With Mark and Elizabeth Rye Harbour and RSPB Dungeness

 Saturday 5th March 2022

Martin and I joined Mark and Elizabeth and their friend for a most welcome visit to Rye Harbour NNR.  It was a bit colder today but it was dry and calm.  The reserve was teeming with birds so we were confident of seeing something special today - we did!

 

The target species were green-winged teal, Iceland gull and spoonbill.

 

•  It didn't take long to find the green-winged teal - it was associating with the other teal in the channel by the visitor centre.  The best views were when it was swimming around.  It spent most of the time out of the water  however in the nearby vegetation but it was nearly always in view.  A very well behaved bird, with its characteristic vertical white bar across the side of the breast.

courtesy of David Campbell on Twitter

                                           

                      courtesy of KevEllse on Twitter                    

• Not long after, a fellow birder drew our attention to the Iceland gull.  It was initially just a head view, as the bird was behind a grassy verge on Flat Beach, but it soon took flight and we were able to get excellent views to confirm the ID.

courtesy of Garry Wotton on Twitter

• Things were going rather well with other species too with plenty of golden plover, ringed plover, dunlin, snipe and avocets around, just to add a bit more flavour.
• I saw my first Mediterranean gulls of the year while looking for the Iceland gull.
• Surprisingly, there were at least 4 Sandwich terns showing well;  they surely must have returned weeks earlier than normal. 
• After lunch we headed out to the Salt Pool to look for the long-staying spoonbill.  It wasn't there when we arrived but a few minutes later I saw it fly in and land in its usual place and from there on we were able to enjoy excellent views.

courtesy of Martin Jeffree

                                                                                    courtesy of Martin Jeffree

We then headed off to Dungeness NR for the late pm session.

I was hoping to find more hides had been opened but it was the opposite - a further 2 hides had been condemned since my last visit.  Apparently the plan is to provide more "lookouts".

• I managed to see my first sparrowhawk of the year, it was having an altercation with a carrion crow. 

Rich pickings at Rye Harbour - wonderful!

 Year total - 150