Seymour Birdies Diary: Waders in Action at Oare Marshes

16th October 2018

This time an Autumn visit to Oare Marshes to see what was around. The East Flood looked superb with plenty of exposed mud and shallow pools, but sadly most of the birds were fairly distant. By the road, instead of the usual flock of Black-tailed Godwits feeding close by, today there was just a single bird, a small flock of Lapwings and a lone Dunlin.

Later in the day, after being spooked a few times, some Golden Plover flew into the bay by the road, the closeset I have ever seen them at Oare. That, comblined with beautiful light conditions, allowed some decent shots to be taken.

I then decided to have a walk along the bank of the Swale. The tide was out and had exposed great swathes of what appeared to be Bladderwrack. This looked ideal habitat for Rock Pipits so I walked slowly along scouring the seaweed in front of me and eventually detected some movement. Not a Rock Pipit, but a Meadow Pipit which rather obligingly sat up for some photos.

Back at the East Flood and the Spoonbill had re-appeared from behind one of the islands and was feeding out in the open. A little too far really, but at least I manged to get some record shots.

Well, not doing too badly so far, but I thought I would spend the rest of the day trying to get some action shots. First to come along was the lone Black-tailed Godwit which wheeled into position and then strutted around until it settled. A Lapwing also joined in the display.

But the stars today were the Golden Plover which kept on getting spooked. Unlike other species which land again as quickly as possible after the danger has passed, Golden Plover drift around high in the sky, and gradually lose height. This, however, might take 10 laps of the area which gives far more opportunities. Here is a selection of the shots that I took.