A Day in Kent

Two Dunlin at Dungeness.

My first location today was to pop into Elmley to try and see the roosting Long Eared Owls at Kinghills farm i spent a fare amount of time trying to locate these but was not lucky this time , however i had decent views of a Garden Warbler and there were 2 Green Sandpipers and a couple of Avocets nearby which are always nice to see , i decided to cut my loses and head of to Oare Marshes , i encounted 41 Golden Plovers and  a smart Whimbrel out on the mud flats , i had 50 +Black-Tailed Godwits and 200 + Avocets , other than a few Dunlin there were no small waders to be had here.

Dunlin.

My final destination of the day was Dungeness , i headed straight to the Arc pit to try and see the recently found Pectoral Sandpiper  and i was straight onto this delightful sandpiper , this was a new bird for me at Dungeness and a very much welcome year tick .

Pectoral Sandpiper.

Another record shot of the Pec Sand.

I enjoyed this bird for about 30 minutes , often feeding close by and it was also quite flighty showing off its centrel tail stripe , i also had up to 5 Dunlin, 1 Common Sandpiper and a couple of Lapwings here , from here i headed of to the Rspb reserve to try and see the Great White Egret having already failed a couple of times this year , i made my way around to the Denge marsh hide eventually i went and had a look from the gate  with one or two other birders and was soon  enjoying the Great White Egret.

Adult Great White Egret.

And about to land.

This was a really graceful bird , feeding quite actively every so often , there was not alot around other than this apart from some really smart Common Terns and a fly over Hobby , there were a few butterflies about mainly Gatekeeper , Red Admiral and a couple of Peacocks , i also saw a young Fox near the Christmas dell hide . 

Top Quality Waders

Adult Spoonbill

An early start saw me heading north to Blacktoft Sands rspb reserve in the hope of seeing the adult Marsh Sandpiper , i arrived at about 7.30 am and the weather was awful , consistent rain and quite windy , i met a couple of birders and the news was negative , not a good start but i was undeterred and i checked  out several hides where the Sandpiper had been seen on and off over the past week , i encountered a superb adult Spoonbill which was later joined by another adult bird ,  i also had some great views of   Wood Sandpiper .

Adult Wood Sandpiper.

I encountered 3 Wood Sandpipers , at least 5 Green Sandpipers and 1 Common Sandpiper at this reserve plus a really smart couple of Ruffs put in an appearance .

Two Ruff.

I also had fantastically close views of a female Marsh Harrier right in front of the hide , i have never been as close to one before , truly a remarkable sight and well worth the journey on its own.

Female Marsh Harrier.

There were plenty of waders flying in and out , lots of Egrets and at least 5 Marsh Harriers were spooking everything every now and again , i moved onto the other end of the reserve and bumped into another birder named Rich , we exchanged information of what we had seen and he said he was going to check out another area of the reserve where the Marsh Sandpiper has been seen from whilst i checked out a different area , we exchanged numbers so we could inform each other if we see the bird .

Well i was in the Marsh Hide checking out at least 50 Black tailed godwits , there were Dunlin, Snipe and various ducks but no Marsh sandpiper , then my phone went off , it was Richard with positive news , the Marsh Sandpiper was showing from the Ousefleet viewing screen , with a rather quick dash around to the viewing screen i was greeted with the news it had just waded out of sight . 

So after a fretful 10 to 15 minutes wait the Marsh Sandpiper  gave its self up  ,  really super sandpiper , a miniature version of a Greenshank is the nearest comparison i can think off , a delicate thin bill , longish legs . This was  my third bird in the UK but this was by far the best view of one i have had , i also added at least 5 Spotted Redshanks at this viewing screen including one very black bird .

From here i decided to head to Rutland Water which was on the way back and hopefully try and see the summer plumage Spotted Sandpiper , i arrived there in good time and the weather had improved i parked up and and got my permit from the visitor center .

I set off to the Shallow water  hide , and as luck would have it i connected with this super wader straight away , it was a bit distant on the far bank but you could make out the orange/ yellowish bill and spotting on its breast and flanks , it was along side a Green Sandpiper which was much bigger .

Spotted Sandpiper wing stretching.

Spotted Sandpiper

And in flight

There were five Ospreys in close attendance and one bird spooked the Sandpiper and it flew towards the hide and landed on my side of the water , wow a stunning bird to see the spots were much more evident at this close range , it had a striking supercillium  , i have now seen four Spotted Sandpipers  but this is the first one i have seen in this plumage , the Ospreys were really stunning to see at such close quarters too.

Two of the five birds on the nest.

And an Osprey in flight.

Other birds seen here were a female Goldeneye , Common Sandpiper (at one point there was Common , Green and Spotted Sandpiper all in one view) plus several Common Buzzards were flying around ,  there was a huge number of Sand Martins nearby giving some fine views.

Several Sand Martin.

Then it was time to head home  very happy after a superb days birding with some quality birds in the bag.

Pulborough Brooks

Marsh Frog on a dead fish.

Little Owl.

Hobby.

Common Whitethroat

Great Crested Newt.

June Update

Avocet at Minsmere

Well i am pleased to say computer and camera problems have now finally all been sorted out and instead of doing individual posts on birding trips i have decided to just do a overall summary of my birding adventures in June , which i have to say has been more about dipping then ticking ...lol White throated robin and white winged scoter where two major dips and to be honest i will leave it at that , the month also started of with yet another dip in Norfolk with missing the Broad Billed Sandpiper at Breydon water by a day , i decided to head to Minsmere and had some very close views of Avocets with chicks .

                                                                        Avocet chick at Minsmere.

These were delightful to see , there was alot of activity on the scrape and are main target bird here was Roseate Tern   , i put in a bit of time for this bird and just as it was beginning to look like another dip however i connected with this super tern.

Roseate Tern in flight.

Roseate Tern.

And at rest.

                                      

First visit in 21 Years ........ Lundy Island

Trumpeter Finch.

My first visit back after 21 years saw me heading to Lundy in  the hope of seeing the superb Trumpeter Finch which was on its eighth day on Lundy Island , leaving Bideford at approx 8.30 am i arrived at Lundy at 10.30 am , now i was 21 years younger the last time i came here and the walk / climb up to the top of the island was very hard going even then , now with lets say just a little bit more weight then i had back then the walk nearly finished me off.....lol  but i have to say it was well worth it , this pink beauty gave excellent views , quite stunning in appearance  the photos don't really do it any justice.

Here it is just taking off .

I spent quite abit of time looking at this stunning bird and although it was quite flighty it did show really well at times feeding on the ground or sitting on the stone wall , the weather was closing in ,  so i decided on a walk back to the shop but before i returned i managed some photos of a couple of  a Wheatears which was rather smart.

First of two Wheatears.

Second bird on the wall.

I decided to go  to the pub to dry off and celebrate the Trumpeter Finch which was a new species  . I had time to do some more birding on my way back to the quay and first i saw 1 Spotted Flycatcher then  another 4 birds near by , a much welcome year tick indeed and really smart birds to see , they were doing there normal flycatcher thing , flying out to catch insects and then returning to their favoured perch. 

There were plenty of Swallows and House Martins around plus a unexpected Lesser Redpoll  put in a brief appearance , a few Skylarks and Meadow Pipits were seen as was at least 5 Rock Pipits . 

The return journey on M S Oldenburg was rather an up and downer affair the swell in the Bristol Channel was quite immense but the birding was spectacular with hundreds of Manx Shearwaters giving stunning views a really under estimated count of 500 birds was made but there was most certainly alot more . Close views of Gannets , Kittiwakes and Fulmers were had .

Of interest i did see a Grey Seal whilst waiting at the quay , plus the endemic Lundy Cabbage was well represented around the cliff face .

An Old Ruin on Lundy

Flying the flag.

Good Run Comes to an End .......

Avocet.

Well as the title indicates the fantastic run of connecting with major target birds came to an end yesterday evening  when i dipped the Great Snipe at Cley in Norfolk , i spent from 4pm til 9.15 pm in the Avocet hide which was rather full , you could feel the anticipation and excitement grow amongst the crowd of birders gathered to see this delightful bird but sadly the very anticipated viewing never happened , the weather conditions didn't really help as it was quite windy , it was apparently heard  but that might of been the tape recording someone played near the end of the evening  , still as disappointing as the dip was i had a truly good days birding.

Close view of an Avocet from the Avocet hide.

I started of at Titchwell and soon connected with the superb Wood Warbler that was by the picnic area , it called off and on and gave some superb views , i really enjoyed this bird , there were several local Robins with young nearby as well as Chaffinch feeding young as well , a pair of  Great Tits were constantly in and out of a nearby nest box and you could hear the young birds inside  !

I did not spend long here as i wanted to get to Cley , i decided it best to check out the wader pools along Beach road before i stake out at the Avocet hide , wow what a selection of waders i saw , first and foremost was a superb Lesser Yellowlegs which is the second one i have seen this year or maybe its the same bird i saw in Somersett a few weeks ago ????? , in the same pool there were at least 4 Wood Sandpipers  and then i saw a  Temmincks Stint which was a new bird for the years . 

Lapwing from Avocet hide.

From here i headed of to the visitor center and got my permit then made my way to the hide , and as i said earlier i spent 5 hours here and although i never saw my target bird i still had some quality birds , first up was a fantastic close view of an Avocet , this was a very aggressive bird chasing off every bird that came to close to its territory and young chick  , maybe the Great Snipe had got to close at some point ??

 I also had a very confiding Lapwing which performed well for the camera , there were a pair of Little Ringed Plovers zipping around and the selection of waders kept growing with , Greenshank , Whimbrel and Common Sandpiper  all added along with 2 Temmincks Stints putting in a brief but welcome appearance .

A juv. Spoonbill did a fly around and landed in a pool not to far from camera range .

Spoonbill juv.

The Greylag Goose in the foreground had a dutch ring around its neck , apparently thats how they ring them , i   have to confess i am not to sure i like the way these birds are ringed , its not that they are being harmed or look bothered by them i just think it takes away the charm and looks of the bird .

Whilst waiting for the non appearance of the Great Snipe someone picked out the earlier seen Barn Owl and Short Eared Owl flying together which was great to see . At least 3 Common Snipes put in an appearance plus there were very good numbers of Sand Martins flying here there and everywhere and they were joined by a good number of Swifts as the evening drew to a close , i had a good selection of mammals today including a Weasel   plus 2 Brown Hares .