And then there were two! . . .

So, given that my usual Wednesday entertainment involves myself and four friends it was a rather reduced number who ventured out this week - and two females at that!  Now I don't wish to take anything away from Irene or cause any offence, but anyone who has been out with my local RSPB group will know the ongoing joke of how many women it takes to confirm an ID - and it is fabled to be more than two!  So armed with this background we were not sure whether to wish for a new bird for our Wednesday list or to hope that we didn't have to raise the issue. 

Black-tailed Godwit and Grey Plover

The tide was out when we arrived and there were literally hundreds of black-tailed godwits feeding on the mud flats, along with oystercatchers, and some superbly coloured grey plover still in summer plumage.   There were some juveniles or winter plumage birds amongst them, but the more we looked the more we realised that the majority were the handsome strutting variety.

Black-headed gulls were paddling in the shallows, stirring up food to pick off the surface - making a lovely noise which travelled across the beach.

Out at sea several ships were waiting for the tide so that they could enter the estuary, and a couple of fishing boats were trawling off Sheppey attracting large groups of gulls.  

Linnet

As we moved along the coast towards the old quarries there were lots of blackberries already ripened, unfortunately we didn't have anything to collect them in.   Further along there was a small apple tree which was loaded with fruits - all on the land side and a discussion on the benefits of pies and crumbles kept us going for several yards, until we were disturbed by a little grebe, little egret, and a flock of linnet.   The linnet were mostly juvenile with short wings and downy feathers still showing, there was only one adult showing colour on the chest.

White Mellitot

In the surrounding bushes there were whitethroat, blue tit, great tit, and blackbirds, but try as we might we could not find any other migrants.   As we had been away from the coast for some while the tide had come in since we were last by the sea and we wandered back towards the car park and took lunch on the bench nearby.   

In the afternoon we decided to try the moat and orchard area where there are lots of shrubby bushes which should be idea for migrants to rest and feed in.

We spent a long time enjoying a group of eight blackbirds chasing about in a tree and diving out to feed on berries before hiding in the depths of the tree again.   We also heard robin and wren.

Berries for blackbirds

As we moved around the orchard area I noticed a hobby flying towards us, as we followed it with our binoculars we watched it take an insect and feed mid-airm before flying off towards Sheppey.   In the orchard area there were once again huge numbers of apples and blackberries just ripe for the picking - we sampled a couple of the berries which were sweet and once again regretted not having anything to collect them in.

Eventually, we gave up and made our way back to the car park for the journey home.