October 2008
My 3rd new bird in as many days.
29/10/08
A distant Red (Grey) Phalarope seen at Seasalter.
What with the Green Heron and the Red Breasted Fly-catcher, my 3rd new bird in as many days was seen today, at Seasalter. I set off from home and arrived at Oare Marshes, and was looking at a pair of Little Stints, that dropped into the East Flood right in front of me. Mike Gould, whom I met in the pull in between the floods, took a phone call, which alerted him to a possible Red (Grey) Phalarope, sitting on the sea at Seasalter. Being a bird that I had never seen, I followed Mike to Seasalter, and we walked along the beach, and found the bird about 50 metres from the shore line right in front of us. It was very flighty, taking off and flying around, before settling back on the sea again, and it was on one of these excursions that I managed a photo of it, but it was from some distance. It gave me a chance to try out my new 100 - 400mm Canon zoom lens, which was the reason for my outing today. We watched the bird for a while, before losing site of it, catching a brief glimpse of it an hour later, but flying further out to sea. There were several Turnstones, and Ring Plover along the shore line, with a few Dunlin seen as well. Curlew, Grey Heron and Little Egret were noted, as was a Kingfisher, fishing from a moored boat. Redshank were seen as the tide left the beach, with Oyster-catchers and the usual mix of Gulls.