The Ramsgate Merganser

I had been looking forward to this weekend as the Eastern  Black Redstart that was showing well at walpole bay thanet all through the week looked like it was going to stay,  however as with so many birds that stop off on migration in our patch it had other ideas and left Thursday evening.  Frustrating or what, I wished I went last weekend.  With Stodmarsh being fog bound photo opportunities were very few and far between,  a Common Snipe was about as good as it got and it did not look like  the fog was going to lift. I sat in the  Feast hide with Steve Ashton where we did not take long to decide to try and find the sunshine as promised by our highly skilled weather forecast team. We moved to Ramsgate harbour where we knew there was a Red Breasted Merganser showing,  this would be a life tick for me and maybe action for my rusty camera shutter.  We meet Allan Ashdown and the three of us soon found the bird looking a little bedraggled, it allowed a few photos as it swam about. I was happy to gain a tick for this bird especially after last weekend. Yesterday I had seen three different Bitterns in flight whilst at grove so I would think if you want to see one the next few weeks will start to see the numbers rising throughout the reserve.