Red-necked Phalarope

Warm and showery AM, dry and sunny PM, SW5 - A cracking day guiding for Clare and Peter started with a one hour seawatch from the hide (0900-1000hrs) which saw a steady passage of seabirds down Channel including: 100 auks, 50 Gannet, 10 Kittiwake, a Shelduck, two Mallard, 20 Teal, 25 Pintail, a Scaup, 250 Common Scoter and six Red-breasted Merganser, plus three Mediterranean Gulls, two Sandwich Terns and an Arctic Skua tooing and froing. Around the point plenty of Goldfinches, a few Chaffinches, Linnets and Meadow Pipits, while a circuit of the moat produced several each of Blackbird, Song Thrush, Redwing, Fieldfare, Chiffchaff, Stonechat, a Goldcrest and two Firecrests.

                                  Red-necked Phalarope, Rye Harbour

                                  Redshank, Rye Harbour

Moving onto Rye Harbour and the Beach Reserve where waders included 20 Dabchicks, 100 Goldies and a scattering of Lapwings, Dunlins, Sanderlings, Grey Plovers, Curlews, Wigeons, Pintails, Little Egrets and a Sparrowhawk round the Beach Reserve. We yomped down to Harbour Farm pools where we eventually connected with the juvenile Red-necked Phalarope that had been present since last weekend. All in all a pretty good three days birding for Clare and Peter during which time we racked up exactly 100 species of birds.