3rd August 2019 - Oare Marshes and Pagham Harbour North Wall

Dad, Simon and I set off for Oare Marshes early morning arriving around 10:30 where we met several others. Whilst enroute news came through that the Squacco Heron at Pagham seen the day before had been re-found at Halsey's Farm and was showing well. This being a Sussex tick for myself I wasn't best pleased but there wasn't a lot I could do until later when I was back from Oare Marshes.

First port of call at Oare Marshes were to check the mudflats either side of the slipway for the Bonaparte's Gull. After 10 minutes of searching either side of the slipway I was pleased to pick it out on the eastern side of the slipway it gave nice views. After a short while it took to flight and appeared to land on the eastern flood. More scanning of the mudflats produced four Mediterranean Gulls and two Whimbrel.

Bonaparte's Gull, Oare Marshes, Kent

We walked up to the hide and whilst walking we had lots of Black-tailed Godwits flying over head going to roost on the east flood. It was quiet from the hide (un-surprisingly) but looking down Faversham Creek there were several hundred Redshank which later joined the eastern flood. Now walking south along the path this produced a brief view of a Bearded Tit in the reedbed as well as a couple of Yellow Wagtails commuting between the salt marsh and the bank. A scan of the eastern flood from the far eastern side produced a Spotted Redshank mixed in with large numbers of Redshank and Dunlin however there were no sign of any Curlew Sandpipers (six reported the previous day). Also of note from here were a few Avocet and a Marsh Harrier seen in the far distance. We continued our circular walk and found a pair of Peregrines on one of the electricity pylons. However, walking back west didn't produce much other than another Bearded Tit although this time heard and not seen. We got back to the road and had another scan of the eastern flood, from this end we added Golden Plovers as well as a couple of Wigeon but now the flood was packed with well in excess of 1500+ Black-tailed Godwits.

With there being a report of 17 Southern Migrant Hawkers at Oare the other day, we went for a walk over onto the western side and found two. Both showing very well, perching on reeds, my first good views of this species. Afterwards, another scan from the far side of the eastern flood, again failed to add any Curlew Sandpipers but a juvenile Yellow-legged Gull flew over Faversham Creek near the hide and a final look from the road added an eclipse Garganey.

Southern Migrant Hawker, Oare Marshes, Kent

Throughout the day I had been tracking news of the Squacco Heron at Pagham, as we were leaving the report was it was still showing well in the field where it had been for the most of the day despite going missing on a few occasions normally flying off west towards Sidlesham. Around 15:30 a new report came through saying it had again flown west but for the entire journey home to Brighton it had not returned. A few texts and phone calls later around 18:00 (thanks to Michael Booker), it had once again returned to its favoured field where once again it was happily feeding. Mum and I set off from Southwick and arrived at Halsey's Farm however much to our disappointment it had flown off again two minutes before we arrived, feeling slightly anxious we stood around for a while and added the two long-staying Cattle Egrets but there was still no sign of the Squacco Heron. We walked up onto the North Wall and I scanned back towards Halsey's Farm and picked up the Squacco Heron in flight over the treeline running adjacent to Halsey's Farm and luckily it dropped down back into its favoured field. It showed very well in the middle of the field where it was happily feeding on what appeared to be grasshoppers. Having missed the Southease bird in 2015 it was particularly pleasing to have connected with this one!

Squacco Heron, Pagham Harbour, West Sussex

We had a brief walk down towards the Breach Pool afterwards (which is now looking more like a duck pond). There were however two Green Sandpipers in the channel at the back and in White's Creek there were two Greenshank also noted nearby were two Green Woodpeckers, a Kestrel and a Sparrowhawk.