New Site Tick at Oare Marsh

New patch tick Kingfisher.

I spent a very enjoyable couple hours at Oare Marshes this morning , i parked up by the slip way and walked along the sea wall towards Faversham Creek , the tide was out and there was a scattering of waders on the exposed mud flats , Redshank , Grey Plover and Dunlin were in good numbers , i reached the sea watching hide and scanned the Swale adding plenty of distant Dark Bellied Brent Geese and a single Great Crested Grebe , there were at least 60 + Avocets roosting on the edge of the tide plus a scattering of Curlew were near by .

Common Seals on Sand Bank.

Out on the exposed sand bank in the middle of the Swale were several Common Seals basking , i carried on my walk along Faversham creek towards the sluice , there were plenty of Wrens and Reed Buntings along here plus 2 Stonechats .

Male and Female Reed Buntings.

I could hear a couple of Cetti's Warblers sounding off in the distance , i was hoping to see Bearded Tits and try and get some photos but alas my luck was not in with these today , on reaching the sluice i came across a new bird for me at this reserve in the form of a quite stunning Kingfisher .

Sorry about this off focus image but just loved the blue flash on its back .

 I have tried catching up with this species here for quite a while so was very pleased to finally see one here , it spent most of its time perched on a post on the creek side of the sluice , every now and again it swooped down fishing and was successful on a couple of occasions , from here i walked past the East Flood hide disturbing several Redwing and Blackbirds from the bushes , out on the East flood there were plenty Lapwing and Common Snipe plus at least 4 Pintail were in and amongst the more regular wildfowl , and i finally returned back to my car very happy .

All quiet on the Birding Front......

Just a quick post , i have not been out birding for two to three weeks now other than dipping the Penduline Tit at Oare Marshes , i have been busy doing other things including a very interesting trip to London and taking in some historical sights and a little bit of shopping , hopefully going to Dungeness next Saturday to see whats around .

Sad Farewell ..........

Scilly Helicopter.

As from the 31st October 2012 the helicopter service from Penzance to Scilly ended , I have used all 3 forms of travel to the wonderful Islands.

 In 1988 my first trip there i went across to the Isles on the Scillion ferry , which can be quite an up and down affair and if the weather is to bad it will not make the journey which will either leave you stranded in Penzance or unable to get back from Scillies on time , which can be crucial if there is a mega on Scillies or if you need to get back due to work commitments .

Just one of many views .

I took the light air craft on a couple of occasions , these fly from near Lands End and i have to say is my least favourite way of getting to the Isles of Scilly , i don't know , its just a little bit of putting sitting behind the pilot in these small air craft ...lol , and of course they are also affected by the weather and i have been delayed and missed one or two goodies because of this .

Great view from St Marys.

The first time i used the helicopter service was in 1998 , i was supposed to be on a light aircraft but because of bad weather the flight was cancelled and i was lucky enough to get transferred to the helicopter .

 Wow what an experience that was , i remember sitting in my seat and the crew went through their safety procedure , and then we were off , well in a space of about 20 seconds the helicopter was about 300 feet in the air and my stomach was still at ground level....lol

 The helicopter service was quite expensive but it flew in almost all weathers and was by far the quickest way of getting to the Scillies , so i guess it will be  the Scillion for me next time i go which is not all bad as you can do some sea watching on your journey .

Day trip to North Norfolk

Red Flanked Bluetail.

With so many good birds around this last few days i thought a day trip yesterday to North Norfolk was in order , i set of  early this morning and headed towards towards Stiffkey and hopefully see the quite stunning Red Flanked Bluetail that has been there for the last couple of days and i was not disappointed , this stunning bird showed really well coming down to feed on some meal worms that had been put out for it .

This stump was less than 2 feet away .

Lovely buff flanks.

Really bright white throat patch.

Bright blue tail and rump.

White eye ring and pale based bill.

What a beauty this bird is , it favoured a small log pile and was very obliging , there were lots and i mean lots of Robins around and one in particular took a bit of a disliking to the Bluetail , almost every time it came in to feed the Robin would harass and try to chase it off , i enjoyed this bird for over an hour and left very happy indeed , other birds of note here were 2 Black Redstarts , lots of Goldcrest , and hundreds of Thrushes everywhere , the majority of these were Redwing which seemed to be in every hedge row and tree , Blackbirds and Fieldfare were well represented .

I heard news via the pager of an Arctic Warbler in willow trees at Brancaster Staithe so thats where i headed , on route i drove through Burnham Deepdale and  noticed a female Ring Ouzel amongst 30 Blackbirds on a small green , so i stopped and had a look. 

On arrival at Brancaster i was not sure of where to go and luckily i met 2 birders who were on route so i followed them along the coastal path and joined the finder of this smart warbler Graham Etherington , so there were just a handful of us trying to re locate it  and i was 

the last to get onto it , i seem to have trouble picking birds out high up in canopys !!!!

This was  a great year tick for me , the Arctic Warbler showed a really strong supercillum and smallish single wing bar , it stayed mainly high up in the canopy but at times it did show lower down , other birds of note here were Common Redstart , Chiffchaff and several Goldcrest .

Lapland comes to Reculver

Very wet looking Lapland Bunting.

I returned to Reculver this morning in the hope of connecting with the Lapland Bunting which i missed yesterday , it was still very foggy as i walked along the sea wall to Cold Harbour Lagoon , i met 3 birders half way along who had just seen it , so i carried on with fingers crossed , i briefly saw the Shorelark as it flew up from the shingle beach and further down the coast and out of sight , there were Robins , Chaffinch and Meadow Pipits everywhere and despite constant scanning i could not find anything else with them , i did see a Chiffchaff in amongst a small bush the land side of the sea wall as i continued my journey , as i reached the area the Lapland Bunting was last seen there was not a bird to be seen , i walked down the slope and flushed several Meadow Pipits and a single Reed Bunting .

Reed Bunting .

I walked a bit further down the slope and almost stood on the Lapland Bunting , it flew into the grass then flew over my head onto the shingle beach , i managed a few photos.

Lapland Bunting

 This is the first Lapland Bunting i have seen in the Reculver area and it was a very confiding bird , it flew on the path a couple of times but sadly was flushed each time by either bike riders or joggers , i really enjoyed this bird and headed off back towards my car adding 3 Wheatears and the Shorelark once again in flight .

Reculver in the Mist

Just a short post and sorry for lack of photos , i spent an enjoyable couple of hours at Reculver late this afternoon , i parked up in the car park near the Towers and almost straight away saw a Black Redstart in the company of a couple of Chaffinchs and Robins , then i made my way to behind the Sluice building and instantly heard the Dusky Warbler tacking away , its quite a distinct Tac Tac call , as ever it was keeping hidden in the dense scrub but eventually it appeared briefly at the top of the scrub and was a welcome year tick , i spent a few more minutes here but it had stopped calling and the light was not great so i decided to head off and look for 2 more potential year ticks.

On my way to the sea wall i saw a small flock of Brambling mixed in with several Chaffinch , plus a further 3 Brambling were on the sea wall , i met up with Chris Hindle  and we walked along the sea wall towards Cold Harbour lagoon , on route Matt Hindle located the stunning looking Shorelark , i have seen many Shorelarks over the years but this is by far the best plumaged one i have seen , i was hoping to see the Lapland Bunting but however the time was getting late and poor light meant it had probably already gone to roost , so maybe tomorrow .......