Trying to stop the rot

Watching TV last night, I did a double take as an exotic piece of trash flew past my flat window - an Egyptian Goose. Not completely unheard of on the dock here, but it doesn't happen everyday.

So, the phone beeped this morning and it was Karen texting me 'I think the Egyptian Goose is still here - saw a funny looking bird by the watersports inlet, was being very noisy'. And by jove with such prompt news and detailed directions, I was on it, them (an adult and a juvenile) like a flash. RBA and BirdGuides, take note of your challenger.

adult Egyptian Goose, Greenland Dock

and then they multiplied...

I needed a break from the marking and Crossness, so rather randomly, I just drove... and drove... and ended up in the Dungeness/Rye area in the increasing wind and torrential rain! I really wanted to just get out of the M25, and for some reason I've always liked this Rye Harbour and the solitude and potential it brings with it. Loads of breeding birds - Med Gulls, Sandwich, Little and Common Terns, Avocets. Only migrant I saw was a lone Sanderling on the Ternery Pit.

Sandwich Terns busily feeding young

One of the more mature chicks in the colony

A lone Common Gull - short-billed but not a Short-billed

two of many vocal Med Gulls - they seemed to prefer more vegetated areas to breed than B-h Gulls

I also had a brief stop in at Dengemarsh for half an hour or so, where I didn't see the Purple Heron. I didn't deserve to either with the lack of effort I put in. The bird had been seen earlier, but with blustery conditions and a sense of deja vu from a couple of summers ago, I headed off home - seeing a Bittern and a couple of Hobbies that were gliding around.