Lifer!! A Tern with the wind!!

Having been tantalised  all week by reports that a Gull-billed Tern had taken up residence at Dungeness's Arc Pit ,I had hoped to go Saturday but with a dodgy weather forecast and not feeling to great, I took a risk and waited until today. I have learnt over the years to go at the first opportunity as the birding "Gods" don't like to be messed around ,so with a bit of trepidation I set off at a respectable 5 AM. Margie had decided this trip wasn't for her , a long drive followed by standing around in the howling wind, possibly for hours on end, as fast moving traffic whizzed by feet away apparently doesn't count as taking her out for the day, I dunno, next thing she will be saying I never take her anywhere!! Can't win!!
So after a strange drive, which somehow was in driving rain and bright sunshine at the same time for most of the way, was a massive rainbow at several points along the route ,I must have been driving at edge of the shower all the way,   I arrived at approximately 6.30, parking at the Long Pits, I walked back up the road at a fast trot, for about 30 paces, at which point I slowed to a fast walk whilst gasping for breath, the single birder present allayed my fears with his "yes" reply to my anxious "is it still here?" enquiry, I set up the scope, by which time the other chap had relocated it and talked me on to the bird ,Lifer whoop!!
I spent the next hour and a half trying to get a decent picture of it!!
I completely failed, with the wind battering the lens ,the bird being miles away for the most part, the cluttered background and the choppy water making autofocus horrendous I only managed a few record shots ,see below!!

Gull-billed Tern

Despite the uncooperative star of the show, was a very enjoyable couple of hours, the bird performed well, continually dip feeding into the wind, looking like a Tern shaped Yoyo. Nice to have the scope out as well don't use it enough really but came into it's own today.  There were Swifts everywhere, not good at estimating numbers but at least 50+. Lots of Common Terns, by the end picking the GBT out amongst them was quite easy. The Common Terns were much more friendly than the GBT crossing the Causeway and generally showing much better, so was able to get a few slightly better pictures.

Common Tern

The Swifts of course were much more difficult and only managed one picture worthy of posting

Other birds feeding on the insects that showed ok were a couple of Common Gulls and plenty of Black-headed Gulls, there were also a couple of Little Egrets about which did a couple of close flypasts

Black-headed Gull

Common Gull

Little Egret

As time went by more birders arrived ,one extremely observant individual pointed out that the Black-winged Stilt being reported from the other end of the Arc Pit was on show , it was miles away but saved me a blooming long walk to go and see it . I have seen a few of these before so made the decision not to traipse about two miles for slightly better views, picture below Stilt highlighted by the Green Arrow

Stilt At the Arrow

With more people gathering and no sign the GBT was going to come any closer I decided to move on walking back to the car, the traffic was quite hairy with one big old tanker nearly bowling me over with it's slipstream!! The wind seemed to be getting stronger ,so against my better judgement I decided to head to the Point, as I predicted to myself, this was a complete waste of time four Sandwich Terns and a couple of Gannets the "highlights" of a half hour Seawatch, the "Patch" only held Gulls and as I was having trouble staying upright in the howling gale I decided to return to the car on the way there I noticed a group of birders intently studying the area in front of them, dreams of Bee-eaters or Hoopoes were quickly dashed as it was the more realistic Black Redstarts they were on to!! Still I like a Black Redstart and had a happy half hour taking pictures of at least 4 different birds including a nice Male and at least one Juvenile. There was also a male Linnet having a brief singsong on a wire and several Meadow Pipits knocking around.

Black Redstart

Juvenile Black Redstart

Linnet

Black Redstart

I was flagging now and with the reserve closed and the wind really starting to get on my tits ,I decided to head for home excellent morning ,which took my British list to 366!!

Cakewise been quite a good week with a nice Bread n Butter pudding Midweek and some Shortcake yesterday, which was a bit under done but was very tasty!!

Breaking news on the Shed Situation (see previous blogs) A new Shed has been ordered ,with a delivery date of mid August , so I fully expect construction to start at some point Mid 2021, dependant on planning permission and whether I can be arsed ,although there is talk of bringing in outside labour in the form of Margie's son, so hopefully a completion date of early 2022 is a realistic target!!Although Margie "suggests" a target of getting it done by the end of the day it arrives is more desirable!!