Green Winged Teal and my first Hobby from the garden. Oh and another Red Rumped Swallow!

Record of Green Winged Teal

 I only watched the sea for half an hour this morning as I had arranged for a plumber to come and do some work for me. In that time I saw 2 Black Terns that were feeding off shore with a large group of Common Terns, several Gannets moved west as did a Fulmar and a small party of Common Scoter was off shore.
When I left the hide I drove straight to the south end of ARC and immediately saw the Green Winged Teal I ran off a couple of record shots then alerted all the locals. While I was waiting for the first locals to arrive the duck swam into some vegetation, then the plumber called to say he was waiting for me, I had to leave. I let a couple of locals know where I last saw the bird but it was not seen again today, hopefully it will be there again tomorrow.

 Later on I received a text from SB to say he had found a Red Rumped Swallow on Burrowes (the fourth one this spring he has found), I was unable to go straight away but got there as soon as i could. Within minutes I had seen the R R Swallow all be it distantly the other side of the pit in the company of many Barn Swallows and Swifts which also drew the attention of a couple of Hobby's. While waiting for it show better DW spotted a first summer Common Tern which is unusual, it did not linger but R R Swallow gave a very quick close pass and again showed distantly before seemingly disappearing. With the wind getting stronger and me colder I decided to go home for a cup of tea.

 While enjoying my tea in the sheltered front garden, a Hobby came across the field and landed on the fence posts opposite me giving great views and another tick to my growing garden list.

Early evening I parked at Springfield Bridge and walked round the Hayfield path to Dengemarsh hide. The Pectoral Sandpiper was still present in Hayfield 3 but relatively distant. From the hide the Oystercatcher was sitting tight on the raft despite getting soaked by the constant wavelets breaking over the raft in the strong wind, the terns who presumably have not laid any eggs were constantly flying up to try and avoid getting soaked.
Walking back towards the car I met DW at Hayfield 3 looking for the Pectoral Sandpiper, we were unable to locate it in the now very strong wind, a Bar-tailed Godwit and a Whimbrel flew over and we called it a day.