Cooling Marshes

First visit since March, great to be back again after the Winter surveys finished in March, as ever it never disappoints, from the start as I drove out, a family of 5 Ravens were cronking making their way West.

I had a few migrant birds that I had in my head that I was hoping to see, Wheatear/Whinchat being top of the list followed by Hobby, it’s usually always good out here for them.

I ended up seeing 1 out the 3 with no less than 9 Wheatears seen, always great to see one, I usually struggle to get one at the Valley or Beckton. It’s all about putting the hours in, I’m sure they go through but you can’t be there all the time.

It turned out a good morning, it was a rising tide, Curlew were everywhere and 7 Bar Tailed Godwits were good and I recorded at least 650 Avocets, by far the highest count I have had there in a long time.

As follows

Yellow Wagtail – 8

Corn Bunting – 2

Green Sandpiper – 1

Black Tailed Godwit – rather a surprise with only 2 present

Egyptian Goose – pair with 6 goslings

Southern Migrant Hawker – 2



Raptors – despite not getting Hobby plenty of others were present including 2 Marsh Harriers, 4 Common Buzzards, a nice Sparrowhawk and at least 6 Kestrels dotted around with some juveniles present.

All in all a very good visit, on the way out near Cooling Towers I also saw a good flock of Mistle Thrush numbering around 14 birds, always good to see as they are declining, flocks like this are getting hard to find.