Thursday 17 August 2017

Oare Marshes, etc, 17th August 2017

An awesome day at Oare Marshes! Magnus A and Simon W joined me for a few hours at Oare Marshes. We bagged the adult Long-billed Dowitcher, the adult Bonaparte's Gull, an adult Curlew Sandpiper, two adult Spotted Redshanks, two juvenile Little Stints, four Whimbrels, two juvenile Little Ringed Plovers, two Ruffs, a Greenshank, a Dark-bellied Brent Goose, 180 Golden Plovers, 150 Avocets, 60 or so Grey Plovers and three Turnstones among a typical suite of waders and wildfowl. A handful of Mediterranean Gulls were around, including at least four juveniles, as were six Yellow Wagtails and two Bearded Reedlings. Two Peregrines, an adult female and a juvenile male, repeatedly buzzed the East Flood and a fresh juvenile Common Gull was also nice to see. Trickling through were small numbers of Swift, Sand Martin, House Martin and Swallow.

There was just enough time for having a stab for Honey-buzzards at a known site and we were delighted to score a brief view of a singleton which flew over the car as we watched from the road!

adult Long-billed Dowitcher creeping about
the Bonaparte's keeping up appearances on the East Flood - later seen on The Swale
adult Curlew Sandpiper
Golden Plovers - note the juvenile shining bright in the foreground!
juvenile Little Ringed Plover
we hit it lucky with a Honey-buzzard