Blog Archive

Wednesday 22 February 2012

The Highs and Lows of Birding

Grey Heron
Great "highs" today when my usual Wednesday group (sans Malcolm who has man-flu or plague) decided on Riverside Park at Gillingham.   For once we managed to hit the tide absolutely right with a high tide due around 1.30 pm. 

Salt Marshes
Setting out from the car park we heard chaffinch, blackbird and a skylark.   On the bay to the west of Horrid Hill there was a grey heron perched on an old wreck of a boat.   Lots of teal were feeding on the mud with black-headed gulls.   The occasional redshank strutted about and at least 8 curlew probed for food deep in the mud.

Two pairs of reed bunting flew in, the males just completing their breeding plumage.   As we moved out towards the headland we realised that there were huge numbers of shelduck and dunlin along the shoreline.   Several turnstone were also present.  

Waders feeding at the water's edge
Dunlin?
We watched as the tide came in forcing the birds towards us in what turned out to be a spectacular sight - 1,000's of dunlin, shelduck, avocet, redshank and godwit moved ahead of the tide.   Brent geese moved onto the low-lying islands.   Great-crested grebe and a smaller darker bird dived for food - the second bird remained unidentified, too far out to get any features on it.   We had similar issues with another pair of diver-like birds but as they swam further out into the estuary and the light hit them we could make out the distinctive markings of red-breasted merganser - always a lovely bird to see.   This - in case you are in any doubt - was the "high".

Nearer, three small waders puzzled us - looking different to the other dunlin, we were undecided.   With a white supercilium and long bill we talked ourselves in and out of id, could it be a dunlin or a very early curlew sandpiper?   Who know's - another 2012 query.  

Along the causeway huge flocks of dunlin moved from east to west flying directly over our heads, giving a great natural air show, their plumage catching the light as they banked.

Salt marsh mud
On the way to our picnic lunch we found three long-tailed tits feeding amongst the brambles in the car park, along with several house sparrows.   They appeared to be picking insects off the buds on the plants rather than pecking at the buds themselves.   Great close views of some of our common birds which are often sadly overlooked.

Avocet
We decided to move on to Motney Hill.   We walked onto the shore below the field and here comes the "low".   I caught my foot on a flint sticking out of the chalk and dropped like a stone - you surely could have felt the aftershock for several miles!   Although I gained a couple of bruises, and a slight dent to my pride the real blow was that the telescope was damaged.  Although useable it was not stable on the tripod and will very shortly be winging it's way back to Austria for vital surgery.   Thanks to Sally and Irene for scraping me up off the floor.

Can you spot the Turnstone(s)?
The good news is that although the weather was deteriorating, we were still able to get closer views of the mergansers, several curlew, a large number of shelduck and brent geese.   Rock pipit and turnstone flew ahead of us along the edge of the water.   The unidentified diver was spotted again, but still too far away for idenification.

As the rain started we returned to base and offered some TLC to Malcolm in his hour of need.

Monday 20 February 2012

Skylark

Heard a skylark above the back garden this afternoon - spring is on its way!

Sunday 19 February 2012

Bristol

Spent the weekend with friends in Bristol.  On Friday I went to visit family in South Wales, and resisted the temptation to "twitch" the yellowthroat - really NOT my style of bird watching.  

Checking the internet it seemed to be very well organised with detailed instructions on where to park and exactly which branch of which bush the bird could be seen.   By Friday evening the instructions had been amended to include "have patience and do not upset the locals".   Glad to have missed the furore.   One buzzard, seveeral carrion crown and a family of magpie were my welsh list for the day.
Kestrel

Today (Sunday) we took a stroll around part of Chew Valley Lake, the tearoom there is great, and gives good views of the lake.   About a dozen goldeneye were showing off their handsome plumage - the males and females seemed to be paired up which fits in with the Kent birds I saw ten days ago displaying.

We had great views of a kestrel as it sat in the top of a leafless tree with brilliant sunshine showing off its beautiful colours.

Over 60 mute swan, 100+ mallard, teal, pied wagtail, cormorant, great-crested grebe, little grebe, robin, dunnock, blue tit, great tit and long-tailed tit were all present.

Wednesday 15 February 2012

Crossssssbillssss at Clowesssss Wood!! (with apologies to Malcolm)

We had heard that there was a possibility of crossbill at Clowes Wood near Canterbury, so we decided to give it a try.

A site we hadn't been to before this is yet another part of the Blean area complex and has been managed by the forestry commission and has a network of tracks - not particularly easy to match up to the OS map.   We were delighted to find first a female crossbill (not easy to identify with the light) high in a larch tree, but it was showing that distinctive "bull-headed" profile.   The bird flew off and as we moved in the same direction we found a male showing a brilliant red plumage - text book stuff.  
Spot the blobs! Two very blurry Crossbill

Blue tit, great tit, chaffinch, robin, long-tailed tit, jay and wood pigeon all moved through the trees as we continued on our way.   Goldcrest were busily feeding high in the trees, with one rather obliging individual darting around in brambles and ivy at the base of a nearby tree seemingly unaware of our presence.  The flash of bright yellow on the crest showed better than I have seen in a long time.

As we continued our circuit Irene spotted a woodcock flying away from us, and Malcolm saw another one a little later.   Greenfinches were feeding on some small cones at the top of a tree, but the light was quite poor - just their yellow wing flash showing. 
Clowes Wood

Near the pond we could hear a strange noise and as we slowed down to track it down we soon spotted a pair of crossbills.   The light was against us so we moved around to get behind the tree for hopefully a better view.   We were rewarded with views of a brightly coloured male and three females - I also spotted a second male for a short time.

We returned to the car park, rather hungry but delighted with our mornings walk.

Redshank and Black-headed Gulls at Swalecliffe
The next venue was a trip to the seaside at Swalecliffe.   We had a picnic lunch in a shelter on the clifftop at Tankerton with black-headed gulls watching every move, waiting for Malcolm to throw some bread.   A curlew flew past over the sea, heading for Sheerness.   Soon it was time for us to move off and see if we could find a shorelark.   Needless to say we didn't!

However, we did see turnstone, sanderling, black headed gull, crow, brent geese, and herring gull all on the shingle bar.   We continued along to the bridge and then back tracked on to the spit to get a better view of the area.   More dunlin, sanderling, ringed plover, a grey plover, common gull, starling, oystercatcher and redshank all entertained us.   Irene's sharp eyes spotted a purple sandpiper blending in with the seaweed and rocks.

A pied wagtail strutted alongside the path as we returned to the car.

Sunday 12 February 2012

Everything in the Garden's rosy . . .

Not my garden, but this morning the following colourful birds were feeding in Phil's garden, as it snowed.

Two jay, two male bullfinch, several females, a robin, several blackbird, great tit and blue tit - who said that british birds aren't colourful!!
Jay
Male Bullfinch

-8.5 and still birding!

Gulls over The Patch
Gulls along the shoreline
I was leading a walk for my local RSPB Group this weekend, but as I left home on Saturday morning for the drive to Dungeness I had to question the sense.   It was -7.5 degrees, and the thought of standing on the shingle ridge scanning the patch for vagrant gulls made me shiver.   However, these things have to be done, and as the sun came out as I joined the M20 I began to feel a little more optimistic about the prospects - even though the temperature had sunk to -8.5!

Along the A259 the trees and bushes were white with hoar frost and the sun shining on them created a magical scene.   Narnia had nothing on this!

At the lighthouse the car park was icy but driveable.    The temperature was -5.5 - positively balmy after the journey down.

The sea was flat-calm and with the sun out, this is probably the only time in 30 years of visiting that there was no wind and it almost felt warm.   Common gull, herring gull, lesser black-backed and great black-backed were packed onto the shoreline looking like a foamy edge.   A huge number of lesser black-backed also floated on the patch - again, a sight I have not seen for years, most of the gulls are usually in the air.   Red-throated divers flew past, about a dozen in all and cormorants were also sighted.   Great-crested grebe were bobbing about on the water.  
Bittern

Some people were starting to feel the cold so we moved on to the moat to see if anything was sheltering in the scrub and as we walked we started to thaw out, the feeling returning to our fingers and toes.   As most of the bird reports were centered around Long Pits and the trapping area we  broke with tradition and strode out for potential firecrest and woodcock.    A nice walk to warm us up, but not a bird in sight.

Mallard, Teal and Water Rail
On the way to the RSPB reserve a few of us stopped to scan the gulls near the fishing boats to try to find the glaucous gull which had taken up residence a couple of years ago - no luck there either.   Moving on to the ARC pits, and just as I was starting to think that the day would be a bit of a damp squid, we found large numbers of wigeon, pochard, gadwall, shelduck and coot.

A quick stop at the reserve entrance and John, Pauline and I easily found tree sparrows, lots of them sitting in bramble showing really well in the sunlight.

Lunch at the reserve centre, with more tree sparrow, reed bunting, great tit and blue tit taking advantage of the feeders.   A moorhen pecked around below.

Pintail
We had arranged to meet up for the afternoon session at 1.45 pm, about 10 minutes before we were told that a male smew was showing well in front of one of the hides, so I suggested we start off there.   Unfortunately a few folk had already gone through the centre, but the rest of us had good, if a little distant, views of the male and a couple of females.   In the nearer pool several female goosanders were seen with one smartly plumaged male.   Long-tailed duck came next and as we finally re-grouped a male sparrowhawk was seen sitting in the sun low in a bramble just feet from the hide.   We also had superb views of bittern which was standing opposite the hide on the edge of the reed - having had rather difficult views of bittern at Sevenoaks, this one stood out so clearly, it is hard to imagine how cryptic they can be.

We continued around the reserve towards Denge Marsh Hide, with two female and a male marsh harriers going overhead,  a bittern flew across the reed bed twice whilst we were in Christmas Dell Hide.   I had a bit of telescope trouble when I tried to twist the telescope around to let a small boy look at the ducks, but I eventually managed to find the birds for him.   His enthusiasm and joy was a real boost to a cold day.   His list had previously held "ducks" and we managed to do mallard, teal, coot and little grebe, his explorers binoculars had obviously let him down on the clarity front previously!

Snow on the pool edge
From Denge marsh there were several swans, all of the mute variety, a large number of pintail were upending as they fed, greylag, bearded tit and more wigeon were also present.

From the viewpoint we scanned the greylags in a distant field, but again only mute swans and one brent goose were present.   A female marsh harrier flew in and perched on the side of a dyke looking impressive against the geese.

Sunset over Denge
We finally returned to the car park, flushing a snipe on the way, then it was home for some and off to Icklesham for me - dinner with friends awaited me.   The sunset along the coast road was superb with a red ball of fire reflecting in the water.

Thursday 9 February 2012

You don't have to be mad . . . . .

But it certainly does help!
Hence, on a cold wintry day with snow falling I found myself with my usual Wednesday crew walking at Cliffe.   As we donned our layers a group of around 30 chaffinch fed on seeds nearby, as we moved around they flew across the car park to nearby trees then returned as their confidence grew.   Linnet were also seen in the flock.
Snowy Cliffe

We decided a brisk walk would warm us up to start with - so (you can probably second-guess this one) we sauntered along getting colder by the minute.  The two most numerous species during the day were little grebe and coot - at least 50 of the former and over 400 of the latter (I have since seen a blog quoting 450).  Pochard and tufted duck were also amongst the first birds seen from the car park.

As we moved off to try and keep warm blackbird, mistle thrush, robin and wren flew ahead of us.   Blue tit and great tit were feeding in the bushes, making their contact calls as we passed.   In the distance a large bird of prey flew low over the fields and pool.   As we watched the white-rump of a ring-tail appeared, confirming a hen harrier.   The acrobatic flight as it hunted over the reeds was a delight to see.

From the track leading to Cliffe Creek we had more little grebe, tufted duck, pochard and added shoveler.   Moving onwards (by now fingers and toes were aching with the cold) we spotted a male goldeneye, as we scanned a second male and three females were found, the two males displaying.   Stretching their necks out then throwing their heads back almost into the water as they enticed their female companions.   We watched for a while, and I took a rather shakey bit of video through the telescope so . . . with apologies

Male Goldeneye displaying
Further along this track we found a 1st winter male, close into the bank with faded white patch - we tried to turn it into a Barrow's but there are limits to our stringing!

On the far side of the pool a grey heron stood on the edge of the reeds with 5 little egret busily feeding nearby - interesting to watch their different feeding techniques.   Pintail up-ended constantly feeding.   With the telescope I noticed a wader which we decided was a greenshank.   Shelduck and shoveler were also present in large numbers.
Dunlin
Soon after we found another smaller bird hunkered down under the bank.   It looked suspiciously like a common sandpiper.
Most of the waders were found along Cliffe Creek, with redshank, black-tailed godwit, at least one bar-tailed godwit, avocet, and dunlin.

At the head of the flamingo pool we found more dunlin, grey plover and two sanderling - a real surprise for Cliffe.   Curlew gave their eerie call across the marshes as we made our hasty return to the car park.

Looking for woodcock
After a very welcome lunch with Paul, it was back out into the cold, this time at Northward Hill, where a rough-legged buzzard had been seen recently.   Unfortunately we did not catch up with that species, and the view from the Marshland viewpoint was particularly cold and windy.  Rook and jackdaw were most numerous.   A kestrel hovered overhead, as we investigated the badger and fox tracks in the snow.

Snow on the marshes
As we scanned the marshes a bird flew across in front of us and into the scrub below.  We waited for it to reappear but no success.   My thoughts were woodcock, but I did not get a good enough view.  We decided to walk to the other viewpoint, in the hope that the trees and scrub would offer some protection from the northerly wind which was whipping around us.   Malcolm noticed the first woodcock, which Sally and I inadvertently flushed as we walked the track.   We continued through the wood and a second bird was flushed.   As we contined to the viewpoint, yet another woodcock flew away from us, giving reasonable views.   One further bird flew back towards the original site as we continued on our way.  


A sparrowhawk flew across the field in front of us disturbing goldfinch, chaffinch and the rooks were gathering in the late afternoon sunlight prior to roosting in the wood.   One grey heron was seen on the marshes, but hopefully it won't be too long before they are present in numbers prior to their nesting season - oh, for some spring sunshine!
Sunset in Galapagos - just to warm things up a bit

Thursday 2 February 2012

Rainham Marshes

As I had been with friends in Essex, my Wednesday walking friends kindly suggested that we met at Rainham, thus saving me the early morning Dartford crossing experience!

We met around 10.00 am and once again layers were the order of the day as it was a bitterly cold day.   A pied wagtail met us in the car park.


female Reed Bunting
After we had checked in we moved off to do our usual anti-clockwise circuit, stopped at the feeders where there were 8 collared dove on the ground, numerous chaffinch, greenfinch and house sparrow enjoying the peanuts and seeds.

Bearded-tit country
Pintail and cormorant flew from the river onto the scrape to join teal and wigeon.  A stock dove sat hunched against the wind on a nearby muddy island.   Reed bunting and more chaffinch fed along the side of the boardwalk.   From the hide coot, moorhen, lapwing, pochard, tufted duck, gadwall and starling were joined by herring gull, black-headed gull, common gull and greater black-backed gull.   Greylag and canada geese were at the far side of the pool and two grey heron stood completely motionless in the reeds - just their heads showing.   A snipe was pointed out to us by another birdwatcher, hard to see and deep in the bank - a good spot by the gentleman.

As it was nearly lunch time we decided to return to the visitor centre, have some lunch, warm up and then to the second half of the reserve.

The southern path took us past an area where bearded tit had been showing well over the last few days - until we got there of course!  

We walked briskly to warm up and get us to the far hide as quickly as possible.   An Iceland gull had been reported.   When we arrived, the gull was pointed out to us - thankfully, as it was almost impossible to see.   As I watched with the telescope I saw the all-white gull, with no black on the wing tips.   It moved to a slightly worse position, but as it did so the whole bird was visible for just a few seconds.   Another gull moved in front of it and our chance was gone.   Only the head was visible - it could have been almost anything.

Mute swan and little egret were seen from here along with a huge number of gulls, some were slipping and sliding on the frozen pool, their legs reflecting in the sunshine.  

We returned via the 'bearded tit' area and although we saw a beautiful stonechat there was nothing else braving the icy wind.

Rock Pipit
Along the seawall, we found a rock pipit picking about in the rocks in typical style.   More shelduck were on the nearby bay, with black-tailed godwit, dunlin and redshank feeding on the receding tide.

A juvenile gannet had been reported, along with a little gull but both eluded us on this occasion.

Wicken Fen

Another of my forays into deepest Essex with Ken actually ended up taking us into Cambridgeshire at Wicken Fen.  As we drove up the M11 it started to snow and we did contemplate retreating to a local cafe, but as we moved north the snow stopped and we were left with a cold grey day.   Quite a difference to my last trip when we were birding in shorts and T-shirts, watching squacco heron!

On arrival, we donned our layers and went off in search of some birdlife.   The lady in the visitor centre was most helpful and pointed out the areas where marsh harriers, hen harriers and short-eared owls had recently been seen.
Sedge Fen
We started off on the boardwalk from the visitor centre and made for the first hide.  From this we watched chaffinch, blue tit, great tit, robin and great-spotted woodpecker - all taking full advantage of the feeders present.   A moorhen flew up onto one of the feeding troughs and pecked at the peanut feeder above.

The wind water pump
After a while we moved off around Sedge Fen following the edge of the drainage ditches.   At the first tower hide overlooking Verrall's Fen we had distant views of marsh harrier, kestrel and a female bullfinch.   Cormorants, teal and greylag flew towards a nearby scrape.   At the second tower hide (which overlooked the aforesaid scrape) there were several barn owl pellets and a sign apologising for the mess.  A local owl has decided to take refuge in the hide and had certainly made its presence felt!
There were greylag on the water with a snow goose (it has been listed on and off at the site since October last year by the local ringing group).   Cormorants were loafing in a nearby tree, and mallard and wigeon dabbled in the water.  A short-eared owl made a fleeting visit, just long enough for me to spot it, but sadly Ken was not so lucky.   Konik ponies were keeping the fen in good order with their grazing.


Fieldfare
As we scanned the fens around us for any birds of prey Ken noticed a couple of bullfinches close by, as we watched two males and at least three females fed on nearby berries, giving their contact calls as they went.   As we walked from the hide they flew across to the other side of the dyke, still calling.

At the wind pump we caught up with more chaffinch, and blue tits.   Another harrier - this time a ring-tail appeared in the middle distance we watched as it dipped below the dyke at the far edge of the field hoping that it would reappear further along, but sadly this was not to be.   As we neared the visitor centre we watched blue tits, great tits, dunnock, chaffinch and robin on the feeders with pheasant, moorhen and wood pigeons below.

Afternoon sun on the fenland scrape
After a warming cup of tea and our lunch we were off again, this time to the other side of the reserve, an area where we were more hopeful of short-eared owls as they had been recently seen in good numbers feeding over Burwell Fen.   The sun came out and cleared the clouds away and although it was by no means warm, at least the cold edge was taken off the day for a short while.   Fieldfares were heard "chucking" away to each other and Ken got some good shots in the afternoon sunshine.   The highland cattle were being used in this area to keep the vegetation under control.  They looked superb in their thick winter shaggy coats.  

We continued across the fens towards Priory Farm with agricultural land on our left and the cattle on our right.   Half way across this area the farm gates were open to allow the cattle across and one inquisitive beast decided to stand in our way.  After a quiet conversation (between myself and the cow) we decided to proceed and the docile animal watched with interest, after a quick sniff of the tripod!  
Ken at the bridge sign

After a quick view over the fields at the delightfully named "Cockup Bridge" it was time to move on to the end of our walk as the sun began to set.   A further view of the scrape enabled up to catch up with wigeon and teal.

Another great visit, can't wait for the local RSPB group visit in May now.