Glossy Ibis & Black Kite

Lade - cool, sunny, nw 6 - What a difference a day makes with a cold front from the north sending temperatures into single figures and a blasting north-westerly that picked up to near gale force by late afternoon with showers. Consequently birding was hard going over the pits as we worked our way round to the causeway seeing very little apart from the usual wildfowl in the sheltered middle section.
I decided to seek shelter in the wooded area at the bottom of Dunes Road where we picked up a Grey Wagtail, Swallow and 2 House Martins overhead, plus Jay, Greenfinch, Chiffchaffs, Blackbird, Robin, Wren, Blue and Great Tits in the scrub, while a Comma and several Red Admirals were noted on ivy flowers.
Littlestone - Checked the foreshore at several locations to nail the remaining shorebirds: Turnstone 40, Ringed Plover 5 and a single Redshank, plus improved views of Barwit, Sanderling, Dunlin and Curlew.
Burrowes - Back to the bird reserve where the Tree Sparrows obliged at Boulderwall. From Burrowes a Glossy Ibis (205) had just been reported and we eventually had protracted flight views from Dennis`s as it flew around the north end of the pit before eventually settling down near 4 Great White Egrets, 6 Littles and 5 Grey Herons. Other waders noted from the VC included Little Stint, 3 Snipe, 2 Barwits and a Grey Plover.
In summary we finished off with 101 species over the three days with the highlights for Dave and June being the raptors, waders and two rarities - Dotteral and Glossy Ibis.
Lade  - As I was saying farewell to our guests SB phoned through a Black Kite (206) that flew over Boulderwall heading towards the airport. I smartly hot-footed down Taylor Road and across the shingle to the main track from where I had distant views of the kite as it emerged from the back of the `mirrors`. It kept low in the scudding wind and headed back towards Lydd where it was last seen again by SB flying towards the ranges. Needless to say both the ibis and kite were new for the Marsh year list. What a funny old game birding is, who would have predicted two such birds on a day with such adverse weather.