30th December, 2014 Castle Water, Rye.

We visited Castle Water in cold but beautiful sunshine. Spent a pleasant 1.5 hours watching from the hide and then the pager went off to report a Little Bustard at East Guildeford, just the other side of Rye and we departed the hide and spent the rest of the day in the East Guildeford area but the area is huge and unfortunately no further sign of the Little Bustard.
Following species seen from Castle Water:

Great-White Heron 2
Bittern 1
Marsh Harrier up to 6
Peregrine 1
Water Rail 1
Snipe 2
Good numbers of duck including Smew 1 red-head, 400 Wigeon, c100 Gadwall, 20 Pintail, 150 Teal, plus the usual geese and ducks.
Cetti's Warbler 1 seen and a second heard.
Chiffchaff 1

Pintails

 Gadwalls

(taken by David Cooper)

Water Rail

(All four taken by David Cooper)

 Bittern

 Marsh Harriers

(The top one was taken by David Cooper)

 

Common Snipes

 

Chiffchaff