Teynham Church & Oare Marshes

One of many Fieldfares.

After being under the weather for over a week  i felt much better yesterday the 11th February and decided i would pop out for a couple of hours in the afternoon , i quite fancied having a look at the Brambling flock at Teynham and after getting some great information from Frank  (Thanks mate) i headed off to Teynham church , first birds i heard then saw were Fieldfares , there were loads of them with quite a few Redwings amongst them .

Male Brambling.

I then ventured in to the orchard and had some brief but decent views of 2 Bramblings amongst the throng of Chaffinch & Goldfinch flock.

Frank informed me that checking out the coppiced trees is worth doing as the finches often perch up there , well sure enough i saw several male Bramblings having a preen .

Really smart Brambling.

A really enjoyable birding session there , i then decided to head to Oare Marshes to try and see the drake Goosander as i had not seen one there before and it would also be a welcome year tick , i had a quick look over the East flood where the usual waders were present although in smaller numbers than my previous visit .

I then drove down to the car park by the sea wall , (pot hole heaven for sure) , i walked along the sea wall towards the sea watching hide adding a really smart looking Stonechat to my day list , i saw 5 Stonechats in total .

Male Stonechat

I eventually reached the Sea watching hide and had a quick scan of Faversham creek and saw the drake Goosander on the river bank on the far side of the creek.

Drake Goosander.

Although distant it was really great to see and was duly added to my OML !!, whilst watching the Goosander i noticed a  passerine fly into a small bush by the sea wall ,  on closer inspection i could see this was in fact a Chiffchaff which was soon joined by 2 Stonechats.

I continued my walk around the East flood and saw a distant Little Owl behind the cottages , i also saw a cracking  Reed Bunting perched amongst some cob webs.

Reed Bunting amongst the cob webs.

 i then started to make my way back to my car when i saw a  Barn Owl hunting over the West flood.

Barn Owl hunting over the West flood.

Barn Owl.

I also was lucky enough to see a Kingfisher on the West flood which rounded of a great afternoons birding.