Birding Braunie

Yesterday morning I stole an hour before work and visited Shoebury East beach. The tide was out but the immature Shag was still around. I managed to take a shot of Shoebury and some large ship and was lucky enough to have a speck on the lens that is the Shag. Spot the Shag There were loads of Pied Wagtails and a couple of Wheatears on the front. Waders included 20+ Curlews , 50+ Oystercatchers and a few Redshank . That’s it. Oh, apart from an irritating dog that wouldn’t stop barking at me or rather my tripod. The owner didn’t have a clue how to control it but if the sea had been in I know what I would have liked to do...

September 1st and the early morning darkness greets me as I step out into the autumnal chill.What summer we had is disappearing fast. And that is great news. Late summer in the world of birding can be a little quiet and everyone has an impatient eye on the calendar and autumn can’t come quickly enough. So today I had high hopes of a good days birding and a trip down to Dungeness felt like a good plan and if nothing else, it should clear the hangover I felt from the night before. Dungeness. Note the complete lack of anything avian in this picture. Funny old place Dungeness. Not just for the dilapidated shacks, perculiar hand-scripted offers for lugworm and shellfish propped up against rusted lumps of marine machinery but the fact that there are quite often days when there are no birds on the land apart from the odd woodpigeon or scruffy magpie. So it can be a bit of a gamble. Overnight rain is no bad thing and if the wind is coming off the sea from a south westerly direction, seaw...