I have got to send my laptop back to Toshiba for about 10-14 days due to a overheating problem. As it happens I have only got about 6 weeks warranty left on it so it has gone wrong at just the right time, although I wish it hadn't gone wrong at all.
Until then, to all my fellow bloggers, good luck with your sightings. Adios for now.
Fallow Stag, Knowle Park.
Monday, 30 April 2012
Friday, 27 April 2012
** 26th April Dungeness RSPB Reserve.**
Not being able to get out for a few weeks, I took a chance on visiting Dungeness RSPB Reserve. When we left home it was cold, windy and raining, but the closer we got to Dungeness the better the weather got. The rain had cleared and the sun was out, but it was still windy. The temperature rose from 12c when we arrived to 15c when we left.
The water levels was high, and most of the islands have disappeared. On the notice board in the visitors centre there wasn't anything out of the ordinary to speak of. I was going to go to the Scott Hide first, but many of the birders that had been there on this morning reported back to the centre informing them that that area of Burrows was almost birdless, so we decided to make our way to Denge Marsh Hide. Still being a bit windy I grabbed my scope and headed inside. It was quieter than I have seen it for ages, a few species but not in good numbers. I spend about a hour chatting with some other guy, then just as I was getting ready to leave 2 Common Tern's came into view, then they sat on one of the posts. The next thing we saw was what we thought was a difference of opinion, squabling, chasing each other, then it changed, they then started what looked like a courtship display, flying close together, going well up high, and then descending together.
The species of birds seen from here was: Mallard, Teal, Tufted Duck, Pochard, Coot, G/C/Grebe, Dabchick, Greylag Geese, Canada Geese, Mute Swan, Gadwall, Marsh Harrier( 2 female,1 male). Outside the hide was a Reed Bunting sitting just in the Brambles.
On the way back, heading towards the ARC Pit, we stopped and started here and there looking for any small birds that might have just arrived, the first birds we came across was a flock of about 20 Linnets, many in breeding plumage, a Cetti's warbler was a short distance past them., singingg well but not showing itself.
When a the gate we parked up and had a good scan around, in the fields was plenty of C/Crows, mixed in with them was Magpie, and Jackdaws. Others seen was: C/Dove, W/Pigeon, Starling. The next birds we saw quite low and quick with it, Swifts, roughly about a dozen, maybe more, and in with them was a few Swallows. I was surprised to see the Swifts, they are normally the last ones I see, the Swallows, H/Martins, and Sand Martins are normally the first.
Last stop was the Hanson Hide. I had a feeling that there wasn't much to see here, seeing as there was only one car in the car park, and then we past them walking back down the track to it, anyway I don't mind having a hide all to my self. After opening the windows I could see why, as with across the road, the water level was high and all the islands apart from about 3 was below water. The sun was now shining very bright and the wind had completely dropped, so this time I did take the camera in with me just in case anything caught my eye. Most of the usual birds I see here was present, I will list them at the end. I did notice that the Wigeon, Pintail, and Goldeneye had left, I also couldn't find the Long Tailed Duck, even though it was on the board. What I did find happily floating around on the water taking in the sun's rays was a Little Gull.
Again there was many species of bird present but not in large numbers. Species seen and heard from here was as follows; G/B/B/Gull, L/B/B/Gull, Herring Gull, Common Gull, B/H/Gull, c/crow, Magpie, G/C/Grebe, Dabchick, Grey Heron which made a sudden fly by in front of the hide, I grabbed the camera and tried to get a shot of it, this is the best of a bad bunch.
The top one is when it came across first, and the second one is after it landed in the reeds for a few seconds it came back again flying past the hide going left out of the sunlight in the shady area.
Carrying on with the list: Mallard, Pochard, Tufted Duck, Teal, Coot, Moorhen, Shoveler, Shelduck (one of them stayed quite close to the hide feeding, I managed to get a few shots of it, I decided not to take the usual sitting on the water shots, I went for the up ending ones, I have posted them at the bottom.), marsh Harrier, Kestrel, Mute Swan,
Greylag Geese, Cormorant, Gadwall, Oystercatcher, Lapwing.
Outside the hide the following birds was heard, Great Tit, Reed Warbler, Sedge Warbler.
Before leaving for home I wanted to see if the Tree Sparrows was still showing as there are workmen in the area putting up new fences. They was still there. I counted 17, but I am sure there was more about.
Below is the Shelduck photo's, the last one is my favourite.
What sort of creature is this?? What would come out of the water wearing a white shirt and a tuxedo doing a Tommy Cooper impersonation.... WELL BLOGGERS, ANY IDEA'S??????
The water levels was high, and most of the islands have disappeared. On the notice board in the visitors centre there wasn't anything out of the ordinary to speak of. I was going to go to the Scott Hide first, but many of the birders that had been there on this morning reported back to the centre informing them that that area of Burrows was almost birdless, so we decided to make our way to Denge Marsh Hide. Still being a bit windy I grabbed my scope and headed inside. It was quieter than I have seen it for ages, a few species but not in good numbers. I spend about a hour chatting with some other guy, then just as I was getting ready to leave 2 Common Tern's came into view, then they sat on one of the posts. The next thing we saw was what we thought was a difference of opinion, squabling, chasing each other, then it changed, they then started what looked like a courtship display, flying close together, going well up high, and then descending together.
The species of birds seen from here was: Mallard, Teal, Tufted Duck, Pochard, Coot, G/C/Grebe, Dabchick, Greylag Geese, Canada Geese, Mute Swan, Gadwall, Marsh Harrier( 2 female,1 male). Outside the hide was a Reed Bunting sitting just in the Brambles.
On the way back, heading towards the ARC Pit, we stopped and started here and there looking for any small birds that might have just arrived, the first birds we came across was a flock of about 20 Linnets, many in breeding plumage, a Cetti's warbler was a short distance past them., singingg well but not showing itself.
When a the gate we parked up and had a good scan around, in the fields was plenty of C/Crows, mixed in with them was Magpie, and Jackdaws. Others seen was: C/Dove, W/Pigeon, Starling. The next birds we saw quite low and quick with it, Swifts, roughly about a dozen, maybe more, and in with them was a few Swallows. I was surprised to see the Swifts, they are normally the last ones I see, the Swallows, H/Martins, and Sand Martins are normally the first.
Last stop was the Hanson Hide. I had a feeling that there wasn't much to see here, seeing as there was only one car in the car park, and then we past them walking back down the track to it, anyway I don't mind having a hide all to my self. After opening the windows I could see why, as with across the road, the water level was high and all the islands apart from about 3 was below water. The sun was now shining very bright and the wind had completely dropped, so this time I did take the camera in with me just in case anything caught my eye. Most of the usual birds I see here was present, I will list them at the end. I did notice that the Wigeon, Pintail, and Goldeneye had left, I also couldn't find the Long Tailed Duck, even though it was on the board. What I did find happily floating around on the water taking in the sun's rays was a Little Gull.
Again there was many species of bird present but not in large numbers. Species seen and heard from here was as follows; G/B/B/Gull, L/B/B/Gull, Herring Gull, Common Gull, B/H/Gull, c/crow, Magpie, G/C/Grebe, Dabchick, Grey Heron which made a sudden fly by in front of the hide, I grabbed the camera and tried to get a shot of it, this is the best of a bad bunch.
The top one is when it came across first, and the second one is after it landed in the reeds for a few seconds it came back again flying past the hide going left out of the sunlight in the shady area.
Carrying on with the list: Mallard, Pochard, Tufted Duck, Teal, Coot, Moorhen, Shoveler, Shelduck (one of them stayed quite close to the hide feeding, I managed to get a few shots of it, I decided not to take the usual sitting on the water shots, I went for the up ending ones, I have posted them at the bottom.), marsh Harrier, Kestrel, Mute Swan,
Outside the hide the following birds was heard, Great Tit, Reed Warbler, Sedge Warbler.
Before leaving for home I wanted to see if the Tree Sparrows was still showing as there are workmen in the area putting up new fences. They was still there. I counted 17, but I am sure there was more about.
Below is the Shelduck photo's, the last one is my favourite.
What sort of creature is this?? What would come out of the water wearing a white shirt and a tuxedo doing a Tommy Cooper impersonation.... WELL BLOGGERS, ANY IDEA'S??????
Saturday, 7 April 2012
"M"y "E"aster "D"elight (Friday 6th April)
Hoping that Friday was going to be the best day on the Easter Holiday I decided to go on the Isle of Sheppey with my friend Ian for a days birding. We headed for Leysdowne Beach to start. When we arrived the tide was in, the only birds apart from a few Gulls on the water, a handful of Turnstones was sitting in the groynes. We then turned about and checked the putting green. it was mainly Gulls on it, along with C/Crows, a few Jackdaws, Starlings and W/Pigeons, but after going through the Gulls again 8 stood out, they was Mediterranean Gulls in full breeding plumage. That was a good start to the day.
From here we headed off to Harty Ferry. Our 1st stop was at Capel Fleet on which there was the following species, Mute Swan, 1 Grey Heron, Greylag, Mallard, Pochard,Shelduck, Teal, Tufted Duck, Coot, Moorhen, 2 Avocet, 2 Oystercatcher, 4 Lapwing, 3 Redshank, a Green Woodpecker, and a 2 Common Buzzard riding the thermals
We drove further along the road and stopped at one of the pull offs, to watch 5 Marsh Harriers
soaring . While watching them there was a good number of skylarks singing, along with a couple of Reed Buntings. and a few Red legged Partridge.
As we carried on towards the Harty Ferry Inn, stopping off again on the way we watched a pair of Marsh Harriers displaying listening to the female calling. a Sparrowhawk passed overhead
I also saw my first Peacock Butterfly.
Once at the Inn we had lunch before scanning the river. When we did the first birds sighted was a small gaggle of Brent Geese. All the small pools out in front was dry apart from one. There was a few wading birds
around, Redshank, Lapwing, Oystercatcher, Little Egret. the Gulls seen was Black Headed, Herring, Common, and Lesser Black Backed . A male Kestrel was sitting on the box in the field below Harty church.
The other raptor seen was another Sparrowhawk. The other species seen from here was as follows; Shelduck, /Dove, W/Pigeon, Greenfinch, Chaffinch, Robin, Wren, Linnet, Blackbird, Pied Wagtail, H/Sparrow.
We tried scanning the river but the heat haze was so bad it was difficult to see anything.
Our last port of call was Elmley RSPB Reserve. We arrived here at about 1.30pm. We had a scan from the beginning of the entrance track to see if the Rough legged Buzzard might still be around but we never saw it if it was. What we did see though was just as good for this time of year, I regularly check the bird report websites, and I haven't seen any reported yet, the gird in question is a beautiful male Yellow Wagtail (Flavissima race). It was walking around with the cattle that was grazing a short way up the track. I did try to get a shot of it but I must have spooked it and it moved further off to where the other cattle was.
We did meet the warden later in the day so we reported it to him as it is the 1st one seen this year.
We also saw a good number of Skyarks again singing. Other species seen on the way to the car park was:
Mute Swan, Lapwing, Starling, Greylag, C/Crow, and a single Common Buzzard.
Once at the car park we expected it to be busy but there was only about 8 cars there. As usual a scan over the wall next to the ladies loo was first. There wasn't any sight of the Little Owl, but there was plenty of birds to keep us occupied. First of all was the birds by the pool, 10-20 Avocet, 1 Whimbrel, 3 Oystercatchers, 7 Redshanks, Teal, Pochard, Tufted Duck, Shelduck. Dabchick.
In the fields not too far behind the pool was many Gulls, what we saw next was something I don't think I will ever see again at least 52 MEDITERRANEAN GULLS, all in full breeding plumage. Ian and I both counted them several times and 52 was the average figure we arrived at. It was a pity the wasn't close enough for photo as it would have made a great one. They was lovely to watch with the sunshine on their plumage, showing off their black heads, blood red bills and pure white plumage, so along with the other 8 seen earlier that made about60 in total seen.
The first hide we went to was the South Fleet Hide, on the way there we didn't see anything out of the ordinary.
As we walked up the path to the hide a couple of Meadow Pipits was sitting close by.
After settling down, out in front was many white birds, which was made up of Shelducks and Avocets.
There was other species around but I decided to count those 2 species to see just how many of them there was. I counted the Shelduck first, my estimated figure was 169 that I could see. The Avocet was a lot higher. From the scrape closest to the hide to the far pool was about 276, andf a good number of those was
paired up and mating.
There was another good species seen and that was a Little Stint.
Greylag Geese, Cormorant, Grey Heron, Marsh Harrier(4), Kestel, Mute Swan, Little Egret, Shelduck, Teal, Gadwall, Tufted Duck, Pochard, Wigeon, Redshank, Curlew, Lapwing, Oystercatcher, Ringed Plover, Coot, Moorhen, B/H/Gull, Herring Gull, C/Crow, Jackdaw, Magpie, Skylark, Starling,
Our final stop was the Wellmarsh Hide. The water lever here was better than I had expected, I thought it would be pretty dry, but I was wrong. Many of the species seen from here was the same as seen from the South Swale Hide. The only different sightings was Black Tailed Godwits most in full breeding plumage covering about 3/4 of one of the islands out in front 4 Common Buzzards,and finally a bird that was virtually in it's breeding plumage, a Spotted Redshank. I was hoping that it would work it's way along the water's edge nearer to the hide, but no such luck.
As we was leaving the car park we saw a flock of about 50 ish Linnets wheeling looking for what looked like somewhere to land.
We didn't see any Swallows, but there is nest building taking place in the usual place, just inside the gents toilet block.
We had a great days birding to which I would like thank Ian for.
My Bird Of The Day is not difficult today, in fact it is Birds Of The Day, which are the :
*** Mediterranean Gulls.***
From here we headed off to Harty Ferry. Our 1st stop was at Capel Fleet on which there was the following species, Mute Swan, 1 Grey Heron, Greylag, Mallard, Pochard,Shelduck, Teal, Tufted Duck, Coot, Moorhen, 2 Avocet, 2 Oystercatcher, 4 Lapwing, 3 Redshank, a Green Woodpecker, and a 2 Common Buzzard riding the thermals
We drove further along the road and stopped at one of the pull offs, to watch 5 Marsh Harriers
soaring . While watching them there was a good number of skylarks singing, along with a couple of Reed Buntings. and a few Red legged Partridge.
As we carried on towards the Harty Ferry Inn, stopping off again on the way we watched a pair of Marsh Harriers displaying listening to the female calling. a Sparrowhawk passed overhead
I also saw my first Peacock Butterfly.
Once at the Inn we had lunch before scanning the river. When we did the first birds sighted was a small gaggle of Brent Geese. All the small pools out in front was dry apart from one. There was a few wading birds
around, Redshank, Lapwing, Oystercatcher, Little Egret. the Gulls seen was Black Headed, Herring, Common, and Lesser Black Backed . A male Kestrel was sitting on the box in the field below Harty church.
The other raptor seen was another Sparrowhawk. The other species seen from here was as follows; Shelduck, /Dove, W/Pigeon, Greenfinch, Chaffinch, Robin, Wren, Linnet, Blackbird, Pied Wagtail, H/Sparrow.
We tried scanning the river but the heat haze was so bad it was difficult to see anything.
Our last port of call was Elmley RSPB Reserve. We arrived here at about 1.30pm. We had a scan from the beginning of the entrance track to see if the Rough legged Buzzard might still be around but we never saw it if it was. What we did see though was just as good for this time of year, I regularly check the bird report websites, and I haven't seen any reported yet, the gird in question is a beautiful male Yellow Wagtail (Flavissima race). It was walking around with the cattle that was grazing a short way up the track. I did try to get a shot of it but I must have spooked it and it moved further off to where the other cattle was.
We did meet the warden later in the day so we reported it to him as it is the 1st one seen this year.
We also saw a good number of Skyarks again singing. Other species seen on the way to the car park was:
Mute Swan, Lapwing, Starling, Greylag, C/Crow, and a single Common Buzzard.
Once at the car park we expected it to be busy but there was only about 8 cars there. As usual a scan over the wall next to the ladies loo was first. There wasn't any sight of the Little Owl, but there was plenty of birds to keep us occupied. First of all was the birds by the pool, 10-20 Avocet, 1 Whimbrel, 3 Oystercatchers, 7 Redshanks, Teal, Pochard, Tufted Duck, Shelduck. Dabchick.
In the fields not too far behind the pool was many Gulls, what we saw next was something I don't think I will ever see again at least 52 MEDITERRANEAN GULLS, all in full breeding plumage. Ian and I both counted them several times and 52 was the average figure we arrived at. It was a pity the wasn't close enough for photo as it would have made a great one. They was lovely to watch with the sunshine on their plumage, showing off their black heads, blood red bills and pure white plumage, so along with the other 8 seen earlier that made about60 in total seen.
The first hide we went to was the South Fleet Hide, on the way there we didn't see anything out of the ordinary.
As we walked up the path to the hide a couple of Meadow Pipits was sitting close by.
After settling down, out in front was many white birds, which was made up of Shelducks and Avocets.
There was other species around but I decided to count those 2 species to see just how many of them there was. I counted the Shelduck first, my estimated figure was 169 that I could see. The Avocet was a lot higher. From the scrape closest to the hide to the far pool was about 276, andf a good number of those was
paired up and mating.
There was another good species seen and that was a Little Stint.
Greylag Geese, Cormorant, Grey Heron, Marsh Harrier(4), Kestel, Mute Swan, Little Egret, Shelduck, Teal, Gadwall, Tufted Duck, Pochard, Wigeon, Redshank, Curlew, Lapwing, Oystercatcher, Ringed Plover, Coot, Moorhen, B/H/Gull, Herring Gull, C/Crow, Jackdaw, Magpie, Skylark, Starling,
Our final stop was the Wellmarsh Hide. The water lever here was better than I had expected, I thought it would be pretty dry, but I was wrong. Many of the species seen from here was the same as seen from the South Swale Hide. The only different sightings was Black Tailed Godwits most in full breeding plumage covering about 3/4 of one of the islands out in front 4 Common Buzzards,and finally a bird that was virtually in it's breeding plumage, a Spotted Redshank. I was hoping that it would work it's way along the water's edge nearer to the hide, but no such luck.
As we was leaving the car park we saw a flock of about 50 ish Linnets wheeling looking for what looked like somewhere to land.
We didn't see any Swallows, but there is nest building taking place in the usual place, just inside the gents toilet block.
We had a great days birding to which I would like thank Ian for.
My Bird Of The Day is not difficult today, in fact it is Birds Of The Day, which are the :
*** Mediterranean Gulls.***
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