We have found it hard to get any birding in lately, Brian has been very busy with his in-laws and we had the bad news that his mother-in-law had passed away a couple of days ago. We had a short trip to our local reserve at Rainham Marshes where a Long-billed Dowitcher had been seen. Brian was at his son's house when the bird was reported that is only 10 minutes away from the reserve, so he popped in to get a year tick,
We find out that this is a first for Rainham, so we meet up the day after and head there to get the year tick as well, It was very easy to see as it was only down the ramp from the visitor center on Purfleet Scrape. It was really nice to meet up with Marko while here.
We then walk along the Thames path and get another year tick when we see a Water Pipit, so a good little trip.
Brian popped in to see us this morning after dealing with all the stuff that he has to deal with at the moment. We decided to get a break with a short trip to Staines reservoir as a Lapland Bunting had been reported and we needed it for a year tick. On arrival, we park on the grass verge and take the short walk up the ramp we see a few birders and walk up to them and the Bunting is there only a few yards away, a lovely little bird and not at all bothered about us being there. We also see a couple of Black-neck Grebe not needed for a tick but nice to see them.
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| The Lapland Bunting |
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| Long-billed Dowitcher |
