Grey Phalarope & Beluga Whale.

Jimmy & I needed to get out to do some birding so we decide to head to Bough beech in Sevenoaks Kent as a Grey Pharalope has been about for a few days, so as we need one for a tick we think we have a fair chance of seeing this one.
We set off around 6 am & arrive at a very misty Bough beech before 7 am.A scan of the large pool gets us no luck & it's over half an hour before a local birder turns up & tells us to look at a smaller pool down the road & bingo on the pool on it's own is our year tick
I don't think we would have found the bird without the fellows help as we never knew there was a smaller pool down the road so good on him.
Last Thursday my wife Jean wanted to head to Gravesend to see if we could see the Beluga Whale that had appeared in the Thames estuary some days earlier.so Jimmy comes with us as you don't get to see one of these & it's a once in a life time for us.
We park by the pub as told to do & walk over a mile along the river till we meet up with a group of around 100 people all hoping to get a look at the whale.
Didn't have to wait long before the whale swam down towards the barges & then went back up the river & repeated the same pattern every 5 minutes or so.
In all we got over twenty sighting of the whale.Let's hope it find it's way back to the sea in good health.

The Phalarope

Benny the Beluga Whale

Heron at Sevonoaks N R