Just a few photos from last week from Sandwich & Oare marsh.

Wilson's Phalarope at Vange year tick.

Picked Brian up after he had finished work & head to Vange for the Phalarope that had been there for the last week.
A few people are on site & we are told that the bird is still about, it's soon picked out a long way off but we get really good scope views of the bird, so another year tick & only the second Wilson's that I have seen the other was on the Isle of Wight a couple of years ago.
Brian meets a nice couple from north Wales that follow his blog, always nice to put faces to names.
We spend a few hours looking out over the scrape for any thing else & we see a Little Stint, a few Spotted Redshank, Ruff,Ringed Plover, & a maybe Wood sandpiper.
Before we head home it's off to Wat Tyler to try to spot the Glossy Ibis as it comes in to roost.
It's not to be today but a nice time spent in the hide with some nice people so a good afternoon birding & the third tick of the last few days one being a mega so not a bad few days getting the list moving again.

Right place right time to get Acadian Flycatcher, Dungeness.

On a few days break with my good lady on the Kent coast, I had just parked up to have a look around the Dover area when my phone goes off, it's Jimmy to tell me a mega had just been reported at Dungeness, It's only 29 miles so I just had to head off there.
The journey seemed to take ages with road works & getting every traffic light on the way.
On arrival people are spread out all over the shingle by the boats & containers, I speak to a fellow & he tells me he had seen the bird a couple of hours ago & that we are looking where he had seen it but it had not been seen since.
It's not a very nice day with a lot of rain about, where ever you looked people were searching for the bird. After about an hour I just happen to look back towards the path where the houses are & a fellow was waving towards us so I call out to all around me & we all head over with great pace to the garden of one of the houses & pretty soon a group of maybe a hundred are looking at this cracking little mega bird, at first it's seen on the house gutter & then it drops onto a bench by the front door & then goes back & forth to the over bench on the over side of the door, it then keeps popping up on top of a water butt at the side of the house.
I had the camera out but it was to quick for me to get anything worth having, but before I leave John Pringle turns up & he gets some great shots & better still he has sent me a couple of great photos of the bird so thanks very much to him for that.
With this mega ticked time to head back to Dover to finish what we were doing before the phone call.
Next day I head off to Sandwich Bay & at the bird observatory I am told that a Red- footed Falcon was just down the road , so a quick walk with a couple of other birders down the field by the river & over the railway line to roaring gutter just by Worth marsh where I get a quick view of the Falcon before it flies off a post & up into the trees, one of the over fellows gets his scope onto it but it's pretty much hidden so with Jean waiting in the car I can't give it any more time so the camera stays in the bag, shame as I am told later that it was there all day & the post was it's favourite spot, still another year tick not to bad a mega one day & a nice year tick on the next.

 John Pringle's photo.

The Acadian Flycatcher

Day at Minsmere

Meet up with Brian & at 5am & head to Minsmere, a Barred warbler & a Wryneck have been about for a couple of days & Brian needed both for a tick, Jimmy & myself had seen both last week,Brian had to do something called work so he missed them when we had them at Wanstead & Staines moor.
Well before 7 we are looking over the bushes at Whin hill, after an hour along with a few other early risers we give up & head to the main car park & walk the main track up to the beach, on the way we see a flock of over twenty Bearded tits fly about over the reeds, a few land to give good scope views.
Once on the beach it's a walk down to the sluice where a good number of birders had gathered looking for the B warbler, some had been looking since first light but it had not been seen.
So we scan all the bushes & pick out a couple of Redstart & many Whitethroat a few Lesser Whitethroat, the odd Wheatear, plenty of Stonechat a couple of Whinchat plus a large flock of Goldfinch pass over, but no sign of the Warbler over the next three hours we spent here.
Somebody posted as seeing the bird around the time we are here & at the place where we are all looking & nobody else managed to see it, seems a bit strange with so many people all watching over those bushes ( only saying).A quick look over the scrape gets us a few Spotted Redshanks, Godwits, Avocets, a single Snipe pops up, Ruff, Dunlin, Grey plover also seen Marsh harriers, Kestrel, Sparrowhawk, make it a good morning birding.
The pager tells us that the Wryneck had just been seen so a quick walk back to the car for the short trip back to Whin hill.
A lot more people here now & it's only a short while before Brian gets his year tick, good views with the scope but to far for any good photos in fact the camera really never got going today for me.
A nice day without getting any new year ticks but a lot going on here today.

In the bag, Barred Warbler. Staines.

With Brian working & us needing a Barred Warbler for a year tick Jimmy & myself are up & out by 5 AM & by 6 we are looking at the Hawthorn trees at Staines moor on the right of the second bridge as you walk north. It turns out to be quite a long walk before we find the right spot that the bird had been seen for the last few days.
Only three other people on site when we arrive, one of them being Dan a nice fellow that I meet for the first time in Hertfordshire when looking for a L S Woodpecker, really nice to meet up with him again.
It's not to long before we see the target in flight first & then it drops onto the bramble bush growing around the Hawthorn tree, it is only a short view but long enough to get a great look at it.
Then we watch as it makes it's way down the row of Hawthorns & bramble that gives us one more look at it as it very briefly lands & sits before dropping out of sight.A nice looking 1st winter bird.
Neville turns up Plus John & some more familiar faces making it about 30 or more birders looking for it but over the next two hours before we head off home the Warbler doesn't show, that just proves that the early bird really dose get what he's looking for.

Year list now sitting on 248

Two nice trips to Wanstead for Wryneck

Up early on Tuesday to head to Wanstead for the reported Wryneck, we spend an hour or so on our own just looking about the bushes without finding the bird.
As the morning goes on other people turn up & it was nice to see Marco, Nick, Barry, John, plus a few other familiar faces, I always like meeting up with all the people that we see all over the place at different locations it really makes the hobby of bird watching a more pleasant occasion for me.
After a few more hours spent looking I find the bird low in a bush I give a call to the others but it had gone before Jimmy got round to it, so we keep looking & Barry had gone round the other side of the bushes & he calls us round as it had just sat up, when we got there it had gone again, so after a short time we head home with Jimmy only having got a flight view.
So up early this morning to try again to get Jimmy a better view this time, once again some nice people are here looking for the Wryneck, one being Stuart have not seen him for a long time so nice to see him & also got talking to a few faces that we have seem else where.
The target bird shows after a couple of hours & I manage to get my camera somewhere near looking at the bird so a record shot got.
Jimmy had once again missed this view but he's turn came a short time later when he finds it himself to get a really good look as it sits up for a few seconds around the other side of the bushes.
There is a lot of other birds in the area we see many Spotted Flycatcher, Pied Fly, Whinchat, Chiffchaff, Willow warbler, a couple of Wheatear fly over,Whitethroat & Lesser whitethroat are seen all over the place. So a couple of nice days spent here & the added bonus of being only a few miles from home. We must get over here more often.

The only photo I got, the other 3 only show the bush with no bird