Shorelark

Or should it be Shore Lark or perhaps more correctly Horned Lark. Whatever the name it is a relatively rare bird and a much sought after prize at this time of year. I have never seen one in Sussex so the quest has always involved a trip to the north Kent coast. Previous years it has been to Reculver but this year one was being reported at Minster on Sheppey.

The birds tend to frequent shingle beaches feeding along the strandline and usually have a small territory to which they stay quite loyal. We knew where to look for this one and despite a fisherman, with three or four rods, having set up in the middle of its territory, it was not too difficult to locate. We had good views but picture opportunities were a bit limited. There were regular disturbances from dog walkers, litter collectors and some of the more ignorant members of the Minster community but, a bit like a Snow Bunting, the bird just flew off, circled and then relocated close by.

At one point the bird flew up on to a rock and offered great picture opportunities if we could just get a little closer but we missed the opportunity when the bird was flushed by a passer-by.

As well as the Shorelark, Sheppey offered the opportunity of seeing a Richard's Pipit. We drove to the other end of the island and down a potholed dirt track to the the little hamlet of Shellness. This is about as remote as you can get in the Southeast of England. We parked up and walked a couple of hundred metres out into the Swale NNR. 

The pipit was a bit harder to find but we did get some help from one of the local birders. It stayed in the long grass and gave very few picture opportunities. The pictures shown here are just record shots. They are posted small as they are heavy crops and poor quality but they do at least show sufficient detail to confirm the sighting as a Richard's Pipit.

Sheppey is always good for raptors and we saw quite a few circling high in the sky. Buzzards, Red Kites, Marsh Harriers, and Hen Harriers. Others also had sight of a male Hen Harrier but I could not get onto it. I had to make do with Dave's commentary of its progress through the sky. A pity but I doubt that I could have been confident with the identification at the distances involved.

Shorelark

Reculver had been looking to be worth a visit for a few days. Shorelark, Snow Bunting, Lapland Bunting, and Desert Wheatear had all been present and showing well. Unfortunately other commitments had kept me away over the weekend, so Monday it was pick up Dave and head over to Kent to see if there was anything left. From reports it looked as though the Lapland bunting had gone but we were hopeful of the other three.

Delaying to the Monday was good in one respect in that whilst there were a few birders about we had missed out on the twitch that would have taken place over the weekend. Unfortunately we had also missed out on the Desert Wheatear that appeared to have moved on overnight. I was not too worried at this, the year tick would have been nice but we had good photographs of this bird from one that had turned up at Worthing in October 2012. The Shorelark was the main target of the day.

A walk along the sea wall from Reculver Castle towards Coldharbour Lagoon soon found us in the right area but with the usual message of "its just flown you should have been here ten minutes ago". We only had a short wait before it returned and gave good views and with the clouds clearing we also had good lighting, a rare combination.

The Snow Buntings proved a bit harder to find but we eventually caught up with them.

There was a large supporting cast of birds just off the sea wall and plenty of picture opportunities.

Dunlin

Juvenile Ringed Plover

Stonechat

Turnstones

Cormorant

Kestrel

Early afternoon and we set off for home with a planned stop off at Oare Marshes. There was the nagging suspicion that the Desert Wheatear would turn up just after we left but overall we were happy with pictures that we had managed to get.

Oare marshes always gives you plenty of birds to look at, so much so that it is often impossible to get a decent picture, but what you do get is a great atmosphere. As you open the car door a wall of noise hits you and there is continual movement as birds move around and squabble for the standing room that is in short supply and flocks of different birds swirl overhead.

Standing room only

Pintails against a wall of Waders

Black-tailed Godwits in flight

It was a long way to drive for a non twitcher but we had a great days birding. Reculver is a place I will be going back to. It has the one thing missing along the South Coast, the sun is over your shoulder when you are taking pictures out to sea.