Up & down day at Rye & Dungeness.

We set off 4.30 am in search of the Terek Sandpiper at Rye Harbour & arrive around 6 am.
It is a misty old morning & a lot colder than the last few days have been.
A search off all the pools over a two hour period gets us no luck with the Terek, so we pop into a couple of hides & the islands are full of Med Gulls & Sandwich Terns 6 Ringed plover,one Little-ringed Plover,2 Common Sandpiper all nice but not our target bird.
Disappointed we head off to Dungeness & head to Dengemarsh Road in search of the reported Hoopoe.
After an hour or so we hear that a Kentish Plover is on Burrowers pit so that's where we head too where we find Dennis hide packed out, after squeezing in we all get a good view of the a cracking looking bird.
We are set to move out of the hide so others can get in to view the Plover when the pager tells us the Hoopoe has been seen again at Dengemarsh rd.
We are round there in minutes but have to wait about 30 minutes before the shout goes up it's in flight being mobbed by some Magpies.
It flies across the field then lands & then it's up again to fly back to where it came from to give good views to the small crowd that had gathered to see it.
A quick look for the Bee-eater is in vain so we head off to Elmley so we could get some photo opportunities as is usual for us when we we have been to Dunge always a nice way to finish the day off.

Elmley Always a good place to find Yellow Wagtail

Elmley again

Corn Bunting not seen one here before at Elmley

Redshank

Little Egret

The beautiful Kentish Plover what a cracker.

Great day in Norfolk Purple Heron & Dotterel.

As we near Docking where the Dotterel's have been reported, we make a decision to head off to Cley to look for the Purple Heron first & that was a great choice as we only just got up the bank where the bird was being seen & we got so lucky as we got on the Heron straight away & got a good look at it before a Lapwing attacked it & we got a good flight view before it flew out of sight.
So with the bird flying so far away we head off to Docking & after 20 minutes we get lucky again when 3 Dotterel's are spotted in the field apposite the one  where we where looking & the fellow that found them calls us over & we get some good scope views.
Off now to Titchwell where we get on a couple of Red-crested Pochard to give us all a year tick & then up on the beach another tick when we watch a few Little-Terns fly about in front of us to give great entertainment.
We spend a few hours here & with the sun shinning on us it was a really nice day & it gets better for me as we are heading  back to the car a Spoonbill drops in to give me another year tick,the boys already had that for a tick.
So off home with 5 year ticks  & a very nice day had by all.

Purple Heron

Little Tern