RSPB National Garden Birdwatch

                                    30th January  2022 :  09.40 am  -  10.40 am

                                                           

♀ Blackcap  (photo taken in 2019)

The Rspb National Garden Birdwatch was upon us once again this weekend and i did an hour on Sunday morning, here are the results.

1.  BLACKBIRD       1 ♂  &  1 imm

2.  ROBIN                  2

3.  CHAFFINCH       2 ♂  &  1 ♀

4.  GOLDFINCH       5    (very few in garden this winter, normally 30+)

5.  GREAT TIT          2

6.  BLUE TIT             3

7.  COLLARED DOVE   6

8.  JACKDAW  2

9.  WOOD PIGEON  7

10.  STARLING  26        (not as many this winter, normally 200+)

11.  BLACKCAP   1 ♀   (1st sighting this winter)

12.  WREN  1

13.  HOUSE SPARROW  8   

14.  MAGPIE  3

15.  CARRION CROW  2

                PLUS SEEN FLYING OVER GARDEN  (not counted on survey)

1.  SKYLARK  3     (Garden record count !)

2.  HERRING GULL  6

3.  BLACK HEADED GULL   1

4.  FERAL PIGEON   4

          That concludes my totals for the 2022  Rspb Garden Birdwatch.

A few regular birds missing this morning , notably Dunnock which was seen later in the day , also the wintering Grey Wagtail was nowhere to be seen today.

                                 

                                                             

Jackdaw

Little Gull at Chillenden

                                     22nd January 2022 ;   Chillenden

                                                      

1st winter Little Gull

News of a 1st winter Little Gull at Chillenden was to tempting to resist , and having never been to Chillenden before was an added bonus (i do like going to new places).

We arrived at the location and immediately saw the 1st winter Little Gull 'hawking' over the sheep field.

The 1st winter Little Gull was among several hundred Black headed Gulls however it gave amazing close views , even flying right over our heads at one point.

1st winter Little Gull.

 

Isle of Sheppey , Bosseneden Woods & Grove Ferry

                                                January  15th 2022 

                                       Leysdown- on- Sea  Isle of Sheppey

                                                               

5 of the 7 Shorelarks

A trip to Leysdown-on-Sea on Saturday 15th proved very successful with superb views of the wintering flock of Shorelarks , we managed to see all 7 birds together.

Shorelarks

We had planned to bird on the Isle of Sheppey up until lunchtime but it was so misty we decided to head to the woods near Canterbury.

                                                           Bossenden Woods

                                                                        

Lesser Spotted Woodpecker

We had checked out Bossenden Woods before New Year and were successful with 2 LSW (heard only) , so we went to the same area but were unlucky there this time, however Nuthatch ,Coal Tit & several Treecreeper were seen here though.

Lesser Spotted Woodpecker

We spent quite abit of time in the woods and eventually located a pair of Lesser Spotted Woodpeckers , the female especially showed well.

Grove Ferry

The final destination of the day  produced 6+ Marsh Harriers & 1 'Ringtail' Hen Harrier going to roost plus several Little Egret seen from the Ramp .

We waited almost until complete darkness and were lucky enough to see 6 Woodcock come out of roost by the paddocks.

However my personal highlight was seeing for the first time ever 5 Long Tailed Tits all huddled up together in their roost !!!

Kent Birding in the New Year

                                                       JANUARY 1st   2022

                                                    St.MARGARET'S at CLIFFE

First site visited today was Bockhill Farm Wood and we heard the wintering Hume's Leaf Warbler several times before we managed any sort of view, i did see it quite well on a couple of occasions but sadly never managed a photo.

Other highlights here were  2 Raven over the cliffs plus Gannet, Fulmar , Razorbill & Guillemot on the sea.

                                             SANDWICH BAY  &  WORTH MARSHES

                                                                      

Velvet Scoter

We left Bockhill Farm and headed to Sandwich Bay , despite a good search we were unable to find the Snow Bunting this time, however we were more than compensated with a fine Velvet Scoter quite close in on the sea.

Velvet Scoter.

Driving along the Ancient Highway on our way to Worth Marshes we were also very happy to see 5 Grey Partridge , sadly a hard species to see in Kent these days.

Grey Partridge  (photo from 2021)

It didn't take long to connect with the unringed White Stork at Worth Marshes as it happily and successfully fed in the fields near the 'Round House'.

White Stork with a Grey Heron

SWALECLIFFE

We then headed to Swalecliffe in the hope of connecting with the recently re found Black Guillemot.

We had a scan over the sea and picked out 10+  Red Breasted Mergansers , 3 Eider, 1 Great Northern Diver, several Red Throated Divers & Great crested Grebes.

We bumped into Andre Farrar who kindly informed us (thankyou Andre) the Black Guillemot & Slavonian Grebe were showing further down the beach nearer to Hampton.

We soon headed to the area and had decent scope views of this rare Kent bird plus the Slavonian Grebe was also great to see.

Black Guillemot  (photo by FC)

We added lot's of waders here including, Sanderling, Ringed Plover, Turnstone & Curlew.

OARE MARSHES

Barn Owl

We ended a really great days birding at Oare Marshes and had decent views of a Barn Owl, other highlights included a Greenshank in the creek , 30+ Pintail on the East Flood and a high flying Cattle Egret over the East flood heading towards Uplees.