Ring-necked Duck

The last few weeks have failed to deliver any good bird photography opportunities and very few good birds. There have been one or two in the area migrating through but they have not stayed long and I have failed to connect with most of them. Meanwhile my birding buddy Dave has been off in Tenerife filling his memory cards with Blue Chaffinch and other endemics (see here).

All a bit depressing really. So today I decided on a trip down to Dungeness with the main target the Garganey reported on Cook's Pool. "Should have been here yesterday" - there was no sign of the Garganey all day. However, I did get some decent views of the Ring-necked Duck. I had taken pictures of it in January and had seen it a couple of times since but it had always been distant. This time it was close to the front edge of the pool.

Ring-necked Duck

I then set off on a walk around the RSPB Reserve searching all the pools and headgerows. Lots of birds but nothing unusual and all a bit distant. Although from the reports there was an Osprey through just after I left the area.


I did think about going down the the lighthouse area to look for Black Redstarts but in the end decided to spend the afternoon at Rye Harbour. A chance for a nice long walk and some more very distant birds. It is clearly the place to go if you like Black-headed Gulls but there were also good numbers of Mediterranean Gulls, Avocets, and Ringed Plover amongst the other birds. It's strange how we just take Avocets for granted these days but they are a really elegant bird.

Avocets

Skylark

Black Redstarts seem to have been around in good numbers this year. The bird below was taken in the churchyard at Church Norton.

And a Long-tailed Tit, always nice to photograph.

All a bit quiet really. I am begining to remember why I always look forward to the start of the Butterfly and Dragonfly seasons.