BOOM!!! 2 juv Spotted Redshank at Black Hole Marsh

Something fairly (only fairly, unfortunately) scarce new in at last! Steve found 2 Spotted Redshank on the estuary this afternoon so I headed down as soon as I got out of work. They'd moved to Black Hole Marsh by then and remained frustratingly distant at 100m ish. They flew over the estuary at around 19:20 and haven't been seen since, fingers crossed they'll be posing nicely on BHM when I arrive at 06:00 tomorrow morning!

Also there are a few pics from this morning. The Dunlin ones are a tad grainy as the light was rather lacking at 06:30, and I was using high ISO to freeze some bathing action with the Dunlin. I'm quite pleased with how they came out considering the circumstances.

Dunlin

Dunlin

Dunlin

Spotted Redshank

Spotted Redshank

Showing both Spotted Redshank

Female Kingfisher at 06:30

More from Black Hole Marsh, surely the best place in South West for wader pics?!?!

Much the same at Black Hole Marsh today with a few extra Dunlin but no Little Stint. Tim Wright found a Knot on the estuary this evening, I was planning on paying Beer Head another visit but went to see the Knot instead as it's the first one we've had this year. Here's a few pics from today and one of the Little Stint from midweek:

Little Stint

Common Sandpiper

Common Sandpiper

Cormorant

Curlew Sandpiper

Curlew Sandpiper

Curlew Sandpiper

Curlew Sandpiper

Ringed Plover

Knot

Migrants and scarcities photo catch up!

Again I'm pushed for time so just a few pics to post. I went out super early this morning (only had until 07:30 due to work) but unfortunately this was too early to see the Marsh Harrier. Bit of a shame with all the hours I've been putting in lately. Take a look at Karen's blog for some decent pics of it; it must've been showing very well for her after I had to leave to go to work!
Other birds of interest lately have been:
At Beer Head: Whinchat, Tree Pipit, Wheatear, Yellow Wagtail and I found a juv Pied Flycatcher which was a patch first for me.
And at Black Hole Marsh: BLACK TERN, Curlew Sandpiper, Little Stint, and Yellow Wagtail. I also found a 2nd Cuckoo during one of my morning checks and it's been seen every day since.

Wheatear

Whinchat

Black Tern

Black Tern

Black Tern

Curlew Sandpiper

Curlew Sandpiper

Curlew Sandpiper

The light was terrible for the Yellow Wagtail pics but they're my best to date so here they are:

Yellow Wagtail

Yellow Wagtail

Yellow Wagtail

Little Stint

Curlew Sandpiper, Turnstone and Snipe portraits...

There's so much to put up on here but with so many birds on patch I just can't get around to it! Here's a few from (very) early this morning:

Black Hole Marsh Overrun with FLOCK of CURLEW SANDPIPER

Okay so perhaps that's a slight exaggeration. I found the nice adult Curlew Sandpiper on Saturday morning but yesterday 9 juvs joined it! That's an unprecedented number for here and an amazing sight. Not much time to blog so this is just a quick one; I've had a brilliant couple of days on patch. Beer Head seemed like the place to be this weekend so I headed up there before the others yesterday morning and was rewarded with Wheatear, Whinchat, Tree Pipit, Willow Warbler, Spotted Flycatcher and Pied Flycatcher. I then briefly popped over to Black Hole Marsh after eating my 2nd breakfast and timed it to perfection by complete chance. A pale juv Black Tern was grounded and distantly viewable from Island Hide. I tried again late afternoon as Steve Waite sent out the message of there being 10 Curlew Sandpiper, and managed some frustratingly distant pics of them, as well as of a juv Turnstone which was new in. Last bit of excitement of the day for me was 2 Hobby which were dive-bombing over the estuary!

Now onto today... I went to Black Hole Marsh for my usual 6am slot to try and get better views; they were still distant but it was nice to see another Cuckoo. I quickly sent out the message as I thought it looked like a different bird, seemingly younger than the one I posted about a couple of weeks ago. I saw it again this evening but it was still distant which didn't help to decipher any differing characteristics between this and the previous one. It'd been 10 days since the last sighting so chances our mine was a new one anyway. I have dozens of pics to post but haven't got time to sort them out at the moment- too many birds about to warrant staying in on the computer sorting out pics! Here's one though.

2 Curlew Sandpiper

SUPERB Curlew Sandpiper

I was determined to get some better pics of the Curlew Sandpiper which I found on Black Hole Marsh yesterday morning. I was once again there before 06:00 this morning but the light was tricky with it being dark to begin with but then too overpowering when the sun came out. Thankfully it later became nicely overcast (better for photographs) and here's some of the results:

Being at Black Hole Marsh by 6am finally pays off!

I've been at Black Hole Marsh regularly by 6am for the last few days and it's been nice to have the place to myself (what normal person get's up at that time?). I discovered something new in this morning, a Curlew Sandpiper; always that little more satisfying when it's self-found. I took a few distant pics (take a look at Karen's blog for pics which were taken from much much closer to the bird!) and then had to leave for work whilst it was still pretty dull. Here's the pics, and some of Little Stint and a Moorhen which I took this evening after work:

Let's see what tomorrow morning brings...