Birding Braunie

It’s sunny! I can go birdwatching in a force 9 gale but when it’s sunny is better. A morning down at good old Rainham Marshes was the plan (no plan really). My routine is to walk along the Thames path to the landfill site and the wander back to the visitor centre and do a steady lap there. The walk along the Thames path at 8:30am meant the sun was nicely behind me giving the best light and viewing conditions a man can get. Rainham, a hotspot for Whimbrel this spring Oystercatcher The foreshore of the Thames had a single Whimbrel , a few Oystercatchers and a few small groups of Shelduck . Overhead, a party of Common Terns argued with each other other something or nothing. From here, I walked through Wheatear alley and not surprising in the least I saw a Wheatear . Fancy that. Northern Wheatear In every clump of reed or dense vegetation, the random chattering of Reed Warblers – they sound as though they are talking to themselves – sounded out. They keep themselves ...

Most of you won’t remember or will have never seen the TV ad for Maxwell Tapes of a guy sitting in an armchair and playing a music tape recorded on a brand called Maxwell. he puts it on and is blown backwards in his chair with his hair nearly being ripped from his scalp. Not sure what the point of the ad was but if you ever wanted to experience a similar effect, a trip to Rye Harbour, yesterday, would have given it to you. Rye Harbour, flat as far as the eye can see. Rye Harbour Nature Reserve is between Hastings and Dungeness on the coast of East Sussex. It is a huge triangle of land made up of shingle and saltmarsh and home to many rare flora and fauna. But all I know is, it’s bloody windy. Rye Harbour is, regardless of the weather, a great place to see Terns. Common, Sandwich and Little Terns all breed here in varying numbers and even in the prevailing gale, I could hear their cackling cries high above me.  Time for a nice map. A map I made my way to the Ternery Pool ...