As I had a little time I visited Reculver after work. It was cloudy and overcast with rain threatening, a complete change from yesterday. Every now and then the sun would try and struggle through but it never managed to for long.The tide was out a little ways and a few waders were scattered here and there. A single Curlew was feeding together with several Oystercatchers and Redshank.
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| Curlew |
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| Curlew in flight |
It was a very quiet walk up to Coldharbour. I could only see 3 Great Crested Grebe on the sea and a single Stonechat gave a brief view. Coldharbour itself had little on it apart from a couple of Redshank and a Little Egret. The Little Egret was preening and then fluffed itself up and had a good shake before settling down again. It literally doubles in size when it fluffs its feathers up.
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| Little Egret fluffing its feathers |
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| Little Egret - still going |
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| Little Egret - still more |
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| Little Egret - almost back to normal size |
A group of dog walkers passed and the Little Egret flew giving some good flight views. They have a really impressive wing span. I can just make out an indication of the bones in the wing in the photographs.
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| Little Egret in flight |
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| Little Egret wings full stretch |
One of the Redshanks was along one of the nearer edges and gave some nice reflections as it fed.
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| Redshank |
With rain imminent I headed back towards Reculver. A male Marsh Harrier flew past following the edge of one of the fields. It was the only raptor I saw today.
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| Marsh Harrier |
The Brent Geese flew from the fields to the sea. There were c300.
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| Brent Geese |
There was no sign of any Short-eared Owls. 15 Mallard were on one of the lagoons and I could also see a male Shoveler and a Shelduck. The Shelduck flew at one point giving brief views before dropping down again.
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| Shelduck |
The sea was a stunning colour and a heavy rain cloud could be seen sweeping past the wind farm.
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| Stunning sea colour |
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| Storm sweeping through |
As it turned out that wasn't the only rain cloud on the move and I got soaked on the last stretch but it had been good to be out for a while.
Birds seen this visit include: 2 Blackbird, 8 House Sparrow, 1 Song Thrush, 75 Starling, Black-headed Gull, Herring Gull, Great Black-backed Gull, 3 Great Crested Grebe, 15 Mallard, 1 Shoveler male, 1 Shelduck, 1 Little Grebe, 1 Stonechat, Cormorant, 1 Curlew, 25 Oystercatcher, 1 Grey Plover, 10 Redshank, 10 Sanderling, Carrion Crow, 1 Little Egret, 8 Mute Swan, 2 Pheasant, c300 Brent Geese, 2 Pied Wagtail, 5 Meadow Pipit, 3 Reed Bunting, 2 Magpie, 1 Dunnock, 1 Robin
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