Beavers in Canterbury

                                         

Adult Beaver.

I first heard about the Beaver family in Canterbury a few weeks ago and got some directions from Julian where to look for them(thanks Julian).

On my  first visit  i saw a Kit firstly by the lodge they had made, later in the evening an adult Beaver put in an appearance.

I was really surprised how big the adult was, about 3ft from nose to tail and quite broad bodied.

Adult Beaver having a munch.

There are 2 adults & 3 Kits in this Beaver family and can be located just along the Great Stour from Sainsbury's in Canterbury.

One of the Three Kits.

I met up with some friends on my last visit and they had already seen a Kit before i had arrived and we all enjoyed prolonged views of an Adult Beaver swimming along the river before climbing up & down the river bank.

Lucas managed a video which he has kindly let me use on my blog (thankyou Lucas).

Coming back down river bank. (Video by Lucas)

Here is one of mine of an adult Beaver having a munch.

New Bird for my Oare Marsh Bird List

                                                         10th July 2024

                                                    Oare Marshes

Male Red Backed Shrike.

I received a txt message from MW (thanks Murray) informing me of a stunning male Red Backed Shrike between Dan's Dock & Uplees.

Without hesitation i headed straight there and enjoyed some excellent scope views of this superb bird.

This as the title says was a New bird for my Oare Marsh Bird list and a cracking bird to see to.

Red Backed Shrike.

Coquet Island...............

                                                          13th June 2024

                                                    Coquet Island

                                                                          

Puffin.

I'm a bit behind on my blog posts so apologises for that, one of my trips out of Kent was a failed trip to Coquet Island to see the Bridled Tern.

This would have been a lifer for my birding companion RR. The last & only Bridled Tern i have seen was at Cemlyn Bay Anglesey in 1988. 

We made good progress and reached the small harbour in good time to board the small pleasure boat that runs Puffin tours around Coquet Island.

On route to the Island there were plenty of Puffins, Razorbills & Terns keeping us company.

Close views.

Once we reached Coquet Island there were 1000's of seabirds to greet us, frantic searching & scanning through endless Terns didn't produce the hoped for Bridled Tern however the seabird spectacle was worth the journey on it's own.

Common Terns

Feeding young.

We only had about 30-40 minutes viewing from the boat and despite our best efforts we never saw the Bridled Tern, However we did see a special breeding Tern, in fact we saw about 20 Roseate Terns in total.

Roseate Tern.

Back to the harbour we went , we decided to spend an hour looking from the shore scanning the island just in case but without success, we did see Eider, Goosander , Gannets , Fulmar , Artic & Roseate Terns though.

My first visit to Coquet Island and although we never saw the main target bird i was very impressed with the seabird spectacle we did see.

Whiskered Terns .........At Stodmarsh

                                                             12th May 2024

                                                          Stodmarsh

                                                                           

Whiskered Tern.

News of 2 Adult Whiskered Terns flying over the Lake on Sunday morning the 12th May at Stodmarsh soon had me heading for the door to try and hopefully see these superb looking Terns.

I spent a great deal of time watching these stunning looking birds and took lot's of photos, here are a selection of them :

Heard calling.

Both Whiskered Terns together

Having a rest & a preen.

Whiskered Tern.

Many thanks to the finders for putting the news out so quickly as the Whiskered Terns only remained on site for an hour before departing west towards Collards Lake.

Whetsted Gravel Pits

                                                        17th April 2024 

                                     Whetsted  Gravel  Pits 

                                                   

Ferruginous Duck

On the 17th Aprill i joined RR on a trip to Whetsted Gravel Pits nr Tonbridge to hopefully see the recently found ♂ Ferruginus Duck .

We parked up in the small car park at the end of Kelchner's Lane and then followed the footpath south until we eventually reached the Gravel Pits.

We heard 2 Lesser Whitethroats, 1 Nightingale, 1 Common Whitethroat & a Cuckoo on route to the Gravel Pits.

The Ferruginus Duck was soon located as it fed amongst several Tufted Ducks , there were several Swallows also feeding over the water which was great to see, plenty of Common Buzzards overhead was also great to see.

 On our return walk we saw a splendid Grey Wagtail by the canal lock.

Here are a selection of Digi-Scope photos i took of the ♂ Ferruginous Duck.

♂ Ferruginous Duck.

 

Recent Local Birding Highlights

                                                   23rd March 2024

                                        Dungeness Rspb Reserve

Adult Little Gull

Only my 2nd trip of the year to Dungeness , this time with RG, produced some excellent views of 4 Little Gulls (1Ad & 3 Juvs) all seen on Burrowes Pit , Great Northern Diver was also seen as were several Goldeneye.

Adult Little Gull being watched by a Male Goldeneye.

Adult Little Gull.

Lovely Pink flush on the Juv's

Juvenile Little Gull

An afternoon visit to the Arc produced 3 summer plumaged Black necked Grebes and a single Slavonian Grebe still in it's winter plumage which was found by NB, (good to see you today).

Summer plumaged Black necked Grebe. (photo from 2016)

Other birds of note was a close fly-by Great white Egret & a Glossy Ibis took up from the reeds near the screen hide which was a new bird for my Year list.

Earlier in the morning a short look out to sea produced my first Sandwich Tern of the year plus a pair of Peregrines were patrolling the power station.

There were up to 5 Wheatears in fine plumage near the New Lighthouse.

31st March 2024

Oare Marshes  

White-fronted Goose with Greylag Geese & Shelduck

News from MW informing me of a White-fronted Goose on the East flood Oare Marshes had me grabbing my birding gear and heading straight there (Thanks Murray).

White-fronted Goose.

This was a very much welcome addition to my year list, also present still was the superb male Garganey.

Male Garganey & 2 Cormorants

Although the Garganey was asleep the whole time i was there today i had seen it awake on a previous visit.

Male Garganey.

I also saw a distant male Hen Harrier disappearing towards Nagden Marshes plus a brief  Water Pipit dropped onto the East flood before taking off again, i also saw my earliest ever Sedge Warbler in the car park !! (thanks MW & SC)

Alberta Fields  Seasalter

Green-winged Teal.

A very brief visit to Alberta field to see the Green-winged Teal was rewarded with decent but distant scope views of this splendid looking duck.

Green-winged Teal.

It spent most of it's time asleep but on one occasion it did have a preen and a look around, good to catch up with some familiar Kent birders today to !!!

Bit of a catch up..........

                                                           13th  January 2024 

                                                         Oare Marshes

                      

Male Hen Harrier

I had a walk around Oare Marshes on the 13th January and had superb views of a Male Hen Harrier as it flew across the East Flood.

Hen Harrier.

20th January 2024

 Ebbsfleet Lane nr Stonelees 

9 Waxwings.

I made a  pleasant trip to Ebbsfleet Lane nr Stonelees on the 20th January to hopefully see the 9 Waxwings that had been seen the previous day.

After a short wait they flew into the top of their favoured tree to have a preen & tidy up, i could hear their 'Trilling' call which is always great to hear.

They remained at the top of the tree pretty much the whole time.

Waxwing.

5th February 2024

Godmersham Park  

Little Bunting.

I headed to Godmersham Park on Monday 5th February and my target bird was Little Bunting which was found by Michael Linklater over the weekend (Great find Michael).

I had 2 good but brief views at around 8.30am , however i decided to wait and hopefully get longer views and was rewarded with superb views at approx 11am.

Little Bunting with Dunnock, Chaffinch & Reed Bunting.

Reed Bunting & Little Bunting

Little Bunting.

This was a new bird for my Kent Bird List.

Many thanks to Andre Farrar for arranging parking & Godmersham Park for access.