Rest Harrow Scrape Sandwich

I had to go and see Ian Hodgson, the Warden at Sandwich Bay Bird Observatory this morning, so I popped into the hide at the scrape for a quick look on the way back. Fresh water is a habitat that we don't have at St Margaret's, apart from a couple of ponds and a few puddles. The picture above is my quiz bird, the answer is a the end of the posting (no don't look yet!).

Many of the birds were at the far end of the scrape, in this view a Curlew is joined by lots of bathing Starlings, with Teal and Gadwall in the background as well as Jackdaws and a Black-headed Gull.

A few drake Shovelers were just beginning to regain the colourful breeding plumage after being in eclipse while moulting.

I couldn't resist this, I think they're two Australian supporters averting their eyes from the score board!

There were a few Lapwings about, a bird that is strangely unusual at St Margaret's, considering all the farmland we have around.

One one of the small eyelets a Little Stint was joined by a Starling, showing just how small the Stint is.

A bit more of the mystery bird.

For a while the Little Stint was joined by a Dunlin, but they were nervous and didn't hand around long.

This Dabchick or Little Grebe was continually diving in front of the hide, but even taking several frames a second I found it hard to get a good sequence of its diving action, as you can see by the mystery photo's above.