Monday 15 January 2018

Capel Fleet & Shellness gets us 7 ticks.

We pick up Brian & head off to Capel Fleet in Kent arriving at first light, we stop half way down the track to watch a Barn Owl flying low across the field a good start to our day.
At the mound  a single Hen Harrier is soon spotted along with many Marsh Harrier. The place is full of flocks of Linnet & Corn Bunting on the wires & dropping onto the road to drink gives us good entertainment for the whole time we are here.
 A dead Swan brings the Hooded Crow into eat for a good year tick.Buzzards are seen at regular intervals one looking very light but we soon ruled out it being the Rough leg.
On leaving the hill we stop half way up the exit road to scan some Geese & get lucky when we get 3 year ticks with many White-fronted Geese along with a few Barnacle Geese & we also spot 3 Whooper Swans.
It's off to Shellness to scan for Lapland Bunting. A walk along the sea wall gets Jimmy & I a couple of ticks when we see a single Knot & loads of Sandling. All along the beach on all the posts the place is alive with Redshank, Dunling,Oystercatcher,Turnstone & one Grey Plover.
We scan the opposite fields but it is hard work finding the Bunting, it takes more than an hour before Brian gets us onto a single Lapland Bunting & a few Snow Buntings to give us 7 day ticks.
Before going home we pop into Oare Marsh but the Dowitcher is not seen despite it being reported at the place we are scanning,still that's life I suppose. A really good day's birding spoilt a little bit by wasting our time at Oare when we should have called it a day & gone home.

The Knot
Some of the Birds on the beach
                                                                 
                                                                             
A Kestrel feeding on the Swan
The light coloured Buzzard

                                                                   

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