Sabines Gull in Aveley Bay Rainham

The weather again delivered a gift this morning with an early report of up to four Sabine's Gulls in Aveley Bay Rainham so after letting Jimmy know I headed on taking my good lady with me. Pulling into the car park at Coldharbour Lane I walked ten yards to the public footpath and was quickly put on an adult Sabine's Gull by a couple of guys that were already on site. We were soon joined by the Jims and Harry & Barry. We watched the gull for a while and enjoyed good views of several Black Terns fishing in the Thames.

Whinchat

Whinchat

House Sparrow

Pied Flycatcher

I left the guys watching the Thames and headed off to collect my son and daughter in law as we'd promised them a lunch by the sea. We decided on Dungerness where we enjoyed a nice walk on the shingle beach followed by lunch at the Pilot which I can recommend. Of course I noted a few birds whilst there including several Whinchat, lots of Wheatear and a couple of Pied Flycatchers.
A lovely day out with Billy & Gemma, and a tick to boot...can't be bad.

PS They loved Dunge too and Gemma gave the camera another workout
below is a selection of shots she took today.

Selection of Gemma's pictures from Dunge today 

I think Gemma and I have a similar eye when it comes to photography, she likes the weird stuff like me.

Tick 269 with a Wryneck at Landguard today

With the wind and rain forecast this weekend we're in line for a fall of migrants and I decided we'd put our money on a Wryneck so we headed up to Landguard this morning arriving around 7.30am in the rain.
We walked the shore finding Wheatear, Whinchat and Pied Flycatcher along with a very confiding Golden Plover. After a good soaking we headed back to the car and decided to drive further up the A12 and make a stop at Minsmere where we found double figures of Green Sandpiper, several Greenshank and Common Sand, a family of Water Rails showing well along with Spotted Redshank and Ruff to name a few.
With news coming through that Wryneck had indeed been found at Landguard we stopped off again on the way back down the road and were fortunate enough to connect straight away with one bird although the guys on site thought there could have been three there. We found another Pied Fly, Whinchat, Yellow Wagtails at least ten Wheatear and the Golden Plover is still showing off to the gathered birders.

Golden Plover

Golden Plover

Golden Plover

Golden Plover

Pied Flycatcher

Tick 269 for the year with the Wryneck today leaving me looking for another ten to match last years total.

Red-necked Phalarope at King George Reservoir Chingford

News arrived early this morning of last nights rain delivering a Red-necked Phalarope into the reservoirs in Chingford. I was on sight at 8am to meet Ian L and finder Harry L (Of Harry & Barry fame).
Ian kindly gave me good directions that enabled me to scope the Phalarope just before it flew. The bird was unsettled for the hour I watched it but dropped in just close enough for a poor record shot. Roy W managed to get on sight early too before I left at 9am and I'm told most of the locals managed to connect during the day. Another good find by Harry on this permit only site that delivers good passage birds.
Also of note were a couple of Clouded Yellow butterflies in the car park at KGR

Distant record of the Red-necked Phalarope

Canadian Greylag at Rainham

I moved onto my original destination at Rainham where I saw the above hybrid (Canada x Grelyag)

Again Clouded Yellow butterflies were in evidence along the sea wall, it's proving a good year for these visitors.

The weather again looks good for a few passage migrants to drop in over the weekend so here's hoping.

Pochard

My daughter in law came for a stroll with me too today and managed to grab a couple of pictures on my old Nikon....She didn't do too bad either.

Gemma's first outing with a camera......more to come perhaps! (Well done Gem)

Rain stops play

I had planned a trip to the coast today with my good lady but the weather put a stop to that idea.
It has rained all day in Essex limiting me to a short trip to Lea Valley CP where I scanned the lakes but found nothing of note with the highlight being a couple of juvenile Great Crested Grebes.

Whilst I have been reading the blogs I follow this week with reports of Red-billed Tropic Birds and all the drama associated with that particular find, Jaguars in Brazil, trips to China etc etc I find myself making do with trying to get a half decent shot of a Canada Goose in the rain but I suppose that's life. My time will come, I've always fancied watching Bears fishing for Salmon. Better get back to work to pay for it first though.

Canada in the rain

Great Crested Grebes

Swan (playing hide and seek)

Pectoral Sandpiper at Coldharbour Lagoon

Well the dilemma was do I chase a year tick in Norfolk or try my luck at getting a close connection with the Pectoral Sandpiper in Kent and the yankee sandpiper won. The walk from Reculver towers to Coldharbour lagoon is about a mile I guess but well worth it. Clouded Yellow butterflies showed well with up to six seen on the walk down. On arrival at the lagoon I quickly found the Pectoral Sandpiper walking the muddy edge with a couple of Dunlin, a Green Sandpiper and  a Turnstone. I saw a photographer sitting at the far end of the waters edge (Mike H) so walked down to join him and we waited for a couple of hours in the hope that at some point the Pec Sand would drop in to feed at our end and our wait paid off when a couple of walkers disturbed the birds at the opposite end and they all dropped in front of us. I grabbed some reasonable shots of the Pectoral Sandpiper and the Greenshank.
A very enjoyable three hour session mostly sitting waiting but when the birds dropped in it was well worth it.

Greenshank

Greenshank

Pectoral Sandpiper

Pectoral Sandpiper

Pectoral Sandpiper with Greenshank

Garden full of Bees and Butterflies

My garden is currently alive with Bees and Butterflies.
Peacocks, Whites, Red Admirals, Painted Ladies, Gatekeepers, Comma etc all enjoying the flowers with the Buddleia being the main attraction.

I took the wife's camera out this afternoon to grab a couple of shots.

Buff Tailed Bee

Buff Tailed Bee

Comma butterfly

Common Blue

On the bird front: A Red-billed Tropicbird was reported in Cornwall today 
(apparently photographic evidence exists from the single observer so we'll await that with interest)
If this record is accepted it would be Britain's fifth for this species so quite a find and I wouldn't think the crowd of sea watchers on site will be happy at the thought of missing it fly past them.

The Red-necked Phalarope at Cantley Beet Factory fields today is the only thing really teasing me for a year tick although I would like to see the sandpipers at Reculver too as they appear to be showing well from the sea wall so maybe a day out in that direction is on the cards.

Wood Sandpipers at Dungeness

We were on the beach at Dunge again this morning for 6.30am. The forecast predicted winds of up to 30mph but it was rather calm despite the low grey cloud overhead. Passage was quiet with just 2 Manx Shearwaters, 7 Black Terns, an Arctic Skua, 3 Scoters of any note with all the Gannets, Terns, Gulls and Porpoise. (Roseatte Tern & Balearic Shearwaters seen later after we'd left as the winds finally picked up)

We headed off to the reserve and finally found a Wood Sandpiper for Dad to tick. I've seen several this year but he always seems to miss them so it was nice when two dropped in to feed in front of Firth hide this morning accompanied by a Green Sand, Ruff and Redshank. With the sun shining into the hide it didn't make for great photographs but I managed a couple of acceptable shots.

Wood Sandpiper

Wood Sandpiper

Following this success we drove over to Oare Marsh to get the Jims another tick in the form of the very obliging Temminck's Stint. We watched the tiny wader for about an hour fascinated by it's size as it passed LRP's and Lapwings etc. On East Flood a couple of Curlew Sands were noted with Greenshank and Snipe along with the other regular waders. Clouded Yellow butterflies are still active on the wing at Oare and the Jims were pleased to see a couple for the first time.