To Sea or Not to Sea!

I awoke this morning at 5.30am to the sound of a strong wind outside and after getting the flask, hat, gloves and warm coats ready I was out of the house at 6am and had a slow drive down to Reculver. The wind was forecast to be a 20mph north westerly so I hoped a few birds would be moving on the sea. After a quick cup of hot chocolate I made my way up to the towers and got into position, being joined soon after by Phil Parker and Julian and Alex Perry. The wind was quite strong but in the few hours we spent watching the sea and slowly getting cold, it was not to be a classic, although the hot chocolate was very nice. We did note a few birds however including 1 Curlew, 18 Oystercatcher, 40 Common Scoter, 3 Dunlin, 3 Pomarine Skua flew west, 11 Gannet, 1 Arctic Skua, 3 Shelduck, 1 Wigeon, c200 Cormorant, 1 Grey Plover, 2 Great crested Grebe, 1 Kittiwake, 24 Brent Geese, 2 Redshank, c20 Sanderling and 1 Eider. By mid morning it had slowed right down so I left and had a drive over to Minnis Bay where I walked up the tide line and hoped for a shot or two. Again it was pretty quiet but I did see c15 Sanderling with one allowing a quick shot before flying off.

Sanderling

There were 6 Grey Plover, 2 Redshank and 8 Turnstone. Last stop was to call in south of Reculver to see if any late dragonflies were still on the wing. 

Grey Plover

Thankfully the sun was shining and despite it being only 9 degrees celsius I managed to see 6 Common Darter, 5 males and a worm female. Will these be the last of the year I wonder?

Common Darter