Blog Archive

Wednesday 22 May 2013

Knole Park

Our weekly walk took us to Knole Park this week, and although it wasn't the best of weather, it was a least a bit brighter than yesterday.

We wandered along a line of oak trees looking for Galls and did find Andricus quercus-ramuli - Cotton Wood Gall to you and I.   This is a gall made by a Gall Wasp, and it literally looks as if a cotton wool ball is stuck to the branch of the oak tree.   This was the highlight of Malcolm's day as the Gall is quite hard to find.
Andricus quercus-ramuli

We continued along the line of trees listening for any birds that may be singing.   Skylark was the first "hearing", then we saw a Blackbird carrying food, a group of around 35 Jackdaw called from the top of a tree where they were nesting.   Knole has many old trees which are decaying and have plenty of holes and crevices for them to use.   Magpie, Blue Tit, Great Tit, Green Woodpecker, and Mistle Thrush all appeared in quick succession.   

As we moved along The Gallops we found Stock Dove, a group of four Ring-necked Parakeets, Wren, Chiffchaff and Woodpigeon were also present.   A couple of Swallow were feeding around the house and at one stage they perched on top of one of the ornate chimney pots.

Robin, Willow Warbler and Song Thrush also sang as we continued along towards our lunch stop.   We were in the area where Tree Pipit used to be found, but sadly, none were seen or heard today.
Old hole ridden trunk

Kestrel hovered and Grey Heron leisurely flew across the parkland, and as we walked towards the small pond, Sally saw a small bird flitting around in a nearby tree.   We watched and waited and eventually Malcolm spotted a Redstart.   It flew to the ground then regained its former perch and it seemed as if it suddenly realised that we were there.   The bird stayed on the end of an overhanging bough, appearing to watch us until it decided we were no threat and carried on with its circuit of territory.   

We continued on, stopping at the pond to watch Mallard and Moorhen.  Our next distraction was a buzzard spotted gaining height as it circled ahead of us.   A second Redstart was heard as we approached the golf course, but we could not see the bird, although a Nuthatch fed in a tree in front of us.

Nearing the house I heard a Yellowhammer, it was in a bush just ahead of us, and after a few calls it decided to make a dash for it and shot out across the path and into the distance.   Just far enough to feel safe from approaching people, but still close enough to be heard.

Pied Wagtail completed our Knole Bird list, but we did have a short distraction from Malcolm as we hunted for more galls - this time on a Turkey Oak.   Apparently we have to go back later in the year!

Soon it was time to go on to Horton Kirby and our meeting with the Rainbows.   We met in Westminster Field and did a walk along the River Darent there.   Many of the children had binoculars and one also had a bird book.   We saw Swift overhead and a Sparrowhawk circled overhead for several minutes enabling all the girls to see the bird.   Buttercup and Dandelion seedheads gave us all entertainment as we shared our "do you like butter" and "what time is it?" experiences.
Cuckoo Pint

Their next sighting was a Moorhen on the river, and we then moved along to the more wooded area.   Here Blackbird, Robin, Crow and Blackcap were either seen or heard or both!

Then it was onto our star turn and the Chiffchaff nest area.   The girls all sat quietly whilst Malcolm explained to them what we had found the day before, and although we could hear the contact "chipping" the bird would not show itself.   We continued along the path, looking at the flowers we could find and looking for feathers and other items of interest.   Cow Parsley was in abundance and when we found a patch of Cleavers there was much amusement as it stuck to our clothing.   Seed dispersal in action!

Soon it was time to retrace our steps, with a quiet approach to the Chiffchaff enabling some of us to finally see a bird near the nest area.   We moved swiftly on, back to meet mum or dad, with thanks and farewells. 

Tuesday 21 May 2013

Lullingstone

A cold and grey morning's walk at Lullingstone this week certainly added to my "heard" list rather than species seen!   There weren't even any butterflies or many flowers to enjoy with such a delayed early summer.
English Bluebells

Crosswort was good to see, along with the twisted bark on the trunk of Sweet Chestnut trees.  Another delight was watching Swifts mating on the wing - I had only seen this a few times before this year, but I have obviously been luckier (or more observant!) this year with a least a dozen sightings over the last week.

Sweet Chestnut flower
House Martin and Swallow were feeding over the fields and lake near Lullingstone Castle, and although we heard several Whitethroat this morning, Blackcap were surprisingly quiet, although as I walked ahead of the group at one stage I found a singing male perched on some dead wood.   Willow Warbler serenaded part of our woodland walk, but it appeared to be only one bird.

Rough Hawksbeard (Crepis biennis) was of particular interest to Malcolm as it is home to a gall later in the year.
Crosswort

In the afternoon, we moved off to Horton Kirby to recce our walk the next day with the local Rainbows group, we did find a Chiffchaff nest, and had a Sparrowhawk circling overhead.

Monday 20 May 2013

Gibraltar Point

I spent last weekend at Gibraltar Point in Lincolnshire.

On the way up we stopped off at Lakenheath were a Red-footed falcon gave a superb show, and two Golden Oriole flew right over our heads, giving their alarm call as they went.  Then it was on to Lincolnshire.
Avocet

Although the weather was not as good as my last May visit (in 2010) it was at least dry.   I felt that perhaps the bird watching hadn't been as good, but I only saw one less species this time, so it may be that I have just found my level as a bird finder!

Anyway, by far the highlights were on Saturday evening when I had the joy of listening to three separate Grasshopper warblers, and watched a Barn Owl hunting over the fields.   At one stage it came past with a vole in its talons, with the light fading it gave an atmospheric close to our day.

Barn Owl carrying vole
Before we left on Sunday there was the delight of Turtle Dove, yet another Grasshopper Warbler, close views of Corn Bunting, Whitethroat and Yellowhammer, and a Short-eared Owl.

Interestingly they have a flock of around 27 Jays on the reserve at the moment, they appear to have migrated south last winter and do not seem keen to take on the North Sea migration back!   They were easily seen and had a regular circuit so we all had great views of them.   They are so rarely seen at the Reserve, they are not even on their checklist!
Corn Bunting

On the way home we stopped at Frampton Marsh, Whimbrel, Little Gull and Temminck's Stint were the highlights amongst the many other species which were seen.

Happy days!

Wednesday 15 May 2013

Oare - more than just a backstop; and Milton Creek - a new experience

So, given that we had a great Sunday, we were keen to repeat the experience nearer home, on Wednesday.   Unfortunately the weather had other ideas and we mulled over our destination for quite a while - long enough for Malcolm to feed the birds, Sally to explain why they had ended up with 4 kg of live meal-worms this week, and Irene and I to be grateful that we didn't have 4 kg!

Eventually we decided that with windy (potentially wet) weather we needed hides and also somewhere close by, so off to Oare we went.
Oare looking deceptively sunny and calm

It was very blowy when we arrived and we were rather reluctant to get out of the car, but with the windows wound down I could hear Whitethroat.   By the slipway there were very few birds as the tide was extremely low, but we did find a couple of Ringed Plover, some Shelduck, and Black-headed Gull.   Swifts flew overhead, I find it amazing that they can control their flight in such strong gusty wind.

Along the seawall we were virtually blown off the top by the big gusts of southerly winds, and the only bird we could hear was Skylark - again it was bewildering that they could still manage to control their flight in these unstable conditions.   We decided that we wouldn't be able to see anything well from here so moved back towards the scrape and some shelter.   At the start of the path which leads west we found Chaffinch, Greenfinch and House Sparrow.   A Grey Heron flew in the distance, a Little Egret was in a reed-bed having it's long head plumes blown about.  

New workings at Milton Creek
A female Marsh Harrier battled against the wind and was mobbed by a pair of Lapwing.   Unfortunately we later saw a Carrion Crow take a Lapwing chick, some time later it went back for more but the adult birds appeared to fend it off the second time.   Nature can be very cruel sometimes, but survival is the only instinct every other species has.

From the road Malcolm spotted House Martin, and there were several mixed in with a huge flock of Swifts and Swallows.  They were all being pushed down low over the water to find insects, as they tried to seek some shelter from the wind.

In front of the Hide south of the East Flood we could see four Coot nests, Tufted Duck, over 150 Black-tailed Godwit, Mallard, Starling, a single Avocet (usually there are many to be seen in the area even at low tide) and several Gadwall were also found here.  

We decided to move to the other side of the road and try the hide in the grazing land as the tide was still quite a way out and we needed to stay in a sheltered area.   We added Reed Warbler, Reed Bunting, Linnet, Blackbird, Moorhen, Peregrine, Hobby, Little Grebe, Shoveler, a pair of displaying Oystercatcher, Redshank, Great Black-backed Gull, Herring Gull, Cormorant, Canada Geese, Pheasant and the find of the day - a pair of Yellow Wagtail.   Not the greatest of views - they shot past us twice whilst we were in the hide, both times they were moving at high speed, but their yellow plumage and call immediately identified them.
Old ship hulls in the mud by the creek

Whilst we had lunch the Hobby gave us several fly-pasts and Swallow, Swift and House Martin were also feeding close in to the hide giving us remarkably close views.   The rain started, and we decided that it was time to move on, so as soon as the rain stopped we went back to the car park, and on to a new site for us - Milton Creek Country Park.

After an abortive parking up we finally found somewhere to park the car near the main part of the park.  This is an area which has been reclaimed from a landfill site, gravel pit and brick works.   Although very new the idea is to create a safe green space in the middle of an urban area in Kent.   The signage is still to be installed and we needed to use our GPS to get to the creek viewpoint areas, but we still managed to get an impressive list which included Magpie, Starling, Swallow, Meadow Pipit, Whitethroat, Linnet, Collared Dove, a pair of Kestrel, Avocet, Oystercatcher, Wren, Dunnock, Blackcap, Green Woodpecker and Reed Warbler.   The highlight of the park came in a thrilling ten minutes when we heard Cuckoo - which Sally and I managed to see as it left a nearby tree - and two Nightingale, the first was signing well close to the path, the second was further in some deep scrub, but still distinctly recognisable.
Migrant Heaven - the Water Treatment Works!

The Park needs to mature but there is great potential for the wilder areas as it grows.   The Saxon Shore Way passes though part of the park, following the Creek.

Monday 13 May 2013

Minsmere

Had a great day at Minsmere at the weekend.  A group trip with over 40 of us swarming over the reserve.  We saw 90 species in all, but I managed 77.

Highlights for me were hearing Willow Warbler - sadly I rarely hear them locally - seeing a pair of Stone-curlew at their nest, seeing a Tawny Owl and a Spotted Flycatcher.
Nesting Avocet

There were lots of other great things to watch though, including great views of  a male Marsh Harrier and two females (one with green wing-tags which refused to give up their codes unfortunately), several Hobby feeding low over the reedbed.   We had Avocet, Oystercatcher and Black-headed Gull on the nest right in front of the hide, and lovely views of Common Tern, Kittiwake, Redshank and Common Sandpiper.

A Nightingale sang well as we stood in the car park on arrival, and we also heard several Cetti's Warbler, Blackcap and a Garden Warbler sang long enough for us to get reasonable views.

North Scrape
Spoonbill stood along the side of a distant pool, and it was only when it started to preen that I could see the "spoon" against its white plumage.  Lapwing were displaying and piping - great to hear even though we see them regularly nearer home.

Swift, Swallow and Sand Martin were going through in great numbers and feeding low over the scrapes and reedbeds.  

Thursday 9 May 2013

Back home

The last couple of weeks have been a bit of a busy time with lots of house and garden work, setting up my BBS walks and trying to catch up on on those little jobs which didn't seem that urgent when I went on holiday!

So, gardening and housework done (sort of) and it was off out to recce my two BBS walks.   Both went well, although one has an area that is totally inaccessible (unless you have wings!) and where the landowner is rather forthright in his comments.   Good job I'm used to football crowds and wasn't overly offended.
Green-veined White

Last Wednesday Irene and I did a walk around one of the BBS squares and had a lovely sunny wander through a small wood and some fields.   Whitethroat, Blackcap and large numbers of Blue Tit and Chaffinch were our main counts.   We did find a predated egg at one stage, but have been unable to identify it - probably from one of the nearby farms as it was rather large!
Water on Great Bells

A couple of days ago I visited Great Bells on Sheppey with the RSPB to see what is being achieved there - given their loss of the Elmley Reserve to ECT.   [note that whilst the original Elmley reserve will remain open to the public as previously, Great Bells is a sanctuary reserve with no public access.]   Having been involved in a couple of surveys of the site when it's management was originally taken over by the RSPB,  it was interesting to see how the new rills and bunds have changed the site and once the installation of a new pumping system takes place, hopefully more water on the site will bring about an improved habitat for birds and wildlife in general.

Yesterday the whole Wednesday squad were back together and we went off to Cliffe Pools.   We had a lovely walk in sunshine, even though the wind did play havoc with Malcolm's hearing aid and Sally, Irene and my hairdo!!
Great Migrant Habitat at Cliffe

We had several Whitethroat, a Lesser Whitethroat, Nightingale, Cuckoo, Common Tern, Swallows and Swifts to enthral us. Added to those summer migrants, we also counted around 150 Avocets, many of them appeared to be settled on one of the islands - so potentially nesting.   Redshank, Whimbrel, and Oystercatchers were feeding in the fields around the pools.   Cetti's Warbler and Dunnock were singing well, and a Chiffchaff was skulking about low in the brambles with nesting material.

Spot the Lapwing nest!
We found Lapwing nesting in the nearby fields, some of them appear to have chosen a dangerous spot, in the path of some rather large-footed horses, but hopefully nature will find a way of making it work - can you spot the bird on the nest?

With a Marsh Harrier in the distance, two Hobby and a Peregrine overhead our day was complete.

Here's looking forward to a great day at Minsmere!