and only 3 Pochards, although 5 Great-crested Grebes were still present. The “Jungle”
just before the river was sheltered from the wind and in the warm sun held a
good few Chiffchaffs and as we neared the Water Meadows 2 Hobbies flew past. We
met up with Philip Parker along Harrison’s Drove waiting for Bearded Tits to
show and, although many were seen and heard, they never posed for photos like
they had for Steve Ray only yesterday, perhaps the stiff north wind was un
helpful in this matter. A last look from the Ramp added a Common Sandpiper and
Common Buzzard but still no further sign of the Little Stint. The three of us
then decided a trip to Backsand at Sandwich was in order to see if the 2
Pectoral Sandpipers were still present despite negative news from two birders
who had already been this morning. At Backsand after a short while one Pec was
located on the far side (north side) with a Dunlin so with the thought of a
potential photo for Phil we trundled round to the other side where we had both
the adult and juvenile Pectoral Sandpipers plus 2 Dunlin and a Green Sandpiper.
One Pec was with a Dunlin to our left and a bit distant (for photos) while the
other Pec was with a second Dunlin right in front of us, only problem was that
the sun was shining brightly directly above and in front making most photo
attempts in to silhouettes. On leaving a couple of Hares were bounding across
the field.
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| juvenile Pectoral Sandpiper |
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| juvenile Pectoral Sandpiper |
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| juvenile Pectoral Sandpiper with Dunlin |
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| juvenile Pectoral Sandpiper with Dunlin |
