A Date with Jenny!

I only had 3 hours this morning to go out birding and with light winds and lots of sun forecast, I was very much looking forward to it. I left home at 6am where it was already quite light and drove straight over to Shuart to see if any Woodcock would come into roost. By the time I arrived it was pretty light and I suspect I was a little late for none were seen. I did see 1 Common Buzzard and heard a beautiful dawn chorus again with all the usual suspects battling out for the title of 'who can sing the loudest'. The plan was then to drive over to Reculver and walk down the seawall to Coldharbour, walk inland to Chambers Wall and back via the embankment. The sun soon come through as I made my way onto the seawall and it was a most pleasurable walk, plenty of birds in song in the sunshine. We all treat our patches differently, trying to see as many species as we can in a day, month or year or to find a scarce or rare bird. One of my latest missions has been to pick a species or find a species that I can really study well through the means of photography and try to capture it well, hopefully. One of my favourite songsters is the Wren, a common bird with a very loud song and they will often perch up nicely for some shots. I managed to find or hear a few this morning and set out trying to get a few photos that I would be happy with. I found a bird which was singing nicely and settled down hoping it would pop out and continue to sing in the sunshine. It must have read my mind for it showed really well and enabled me to grab a number of pleasing shots of this little beauty that we probably hear more than we see.

Wren

Moving on I noted c300 Cormorant, 1 Kestrel, 9 Mute Swan, 3 Little Egret, 3 Ringed Plover, 58 Redshank, 7 Stonechat, 1 Shelduck, 4 Meadow Pipit, c50 Corn Bunting, 10 Oystercatcher, 3 Turnstone, 20 Reed Bunting and 1 Green Sandpiper flew out of the Oyster farm calling. There were 2 Little Grebe, 1 Rock Pipit, 6 Dunlin, 6 Curlew, 2 Mallard, c150 Brent Geese, 1 Grey Heron but no sign of the 2 Snow Buntings despite a good search. The last few birds noted were 1 Marsh Harrier, c40 Golden Plover, 6 Sanderling and before I left I went back to find the Wren which was still singing happily and posing for yet more shots. I took a number of photos of other species as the weather was so good but will use these over the next few posts or if the weather lets me down. The weather looks good again for tomorrow morning and hopefully a few birds will be in fine voice with a few more posing for the camera.

Wren