Trip reports

Field Meeting at Rye Harbour

Sunday, 13 April 2008

On a day that promised to be very wet and windy , we enjoyed a nice sunny day with a fresh westerly wind. 8 of us set out down beside the river towards the beach, en route noting some new pools that have been dug. Whilst scanning we noted 2 stoats chasing each other around the pools. After following them they came round our side and even on the path near us before disappearing into some long vegetation.
As we followed the path we also saw our first Wheatears and Skylark on the ground, also 50+ Golden Plover.
We made our way to the hide at Ternery Pool, and there we saw a few Shoveler and Tufted Duck along with several hundred Black-headed Gulls, in among them I counted 52 Mediterranean Gulls, including 3 sub-adults, (Talking with the warden later there are 75 pairs nesting, that's 150 birds and maybe more!!). Sandwich Terns were also seen.
On our way back we saw and heard Sedge Warbler and also heard Willow and Cetti's warblers. Turned out to be a nice day and 40 or so species seen.