Chiltern Birder

I took a trip down to Leigh on Sea yesterday. Timing was based on weather and personal committments and, as usual, I ended up being there at the wrong state of the tide. I parked at Two Tree Island and saw teal resting on the creek bank as well as the usual redshank and a few gulls. Walking down to the old town there were quite a few redshank around but I didn't see or hear any other waders, they were probably at the water's edge on the other side of the Leigh Sand. The first thing that struck me was the absence of turnstones around the cockle sheds. These have been a feature of this location for many years. Unlike my last couple of visits there were no egrets in Leigh Creek either. On the mud there were plenty of gulls, black headed, herring and both lesser and greater black backed. There were no brent geese visible on the mud and talking to locals I was told that they had all left. However, walking towards Chalkwell I saw two parties on the foreshore. Luch of course meant ...

The seaside seemed like a good place to blow away the cobwebs on New Year's Day so a drive down to the Thames Estuary seemed to be in order. The tide was at its lowest ebb so most birds were a long way out where the food was nearer the surface but there were a few old friends and one surprise. A few redshank were foraging in the creeks and out on the mud there were several groups of brent geese. Singletons included a greater black backed gull and a grey plover. I haven't been down to the estuary since last winter and not for several years before that visit so I was not sure what is common there now. It was striking that there were no turnstones around the cockle sheds, these used to be very common. While walking something white at the corner of my eye didn't look quite right for a gull and turned out to be the first little egret that I have seen on the Thames. It was active, moving frequently so I am not sure if I saw the same bird several times or different individuals...