Kent - Oare Marshes - Day Trip in the Mobile Observatory!

Today I took a road trip into Kent with Peter Alfrey. We spent the morning at Shellness searching the scrub for passerines and the afternoon at Oare Marshes searching for the American Golden Plover that had been reported earlier on in the day.

The search for passerines produced several Chiffchaff, Whitethroat, Blackcap, Goldcrest, Goldfinch and a couple of Tit flocks. After a fish and chip lunch we made our way to Oare to see what high tide would push onto the flood.

The Marshes were filling up with shorebirds with Marsh Harrier, Common and Sandwich Tern over The Swale. A Spoonbill spent most of the afternoon resting on an island before moving into deeper water and then flying off over The Swale.

As the afternoon progressed the light improved considerably with plenty of photo opportunities for shorebirds that were feeding on the muddy edges. A Little Stint was the first to venture within range.

A Curlew Sandpiper joined the Stint busily feeding as it made its way along the muddy edges.

There were a couple of Ruff a Greenshank, Ringed Plover amongst the numerous Dunlin, Knot, Redshank, Avocet and Black Tailed Godwit. A couple of Bar Tailed Godwit was identified within the main flock.

The American Golden Plover was not re-located despite sifting through the Golden Plover that arrived on the flood in small flocks. 

There were good numbers of Brent Goose in the area indicating that Winter is not far away.

Question of the day: How long would it take to see this number of shorebirds by species at Beddington Farm?