Tuesday 23 March 2021

White Tailed Eagle at Stodmarsh

                                March 21st  :    Stodmarsh Kent


                                                         

White tailed Eagle & 2 Marsh Harriers.

News reached me last Sunday morning that a White tailed Eagle had been seen from the ramp at Grove Ferry and appeared to land somewhere near the Tower hide at Stodmarsh but was lost to view.

My normal Sunday morning routine is to top up bird feeders in garden and sit outside and watch them for a couple of hours, well this all changed when Martyn Wilson (who first saw the Eagle from the ramp) relocated it from the Lampen wall Stodmarsh.

So a quick dash over to Stodmarsh and i was soon enjoying wonderful views of this amazing bird of prey.

Here are a selection of photos of the White tailed Eagle :



With Greylag Goose.

Enormous size compared to the Magpie.

White tailed Eagle.

I have been asked if it is one of the Isle of Wight birds or a genuine wild bird ? , as far as i know the Isle of Wight project ring & satellite tag all their birds , however i couldn't see any rings or satellite tags on this bird, either way it's a fantastic bird to have seen and i have happily added it to my Stour Valley bird list.

A really great find by Martyn Wilson, well done mate !!

White Tailed Eagle.

EDIT :  The White tailed Eagle has now been confirmed AS NOT one of the Isle of Wight birds.










 

Tuesday 2 March 2021

Blog Update........ Just Garden Birding

Sparrowhawk.


Just a short blog post about my recent birdwatching activities, well not much to tell in all honesty,  i haven't been out birdwatching since 2nd January , NO Mockingbird or Rare Sparrow twitch for me !!!! 

However i have enjoyed Garden birdwatching and feel lucky to have a garden to do so, the obvious highlight was a 'Ringtial' Hen Harrier on the 20th February and also a Woodcock flyover on the 7th February which were both new species for the Garden bird list !!!!


Sparrowhawk .

Another highlight was a superb Sparrowhawk which caught & killed a Starling , not so superb for the Starling i would think......

Goldfinch.

There's been plenty of the regular garden birds to enjoy including the above Goldfinch i have nicknamed ' Goldylocks ', don't know why i named it that but hey ho..., i see this particular bird every day perched between these two branches and it has a distinctive long claw which must hinder it, poor bird.

Here's a selection of some of the other regular birds seen recently.

Blackbird.

Blue Tit.

Dunnock.

Robin.

I am really looking forward to be able to go back out birdwatching as soon as it's possible to do so safely (I will be having my 1st dose of  the vaccine  this weekend) , so for the time being garden birdwatching will do for me.

The latest new garden bird species was 2 Linnets heard & seen flying other the garden on the 27th February which brings the Garden bird list total to : 70 . I include any birds seen or heard in or flying over my garden.