Passage Madness at Oare

Friday morning took me down to Oare Marshes for one final look round of the season. It threatened to rain all day, but the overcast morning eventually broke out into sunshine and I managed to bag a decent hatfull of species. You'll have to bare with some of the photos though, poor lighting on max zoom in a bridge camera does not make for the most artistic renditions, I've tried to sharpen some of the images up but they're not much more than record shots.

A lot of the usual suspects were around, along with some that I don't see every day. The waders were out in force, with Ringed and Golden Plover, Redshank, Black Tailed Godwit, Greenshank and Whimbrel all showing well. There were a fair few Dunlin scuttling about, joined in places by the odd Knot, and I counted six Ruff around the site. I also caught a couple of Curlew Sandpipers on the far side of the creek. I even got my first ever Common Snipe tentatively exploring one of the small streams.

The winter arrivals are starting to join in the fun, and with them comes a tonne of passage visitors stopping off on their way to further afield. A good number of Whinchat were buzzing around the scrub on the western edge of the reserve, these fairly nondescript passerines are easily overlooked but always a good spot at this time of year.

The undoubted highlight was a solitary Osprey patrolling the opposite side of the Swale (ease excuse the disgustingly bad photo 😂), whilst trying to avoid the mob of Avocets and Jackdaws constantly on its tail. Another lifer, I'd basically given up hope of ever chancing upon one around here, but this well and truly made my day! Soon he'll be off south before heading back to the UK next summer. 

I was also treated to a flyover from a juvenile Gannet. One of my favourite species, this is another that I never thought I'd get a nice view of outside of a breeding colony, so this was definitely a bonus! Just a shame it wasn't an adult, which are one of the most striking and impressive birds on UK shores.

It wouldn't be a nature day without a reptile hunt, and the numerous ponds and streams were littered with Marsh Frogs. Sure enough, I eventually found a Grass Snake stalking around the waterways, and for a nice change I sat back and watched it stalking its prey rather than attempt to handle it. It was a real pleasure watching it cruise around as nature intended, although he didn't manage to catch anything before disappearing into the reeds.

Until the next one!