An Afternoon Session

With the forecast this morning for heavy rain for a few hours, I awoke and looked out of the window to..... rain! I decided to have a rare lay in and spend a few hours this afternoon at Reculver in the sun. I only had a couple of hours and first stopped off at Reculver where I noted 13 Tufted Duck, 34 Gadwall, c30 Wigeon, 3 Pochard, 26 Mute Swan and c400 Woodpigeon in one flock. I had noticed that Chris Hindle had seen a couple of Eider off Minnis Bay so I decided on a look out at sea for them. Standing in the shelter on the cliffs I spent 30 minutes noting 2 Eider (103) offshore, 4 Curlew, 23 Oystercatcher, 1 Turnstone, 18 Wigeon, 2 Great crested Grebe 3 Red throated Diver and a couple of Feral Pigeons (104). Driving back towards home I thought I would spent my last hour of the day at Shuart where I wandered around hoping for birds to appear in front of me. I managed to see 3 Ring necked Parakeet, 1 Common Buzzard, 3 Grey Heron, c60 Fieldfare, 1 Goldcrest, 1 Marsh Harrier, 1 Corn Bunting, 2 Woodcock, 2 Kestrel, 4 Redwing, 1 Sparrowhawk, 1 Barn Owl, 7 Reed Bunting into roost but no Yellowhammers which I hoped I could get better views of. Hopefully I will be able to get out in the week for some birding if the weather allows.

Kestrel