Reculver

There's nothing quite like a day at the seaside - especially when there are grey skies and showers, but with some positive thinking and a cup of tea in a nearby café anything can be achieved.

. . . . . . or so we hoped . . . . . .

but with a strong breeze coming in off the sea and a high tide, it was not going to be an easy day to find birds - or anything else for that matter!

Reculver Beach

Around Reculver Towers is the spot for Black Redstart, but with lots of holiday visitors, many with dogs, even the feral pigeons were moving away so it wasn't going to show off.

Eventually I found it on the concrete breakwater below the Towers, flitting around and being blown by the wind.   Sally and I had good views, if a little quick, before we called the others.   Unfortunately, it flew off west and despite our best endeavours we could not find it again.

Along the promenade, did catch up with Turnstone, Ringed Plover and a possible Sanderling on the beach just before a roaming dog put them up.

Inland, there were eight Little Egret roosting on the leeward side of a tree - again, they were disturbed by a passing walker.

Looking back to the Towers in the distance

As avian delights were not going to be too obtainable today, we moved to insects and plants.   This was helped by Malcolm's cap blowing off and requiring a rather long detour to retrieve it from below the seawall.

Fleabane was flowering well, and knapweeds and thistles were providing vital food for many insects.  These were enjoying the shelter inside the seawall.   Stonecrop had flowered and made a great architectural study.

What was really interesting were the number of snails we found.  Although some of the shells were empty, the majority had pale inhabitants, many of them clustered around the base of wild carrot.   It was quite a feat not to step on them, the crunch of broken snail shells is not something I like, and luckily the few I did not miss were empty, but I did look as if I was doing some strange dance on occasions.

Apples and sloes were fruiting well, and thoughts turned to apple and blackberry crumble, and lunch!
Not before we noticed a few insects - which are becoming a new interest for me, but I have only managed one identification:

Hoverfly - Syrphus ribseii?

After lunch we set of for Grove Ferry, and the viewpoint from where there were some very distant Black-tailed Godwit, and a sandpiper that may have been the Wood Sandpiper reported.   It was too far for me to be happy, just a 'peep with long-ish legs!   Ringed Plover a little nearer was far less of a challenge.

From the David Feast Hide there were varied ducks in eclipse, but we managed to work out Mallard, Teal, Gadwall, Pochard and Shoveler.
They look so different out of their full plumage.