Sunday 9 August 2009

Marsh Sand at Bough Beech, pulls in the crowds

Thursday 6th August 2009 was a red letter day for Bough Beech and indeed West Kent when a Marsh Sandpiper decided to make land fall at this West Kent hotspot. Found late on in the day accompanying Greenshank news of this this gem of a wader allowed very little time to get to see it and the 20 min journey from Dartford to Bough Beech came and went in a flash. The weather was atrocious, the light was failing rapidly and I was concerned that there would be limited parking on site due to the immense rarity of this stunning wader. As the car taxied in to an available parking spot next to the other 4 cars!! I had a quick squint through Miles' scope and sapped up the moment of this cracking bird. As you can see above there was limited viewing as the crowd numblers steadily stayed stationary, and indeed Miles and Sylvia were well dressed for the occasion.
The 4 Amigos, comprising two saganauts one of whom has appeared to have fallen asleep standing up, the other is full saganaut regalia and Arsenal branded water absorbent footwear. Josh looks on as Gary has a rummage for his keys I hope!
Big Mick recalls the Beeeaters at BB as the light improves and we take a break from watching the Marsh Sand
PHOTO of the YEAR................ showing the size comparison to a Greenshank. The black splodge on the right is a rain drop one of many migrating through at the time. An excellent twitch, good company including Steve Webb . Bring it on, what will turn up next. Copies of the Marsh Sand photo are available for printing if anyone wishes to have a copy for their notebook, framed or unframed.

3 comments:

Josh Jenkins Shaw said...

As usual, a joy to read Barry!

Barry said...

Cheers Josh
Good to see you at the twitch. Hopefully next one will be in more favourable weather conditions.
Barry

Josh Jenkins Shaw said...

Yeah, better weather, and maybe a 'more Mega' bird!