A few more ticks

First stop Cliffe. These birds were feeding in the estuary and flying past my VP as the tide pushed them off. Note the male shows a green speculum on one wing and blue on the other. Which is reality?

Next stop a place called Shorne which is between Cliffe and Gravesend. A very unproductive looking site so was surprised to see this Little Gull feeding close offshore.

A mad dash to Oxford now to try and get the Turtle Dove before dark.

Despite being in a hurry, just had to stop and look at all the Kites that were hanging around the M40. I counted 48 birds in a 17 mile stretch along here including a group of 7.

Here is another group of 5

This one was very close but frutstratingly kept behind the trees

Jammed in on the Oriental Turtle Dove straight away. Saw two blokes with scopes at the entrance to the small industrial estate so went over and they were looking at it.

Apparently they had only just located it after 4 hours of searching!

The deep coloured breast and in particular the greyish underparts ruling out meena

The tips of the tail feathers grey as opposed to white in meena