Reculver

Wonderful afternoon, starting with a Black Redstart, followed by Swallows, a Knot and finally a couple of beautiful male Wheatears.

This is the Knot, the first time I have been really sure of seeing one. Nice combination of a shortish black bill and greenish (although I would have said yellowish-greenish) very grey overall, with the barred rump visible between the wings (rather more marked than I had imagined). The wing feathers were not scalloped as in a juvenile, but maybe there are no juvenile plumages left by this time of year anyway. The eye-stripe was obvious through the telescope. The breast markings were small elongated spots, with a few chevron marking below the wings towards the rear.

Why was this bird on its own? It was feeding by dipping its bill into the water very rapidly, quite close to the shore. This is described in BWP as pecking, "to be found 2 hours either side of high tide on sand on the upper shore" and is much more rapid (about once a second) than the normal probing down on the estuary mud.