Cormorants and black backed gulls

I set out this morning for a nice walk around Rye Harbour with no intention of writing a blog .Consequently there are no pictures of the reed buntings ,starlings and various gulls flying over. My first stop was going to be at the visitor centre to have a hot chocolate ,panini and a cream tea for two. I sat gazing out the window onto the salt marsh and watched a heron and a little egret fishing ,30 curlew were tucked up against the cold .A question arose. Which bird has the best eyesight the heron or egret? My brief observations were that it was the egret as it ducked into the water more often. I digress.

After brunch we walked the path to the beach.

Plenty of shoveler, pintail and wigeon.

Oyster catchers.200+ dominated an island.

Common plover flew over.

Little grebe

As I settled down to watch the little grebe ,out of the corner of my eye ,I saw a truly remarkable bird. Beautiful. This bird nests in trees and is a migrant from Scandinavia only 200 nest in the UK.I was so thrilled to see one. I decided to blog.

A golden eye.

In contrast to the golden eye is the tufted duck. Sometimes the tufty is mistaken for a golden eye .I hope this helps.

Wow I really enjoyed that ,what a bird.

While I was in the hide I was told the spoonbill was showing ,what a day.

I see a spoonbill regularly at Rye, Unfortunately the spoonbill does not breed regularly in the UK. The conservation- spoonbill are specially protected. These sightings certainly brightened up a dull cloudy day.