Migrant Delivery at Reculver

With plenty of migrants seemingly around at the moment and a good number at Reculver, I decided to have an early walk this morning. I left home this morning at 5.30am where I drove around the lanes listening for any birds singing and ideally a Nightingale but despite stopping at various locations, there doesn't seem to have been any arrived here yet. As the light picked up, I drove over to the towers and parked up and in windless conditions with light cloud and occasional sunny spells, I walked down the seawall to Coldharbour where I then walked inland to check the bushes before walking back the way I had came. It was a fantastic morning to be out, plenty of birds singing and showing nicely and a few photo opportunities come my way. Having watched Reculver for a number of years, I have only ever seen Purple Sandpiper on a couple of occasions and my only shots consist of a distant bird at Minnis Bay. With 2 birds being seen of late on the rocks at Reculver, I hoped to see them and if possible, improve on my shots of this species which wouldn't be too hard. As I walked down the seawall I could see a group of Turnstone on the rocks and in with them were 2 Purple Sandpiper. At this early hour, the light was not good but I took a few shots of them and hoped they would still be there when I returned and a few hours later, they were indeed still there and with the sun out, I spent a while sitting nearby and taking a number of pleasing images of these scarce birds.

Purple Sandpiper

Other birds noted today included 2 Cuckoo, 5 Blackcap, 9 Whitethroat, 2 Green Woodpecker, 2 Kestrel, 7 Reed Warbler, 8 Stock Dove, 13 Whimbrel, c15 Linnet, 5 Reed Bunting, 2 Ringed Plover, 2 Little Egret, 18 Sedge Warbler, 4 Oystercatcher, 6 Shelduck, 3 Redshank, 1 Greenshank and 2 Shoveler. There were 7 Yellow Wagtail with a stunning male in song which allowed me to fire off a few shots.

Yellow Wagtail

Also seen were 14 Shoveler, 6 Mediterranean Gull, 5 Wheatear, 5 Skylark, 6 Common Scoter west,  c30 Sand Martin, 2 Lapwing, 2 Cetti's Warbler, 2 Chiffchaff, 9 Greylag Geese flew north, 1 Hobby flew through west at speed, 1 Common Buzzard, 9 Swallow, 1 Grey Heron, 2 Lesser Whitethroat and at Chambers Wall, 3 Ring Ouzel dropped out of the sky from a height and landed in the bushes. A superb morning, both from a bird point of view and the weather. Just what I needed.