Gary Howard's birds and wildlife

It's been an autumn to be in the West Country!

Well unless you saw the Long-toed Stint. Though most who did would'nt have really known it was one ! Sour grapes........

Pallid Harrier's ? I dipped the Cliffe bird and didn't see the Sussex one because I was twitching the Sandhill Crane in Scotland which eventually flew south and gave itself up in Suffolk!

That's not to say I didn't really enjoy the trip north because we saw lot's besides including great looks at the Black Scoter.

Anyway. I digress. I got to Friday night and started considering my options. For many Kent birders what was on their mind was the news that the Sandhill had flown south from Suffolk. People were already visualising it on Sheppey, on Walland, flying over Reculver or Bockhill. But it was now dark and there had been no reported further sightings. Was it on the continent or about to give someone the shock of their lives on Saturday? I spoke to Andy Lawson and we reflected on it's possible whereabouts. I called Mike Buckland and he said he'd been off birding all day, largely at Reculver where he too had spent time looking skywards for a certain vagrant crane! He'd had a few seabirds and a confiding Grey Phalarope on Coldharbour lagoon just east of Reculver. As he'd been out all day he wasn't keen on a full day out Saturday whereas I was so we agreed to stay in touch in case news of "the big one" broke.

So, soon after 08.00 I found myself at Reculver finding out from Marc Heath and others that the sea-watch might already have peaked! I carried on watching for an hour or so with Mike Cottrell and John Tilbrook joining me for the later stages. The wind was quite strong, around 15 mph, and It was blowing broadly westerly with a hint of something more north but only just! I had a few Arctic Skua's, a few Arctic terns, a distant Little Gull and a few waders and Brents, all heading into the wind. Marc got a call to say the Grey Phalarope was still on Coldharbour lagoon and so with the sea decidedly dull Mike, John and I headed off to see it. 

We were in luck. The views were good but just as I was starting to get some photo's a female Sparrowhawk flushed it off the lagoon and over the shingle ridge to the sea! Luckily it returned and in fact flew off twice more in the two and a half hours that I sat watching and photographing this beautiful little wader.

Sitting quietly by the waters edge the phalarope often approached to within 20 feet and whilst there were very few breaks in the cloud I was happy with my results.

Grey Phalarope

Chris Bond joined me for a while and  then happy that I would probably take no better photo's given the light conditions ( I discovered at home I'd taken 827 photos!) I set off back to the car park at Reculver in company with Chris, arriving around 13.30.

A quick look out to sea revealed a few birds passing and within just a few minutes Chris and I had 10 Bonxies and a couple of Arctic's but it was soon over and around 14.30 I headed off in search of lunch which I duly ate at Oare Marshes.

Oare was rather quiet but the tide was falling and even the Black-tailed Godwit heading out to feed. There were no smaller waders and just a single Golden Plover and around 150 Avocet. Much as at Reculver the windy conditions kept passerines at bay and I saw just a few Meadow Pipit.

With options limited I decided to dash over to east Tilbury and look for the Semipalmated Sandpiper which had been reported a couple of times already on the day. I bumped into Murray Orchard and in the 2 hours before dusk we worked hard but failed to find it on the foreshore in front of Coalhouse Fort. We had 3 juv Little Stint, 3 juv Curlew Sandpipers, c70 Dunlin and small numbers of Knot, Grey Plover, Bar-wits, Curlew and Ringed Plover. A single Arctic Skua chased up the Thames but alas no yankee waders to crown an otherwise very enjoyable day out.