A Brief Sea Watch and a Superb Kestrel - Reculver 10/01/20

With very limited time I was only able to come for a very short sea watch at Reculver this morning to see if anything was moving in the strong westerly wind which had an occasional slight northerly element to it. As it turned out it proved to be pretty quiet out to sea. It was nice to catch up with 4 Common Scoter (89) flying east and I always enjoy watching Red-throated Divers.

Four seemed to be the order of the day for a while with 4 Great Crested Grebes off shore and 4 Common Gull flying west. All of the divers remained quite distant but were still a pleasure to see. A single Curlew called as it flew east and Great Black-backed Gulls trickled through in twos and singles.

With time up I made my way back to the car park and was treated to superb views of a Kestrel hanging in the strong wind, the only movement a slight adjustment of its wing and tail angle as it managed to stay almost stationary without a single wing flap. It made the perfect end to the short visit.

Kestrel

Kestrel

Birds seen this visit included: Cormorants, 332 Brent Geese, 4 Great Crested Grebe, 5 Red-throated Diver, 4 Common Scoter east, 4 Common Gull west, 7 Great Black-backed Gull, 1 Curlew east, 1 Kestrel