Good Day at the Fabulous Faversham Oare Marshes

Not a bad day weather wise in a very changeable week.   Russ and I arrived at 11.30pm and parked up at the slipway carpark,  straight away we spotted a pair of Wheatears on the fence adjacent,  good start,  then we made our way round the east flood.   Water was high but as usual there were masses of waders and other birds even though high tide was 4 hours away.     As we passed the old boat hulk in the cut a Peregrine suddenly appeared and tried to pick off a bird that was resting there on the skeletal remains,  it made a number of attempts without success and moved away.  Moving on round to the road viewing area we could see the vast amount of waders and gulls spread over the sizable scrape;   Countless  Black-Tailed Godwits, many with coulour rings,  Ruff, Dunlin, Golden Plover, Green Plover, a few Knot, circa 150 Avocet.    Our aim was to get the later afternoon sun which is more favourable here and with the added bonus today of having the high tide at the same time we could hardly wait.      So after having lunch back at the car we plonked ourselves back at the favourite viewing place for the afternoon and had a few pleasant surprises.    We didn't see any Curlew Sandpipers or Stints which have been seen here recently but a Little tern turned up with a flock of Dunlin and settled among them on the small muddy projections a little way from where we were.   Although there were about 5 instances where either the Peregrine or a Sparrowhawk swooped across the scrape and put everything up they all eventually came back and even a Wood Sandpiper that we had been watching earlier on the other side suddenly appeared right in front of us on a small protrusion of mud and gave us an unusual performance,  great day and shall return soon.

Wood Sandpiper

Juv Peregrine (pest)

Lonesome Little Tern

Ruff

Ruff and BTG

Starling

Black-Tailed Godwit

Dunlin