Dear all,
Friday 13th may be traditionally unlucky but it wasn't that way for me today - although at first, I wasn't so sure.
Arriving at Oare at 8:15am there were few birds on the East lagoon,in fact, just one lone Black-Tailed Godwit was the only wader of note. Not very promising! However, four Garganey were in a group so all was not lost.
The West lagoon was much more productive mainly because there was more exposed mud than on the East lagoon. The heavy bursts of rain recently have raised the water level in the East lagoon so maybe that was why it was so devoid of waders - mind you, the tide had not yet risen but was soon to do so, which would help somewhat.
On the West lagoon were:
Wood Sandpiper - four
Little Stint - three in a group although after the waders flew around for an unknown reason only one returned. I relocated another on the shoreline when the tide was higher (see photo below).
Ruff - 20 (30 seen in total today)
Green Sandpiper - two
Golden Plover - one
The tide was by now nearly high and four Whimbrel were calling on the little expanse of available mud that there was. Five Greenshanks flew east along the river.
Returning to the East Lagoon at 11am there were by now 500 Black-Tailed Godwits and a few hundred Black-Headed Gulls too. I was very fortunate to quickly locate a juvenile Little Gull bobbing around looking a little like a juvenile phalerope with its contrasting dark and light plumage. It stayed for all of thirty seconds by which time I'd just about taken a record shot of it (see below).
From 11am-1pm I'd seen:
Black-Tailed Godwit - 500+
Curlew Sandpiper - two
Little Stint - two (maybe the two birds that flew from the West lagoon?)
Knot - five (all in winter plumage)
Common Sandpiper - two
Ruff - 10
Grey Plover - one in summer plumage
Avocet - two
Dunlin - 15+
Common Tern - three
Sandwich Tern - two
Little Egret - five in the area
Marsh Harrier - four in the vicinity
At 1:10pm I saw a party of eight small terns fly over the bank on the far side of the lagoon and head in an erratic fashion over the mass of gulls clearly loking for a place to land. The black patches on their heads identified them as Black Terns and these birds, mainly juveniles but at least two were moulting adults, remained amongst the gulls resting and preening for twenty minutes until the gulls were spooked by something.
After the gulls had settled back down once more three Black Terns remained until at least 2:30pm, but weren't easy to see. I showed a few birders these terns while I was there and for at least one they were a 'first'.
A few photos of these terns are attached below.
By 3pm I'd left and the heavens had opened and torrential rain was falling. If this was all Friday the Thirteenth could manage after I'd had such a rewarding time birding, then all I can say is.....better luck next time!
Regards,
Lancey
Friday 13th may be traditionally unlucky but it wasn't that way for me today - although at first, I wasn't so sure.
Arriving at Oare at 8:15am there were few birds on the East lagoon,in fact, just one lone Black-Tailed Godwit was the only wader of note. Not very promising! However, four Garganey were in a group so all was not lost.
The West lagoon was much more productive mainly because there was more exposed mud than on the East lagoon. The heavy bursts of rain recently have raised the water level in the East lagoon so maybe that was why it was so devoid of waders - mind you, the tide had not yet risen but was soon to do so, which would help somewhat.
On the West lagoon were:
Wood Sandpiper - four
Little Stint - three in a group although after the waders flew around for an unknown reason only one returned. I relocated another on the shoreline when the tide was higher (see photo below).
Ruff - 20 (30 seen in total today)
Green Sandpiper - two
Golden Plover - one
The tide was by now nearly high and four Whimbrel were calling on the little expanse of available mud that there was. Five Greenshanks flew east along the river.
Returning to the East Lagoon at 11am there were by now 500 Black-Tailed Godwits and a few hundred Black-Headed Gulls too. I was very fortunate to quickly locate a juvenile Little Gull bobbing around looking a little like a juvenile phalerope with its contrasting dark and light plumage. It stayed for all of thirty seconds by which time I'd just about taken a record shot of it (see below).
From 11am-1pm I'd seen:
Black-Tailed Godwit - 500+
Curlew Sandpiper - two
Little Stint - two (maybe the two birds that flew from the West lagoon?)
Knot - five (all in winter plumage)
Common Sandpiper - two
Ruff - 10
Grey Plover - one in summer plumage
Avocet - two
Dunlin - 15+
Common Tern - three
Sandwich Tern - two
Little Egret - five in the area
Marsh Harrier - four in the vicinity
At 1:10pm I saw a party of eight small terns fly over the bank on the far side of the lagoon and head in an erratic fashion over the mass of gulls clearly loking for a place to land. The black patches on their heads identified them as Black Terns and these birds, mainly juveniles but at least two were moulting adults, remained amongst the gulls resting and preening for twenty minutes until the gulls were spooked by something.
After the gulls had settled back down once more three Black Terns remained until at least 2:30pm, but weren't easy to see. I showed a few birders these terns while I was there and for at least one they were a 'first'.
A few photos of these terns are attached below.
By 3pm I'd left and the heavens had opened and torrential rain was falling. If this was all Friday the Thirteenth could manage after I'd had such a rewarding time birding, then all I can say is.....better luck next time!
Regards,
Lancey
