Winters Day Birding .....On Sheppey

Little Egret.

On Tuesday 20th January i decided to have a winters day birding trip to the Isle of Sheppey , i had quite a few target species in mind especially Grey geese and raptors , i drove through some light snow flurries on my way to Sheppey and finally ended up at Capel Fleet which in my opinion is one of the best sites in Kent for Raptors .

I parked up at the top of the hill and located hundreds of grey geese in the distance , 200+ White Fronted Geese  were busily feeding in the fields and were keeping company with 300+ Greylag Geese , despite my best efforts and nearly an hour of scanning  i could not pick out any Bean Geese , they were just to distant .

Marsh Harrier.

There were lots of Marsh Harriers and i saw a single Peregrine fly over head being mobbed by a Kestrel which was quite spectacular to see , i then headed down to the Raptor watch point and saw a male Merlin perched on a very distant fence post plus several more Marsh Harriers , 2 Common Buzzards and up to 5 Kestrels , there was a supporting cast of Little Egret , 2 Green Sandpipers , Water Rail and pinging Bearded Tits.

Sanderling running along the tide line.

After another hour standing in the cold i headed of to Leysdown for a warm up in my car and to check for waders and Gulls , i saw several Sanderling & Turnstones plus Redshank , Curlew & Oystercatchers .

Turnstone & Sanderling in flight.

On my way back out of Leysdown i checked out a small gull roost on the playing field and was rewarded with an adult winter Med Gull among the Black Headed & Common Gulls.

Adult winter Med Gull.

We have take off.

I decided to head back to Capel Fleet in the hope of seeing Owls as it was now late afternoon , as i drove down the hill at Capel i could see that the grey geese had moved a bit closer but still quite distant so i decided to have another go at trying to locate the Tundra Bean Geese , i spent another 30 mins scanning the flock and was about to give up on my quest when a couple of cows which were standing in front of part of the geese flock decided to move off and i had one more scan and there they were 2 Tundra Bean Geese .

Tundra Bean Goose in front of the Greylag Goose.

Both Tundra Bean Geese.

I was really pleased to see these as i never saw any last year , smaller than Greylag Geese , dark headed with quite thick necks and only a small amount of orange on a dark bill are the main id features.

As i sat in my car feeling very pleased and having another warm i could hear a little Wren singing its heart out on a post .

Braving the cold , Wren.

I then headed to the Raptor watch point again and after about an hour i was rewarded with both Short Eared Owl & Barn Owl which was the cherry on top of a really enjoyable Winters day birding on Sheppey.

Barn Owl.

Chilham & Oare Birding

Great Grey Shrike at Chilham.

I was debating whether to drive to Nicholls Quarry for the Night Heron or stay more local , i didn't fancy the hassle or walk for the Heron so opted to try and see the Great Grey Shrike at Chilham which i saw quite well although it was a bit flighty today , however i did manage a couple of photos of it perched on the wires .

Great Grey Shrike 

I also added Song Thrush and Green Woodpecker here which were also new birds for the year for me.

I then called into Oare Marshes for the first time this year and pulled up in the " Pull in " it was fairly quite looking out over the East Flood , lots of Tufted Ducks , Shoveler , Teal and Pintail.

Male Pintail.

Male & Female Pintails.

Close male Teal .

I parked up and had a walk  along the sea wall and added several wader species , Dunlin , Curlew and Redshank in good numbers plus 200+ Avocets were busy feeding and flying up and down the Swale , i only saw  singles of Grey Plover & Oystercatcher plus a couple of Turnstones , however i did add 2 Rock Pipits to my year list.

New YouTube Channel

Steppe Grey Shrike in Norfolk 2014.

I have created a YouTube Channel to post bird videos on , see link on  top right hand side of this blog , just click on my my name :  " Robs Birding " and a new tab should open and my bird videos should appear ( hopefully ). 

Lesser Yellowlegs revisited ... Plus Dunge & Pevensey Levels

Lesser Yellowlegs .

I headed to Pett Level on the 10th January in the hope of seeing the Lesser Yellowlegs , on arrival there was only one other car there and the Lesser Yellowlegs was nowhere to be seen , after a short while it flew in and i was  soon enjoying some very close views of this cracking wader , i have seen several over the years but this is the best views i have had of one.

Lesser Yellowlegs alongside a Dunlin.

Balancing act.

Just to prove it does have two legs.

From here i headed to Dungeness checking out the Cattle Egrets along Denge marsh road and got some decent views .

Cattle Egret.

Both Cattle Egrets together.

I went down to the fishing boats to check out the gull roosts in the hope of a Caspian Gull but despite my best efforts i could not locate any , a quick look out to sea produced a few year ticks such as : Gannet , Guillemott , Kittiwake and Fulmar.

The weather was quite awful , very strong winds and lashing rain at times so i retreated to the RSPB reserve and saw a single Great White Egret and 3 Redhead Smew , i then called into the Hanson hide and saw the Kingfisher on its favoured perch performing for the crowd .

One of two Kingfishers .

I also saw Redhead Smew and several Goldeneye from here.

Redhead Smew.

Male Goldeneye.

I called back into Pett Level where i had some more really great views of the Lesser Yellowlegs .

Lesser Yellowlegs.

And then i headed to Pevensey Level where i had decent views of two Hen Harriers which were both ringtails , there were several Stonechats which was new for the year and also a Raven which was also a new bird for the year , my main purpose here was to look for Short eared Owl however whether it was due to the strong winds i never located any , i did see a  Dartford Warbler.

Record flight shot of the Dartford Warbler.

It was then time  to head home after a cracking days birding.

Egret Central .......Dungeness

One of two Cattle Egret's .

I spent the day down Dungeness and Pett Level area yesterday the 7th January , i started of checking out the Swan herd on Walland marsh and counted 70+ Bewick Swans and a single Whooper Swan plus a lone Greylag Goose was keeping them company plus flyover Sparrowhawk & Marsh Harrier were great to see.

From here i went to Egret Central and had close views of the two Cattle Egrets along Denge marsh road.

Cattle Egret along Denge marsh road.

These are really confiding birds and look very settled in the cow field they have made their home , i then checked Scotney and saw 3 distant Black Necked Grebes , i bumped into another birder who informed me the Lesser Yellowlegs was showing at Pett Level so of i set , i pulled up along the road , and saw the Lesser Yellowlegs in my bin's and just as i was about to try and get a photo the bird took to flight flew around above me calling then flew high and out of sight towards Rye , other birders told me it often does this but always returns , 1 hour later still no further sign .

Very close Turnstone.

Other birds in this area included 5 Ruff , 8 Dunlin , 300+ Lapwing and 5 Turnstone including 1 very close bird , wildfowl were well represented with good numbers of Wigeon , Teal , Mallard and Shoveler.

I headed back to Dungeness via Scotney where i managed to locate the 1st winter male Scaup and then i called into the RSPB reserve where i had a distant view of a Redhead Smew plus Great White & Little Egret.

Great White Egret.

Great White & Little Egret size comparison.

With time getting on i paid one last visit to the Hanson hide over looking the ARC pits and was rewarded with cracking views of a Kingfisher which was feeding right in front of the hide.

Kingfisher with one of many fish caught.

I really enjoyed watching this master fisherman catching fish and was a real high point of my day , i also saw another Great White Egret here plus a Bittern was seen walking through the reed bed the other side of the pit .

Male Goldeneye.

There were 3 female and 1 male Goldeneye from this hide as well , and that concludes a very good days birding .

New Year in East Yorkshire

1ST   JANUARY 2015 

Digi Scoped record shot of the Little Bustard.

News of a Little Bustard being found at Fraisthorpe in East Yorkshire and still being present at dusk on the 31st December 2014 was to great to resist , so plans were put into place and i was leaving my home at 1am on the 1st January 2015 and heading to Yorkshire .

I arrived  on site at approx 7.15 am and it was still dark , i made my way around to the Kale  field where the Little Bustard was last seen the evening before and joined the mass of birders already in wait , as the light started to improve everyone was scanning the field and after approx 30 mins rumbles were spreading down the line of birders that someone had located it , thankfully it didn't take long for me to get onto this fantastic bird , i dipped the Dorset bird back in the late eighties and thought my chance had gone after all this time without seeing one , so you can imagine my delight once i got my eyes on this little beauty .

I had some excellent scope views and tried to get some digi scope photos but the wind was quite strong and it was difficult to keep the scope still , so i just enjoyed watching this bird which was picking insects of the oil seed rape stretching it's neck up , it had a little walk where you could make out the patterning on its back and wings , i even saw a little bit of white in it's wings at one point , cracking bird and a great way to start the New Year.

After a warm up and a lovely breakfast i headed off to Calder park for another look at the Blyth's Pipit plus i was hoping for better views.

Record shot of  Blyth's Pipit.

I arrived at Calder park and was straight on to the Blyth's Pipit which was walking in the grass , i saw it quite well before it suddenly flew high over towards the KFC field , great to hear the very distinctive call again , it was relocated in the KFC field but although it showed well at times the views were very brief , i managed a couple of record shots but once again i was more happy viewing the bird .

Male and female Goldeneye.

I had a quick walk along the river to try and see the drake Smew but was out of luck with that one however i did see a female Goosander and 5 male and 2 female Goldeneyes.

From here i headed of to Old Moor RSPB reserve in the hope of seeing Willow Tit a species i have not seen for over 15 years in Kent as they are sadly extinct in that part of the UK .

This is the first time i have been to this reserve and what a great place , the bird feeders set up by the visitor centre are incredible and i saw loads of finches , tits and woodpeckers coming to the feeders.

Male Great Spotted Woodpecker.

2 Female Bullfinches.

Male Bullfinch

Another male Bullfinch.

There were Tree Sparrows all over the place and then 2 Willow Tit's flew in and were feeding on the feeders right in front of me , fantastic birds to see and were definitely the cherry on top after a quite fantastic days birding and without doubt my best birding  start to a New Year ever.

I also added a cracking Brambling here from a different hide .

Brambling.