Monday 21 January 2013

Rainham all to myself

As I was working local I paid a visit to Rainham today. I had the place to myself with the cold weather putting off all but the hardiest. The drive was hazardous and two cars had been abandoned on the road leading to the car park. (I was glad to be in the wifes 4x4).
The Stone Barges
On arrival I quickly found my first Jack Snipe of 2013 (139) and shortly after my second appeared as it was  flushed with Snipe. It seemed every step I took a Snipe flew up from the foreshore making that distinctive grunt as they flew.
Curlew over the Thames
12 Curlew appeared and both Lapwing and Redshank were also seen .
Teal, Wigeon and Shoveler represented the ducks on the Thames and a Water Pipit was located along with a couple of Mipits. A large flock of 30+ Skylarks (140) took flight as I headed round to scope the gulls on the tip. Scoping the gulls on the river and those on the tip I found two Yellow Legged (141) and eventually to my relief a single Caspian Gull (142) amongst them. Not an easy task with the volume of gulls involved.
Gulls on the Tip
Gulls on the Thames
The weekend was a wash out with work and snow preventing any degree of birding so it was nice to get a little in today.

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