First Day of Spring

Or at least it certainly felt like it today as we got out the car at Reculver on the North Kent coast. No wind, bright blue sky and it felt warm. We were on the lookout for three Shorelarks that had been around since mid December and as you can see from the photo we certainly found them.

They had been reported as frequenting the shore east of Reculver Towers and we eventually found them 2.5km east of the towers. It had been a lovely walk along the sea wall, there'd been plenty of other birdlife to watch which can probably best we judged by the fact that it took us just under two hours to cover the distance. It then took us a further three hours to get back which did include a lunch stop that was rudely interrupted by 700 Dark-bellied Brent Geese choosing to land right in front of where we were sitting - how inconsiderate!!

As well as the pleasure of finding "new" birds one of the great pleasures of bird-watching is finding "new" locations, because birds do tend to frequent the more interesting locations. Okay if it had been cold & windy today I may not have reviewed Reculver quite so highly, but today the location, the birds and the weather all combined to make this a grand trip to the seaside.

I absolutely insist that you view in Large. You may also wish to visit RCB's single Shorelark.