Terning Rye!

 After the Sparrow on Saturday, which is looking like it was it's last day, phew!! Margie and I decided a trip to Rye Harbour was in order, there was some confusion, with Margie taking my 6.30 start time as when we was getting up rather than arriving on site😏After some negotiating we arrived at 8.00 clock!! 😂 The first bit of the track up to the visitor center was fairly quiet, although we could here plenty of Skylarks singing, there was a Linnet on some distant bushes and a Wader in the pool near the visitor center. I thought initially this was a Whimbrel, but as I watched it go about it's business, despite the smallish size and bright super, the lack of a crown stripe and the bill being a bit longer than I'd expect for a Whimbrel means I think it' might be a  Curlew possibly a 1st winter! Happy to be corrected pics below!!

Linnet

Curlew, I think?

Reflective Avocet

Rye Harbour View by Margie

Margie with 2 reflective Avocets, always got to go 1 better!!

Another view across the pools of Rye Harbour by Margie

And Again

I rarely go in the first hide, so we set up the scope just beyond it to scan Flat Beach. Lots going on with Sandwich and Common Terns and lot's of Waders, in the main, Oystercatchers, Dunlin, Avocet, Redshanks and Ringed Plover although there were a couple of Bar-tailed Godwits for a bit of variety, a few ducks about as well, with 2 Pintail and a Wigeon a bit of a surprise, quite a few Shelduck as well. I surprised myself by finding a small Wader and actually IDing it myself as Little Stint even more impressive as it was on it's own so nothing to compare it's size to. I'm counting this as a semi self found bird, as apparently it's been around for a while, but I didn't know about it!! The highlight though despite this feat of Wader identification were the 5 Little Terns which were dotted about the place, sadly while they looked fabulous through the scope, the distances involved mean the pics are mainly pants!!

Couple of Sandwich Terns getting it on while the Oystercatchers pretend to be asleep

Little Stint

Great Black-backed Gull, lots of large Gulls about 

Dunlin loads of these about in small groups, mostly asleep!

Little Terns

Little Terns

Trying to impress the lady with his fishing skill

There's always a gooseberry!

This Gull flew over calling, think it's a 1st winter,2nd cy Med Gull!

Poop shot

So how little are Little Stints, Stint at the front Dunlins at the back!

Little bit of Sandwich Tern display

There's always a Gooseberry!

I know pics are crap, stick with it they get better in a while, not much better, but a bit! We walked down to the beach, then west along the road, lots of Linnets and Skylarks, didn't see any Wheatears so either not in yet or were staying fence side, lots of Terns and Gulls progressing from pools to the sea.The trouble with carrying the scope around, apart from the weight is, that every time something flies over, I had to carefully put it down before I got the shot, consequently I missed a lot of shots, always a balance, but I wouldn't have seen the Little Stint or had such great views of the Little Terns without it so on this occasion worth the effort!

Black-headed Gull, typically I missed loads of Sandwich Terns flying over, but the BHG I got😏

Little Tern, difficult to say how many we saw there were 5 on Flat Beach but we had a three and a two flyover us coming off the sea so think they may have been different birds?

Skylark, loads about but the nice weather meant most were small dots high in the sky, but lovely to see and hear!

Curlew

This pink stuff was nice!

Lapwing, we didn't see many but this one was swooping around, displaying magnificently

We approached the two hides that are together whose names I can't remember, the west facing one was a bit of a disappointment, with the nearest Island completely covered in Black-headed Gulls, with all the interesting stuff miles away, though there seemed to be very few Med Gulls about as yet! Great Crested Grebe nice and close though was good!

Black-headed Gull, yes I know it's brown the people who named stuff back in the day were basically idiots!😏

Common Tern

Great Crested Grebe

On the walk up to the East facing hide one of the elusive Skylarks decided to stop being elusive and posed rather nicely!

Would have preferred it on the near post but heh-ho

Margie's Capture of the Skylark

Things continued to improve in the hide with a cracking summer plumage Turnstone right outside the window!

Turnstone

What a cracker

This hide proved very entertaining and we stayed quite a while. The nearest island had several Common Terns on it, these birds seem to be in the process of pairing up and the noise was extraordinary, there were 2 pairs of Avocets trying to nest, at least two pairs of Ringed Plover and a couple of pairs of BHG adding to the chaos!! Absolutely amazing to watch the antics at such close range!

Common Tern enjoying a moment of calm

They can look quite calm and elegant

Then someone brings a fish in,carnage!

Even the Avocet has had enough!

Avocet's can pretty much sleep through anything it seems!

Distant Ruff

Eyes to the skies,incoming!

Ringed Plover

Avocet love the blue legs

aww some cute Gull food!

A tender moment at change over

Keeping an eye out!

After all the stress a nice bath!

Avocet sleeping on one leg as captured by Margie

The view from the hide by Margie

We left the hide, mainly for some peace and quiet and headed around to the more scrubby area north of the pools, was hoping for a Cuckoo, but wasn't holding my breath as we hadn't heard any up to this point!

Flyover Med Gull

Oystercatcher

Think this maybe a Dandelion clock despite the strange shape, by Margie

A patch of Bluebells which seemed out of place, may not be the native ones, by Margie

We couldn't find a Cuckoo in the scrubby area, though apparently they have been heard this year. There were plenty of Linnets, Whitethroats, Sedge Warblers and Reed Warblers about though they didn't pose great, the gorse looked fantastic in flower!

The best picture I managed of a Reed Warbler😢

Reed Bunting showed a bit better

Linnet

Not the best pic of a Linnet but I like the background!

Sedge Warbler

The Gorse by Margie

and again

By now the heat was getting to us as were the swarms of flies, Dog Walker numbers were approaching the low 10000s, not sure if there was a Black Labrador convention going on but there were loads of em, the fences may not look pretty, but you can see why they are needed, essential to protect the habitat! We headed back to the Visitor Center, not much on the way back except a Kestrel on a post, a close Redshank and an even closer Bar-tailed Godwit and a family of Egyptian Geese!

Kestrel

Redshank

Bar-tailed Godwit

Egyptian Goose and Brood

Mute Swan by Margie

Think Margie captured pretty much the whole family!

An absolutely fantastic visit, I love Rye Harbour especially at this time of year, it is so alive with noise. Maybe we were a bit earlier than usual as numbers seem down on what is usual for the time of year, no Cuckoos or Wheatear, hardly any Med Gulls although we may just have been unlucky and birds maybe out feeding, hopefully everything will have a successful breeding season!! We popped into the visitor center, for a cup of tea, my recently discovered Gluten Intolerance has had a fairly negative effect on my conservation work, regular readers will remember I like to help the birds by eating lot's of cakes in reserve cafes!! However Rye Harbour stepped up with a very nice Gluten Free Carrot Cake, so I was able to start saving the birds again hurrah!!  Margie had a stuffed Croissant which see said was very tasty!! She's doing her bit too!! Hurrah!!😂 

Gluten Free cake and iced Coffee with a view!