Bit of a Catch up........Oare Marshes & Scotland !!!

                            July 2020 : Oare Marshes

                                

                                            Bonaparte's Gull on mud by slipway.                                                    

                              

I finally caught up with the returning Bonaparte's Gull on the 4th July , it was first seen in early June and is back now for it's 8th consecutive year.

I have seen the Bonaparte's Gull on several dates throughout July  , on low tide it is normally found out feeding on the mud near the slipway , high tide can find it normally roosting on the East flood.

                                   

Bonaparte's Gull.

The Bonaparte's Gull is still present as i write this blog post (22nd July) and is still in superb plumage.

Another  North American bird was first seen on the 10th July 2019 on the East flood and on the 12th July 2020 the cracking Lesser Yellowlegs was seen again near the pull-in.

I haven't managed any decent photo's this time round yet so here are a selection of the 2019 bird.

Lesser Yellowlegs.

Once again this bird is still present as i write this blog post (22nd July 2020) and favours the right hand side of the East flood nearest the pull-in, it doe's on occasion fly out to Faversham creek on low tide.

The East flood water levels are very good at the moment with plenty of waders to be seen, hopefully in the next few weeks we will get treated to some more special birds and maybe another returning American wader !!!!

5th July :  Dunbar  Scotland

Greater Sand Plover.

On the 5th July i joined RR&  AE on a trip up to Tyninghame Bay , Dunbar Scotland in the hope of seeing the 1st summer Greater Sand Plover.

We arrived in good time and was greeted with positive news of the bird still being present, however the wind was very strong and you had to hang on tight to your scope in fear of it blowing over !!!!

We reached the area the GSP had been seen along with two other birders and started scanning  without success, we all sort of split up checking different areas and i fortunately located the Greater Sand Plover hunkered down behind a small clump of grass.

I informed the others and we all enjoyed some very good scope views of this superb wader , this was a new species for both RR & AE and a very welcome year tick for myself.

Greater Sand Plover.

We had a good walk around the area after prolonged views of the GSP, and had a few birds passing by on the sea , plus the remarkable Bass Rock was amazing to see.

Overdue Kent tick............At Dungeness Arc

                    24th  June 2020 :  Dungeness ARC & NNR


                                                    

Gull Billed Tern.

A successful mid week dash to Dungeness on the 24th June for a long overdue Kent tick in the shape of a superb Gull Billed Tern, viewing from the causeway was abit precarious to say the least and i am pretty sure if one birder was smoking a pipe he would have lost it to a very close wing mirror !!!!

As you can see from the photos some close views were obtained of this smart looking bird.

Here are a small selection of photos :

Gull Billed Tern.

After watching the superb Gull billed Tern and seeing a distant ♂ Black winged Stilt we decided to head to the power station to try and see Black Redstart.

On arrival we bumped into some other birders with the same idea however they had been unsuccessful but did very kindly point out a Peregrine on the power station.

Peregrine on the power station.

Having a fly around.

Peregrine.

Whilst enjoying some great views of the Peregrine i saw a Black Redstart on the fence which then flew towards the 'Desert'.

I was chatting with Chris @lewishambirder   (Good to meet you) , and another Black Redstart flew from the power station and landed on one of the telegraph wires , we were all watching this when Chris found a large raptor flying past, after getting it in the scopes we could all see a superb Honey Buzzard, although distant the views through the scope were excellent, good find Chris.

 Here are some record shots of the Honey Buzzard :

Honey Buzzard.

This was a new bird for my Dungeness bird list, a really great day out in good company.

               

Long eared Owl .......At Oare Marshes

                                     
                                         20th June 2020 :  Oare Marshes

                                 
                                                           

Long eared Owl.

After spending a very pleasant day in East Sussex watching Common Redstart, Tree Pipit, Siskin & Crossbill among many other birds , i received a txt message  from MW (many thanks) informing me of a Long eared Owl showing near the car park at Oare marshes.

I was soon heading there and joining the already assembled local birders , the LEO had dropped down into the reed bed and only the head was visible , i had seen it and was thinking that this is a typical view of a LEO .

As you can see by the assorted photos the Long eared Owl eventually showed fantastically well out in the open , mostly snoozing but keep it's eyes & ears on it's admiring audience.

This superb bird was a new addition to my Oare Marsh bird list.

Long eared Owl

Snow in June............

10th June 2020  : Walmer Kent.

Wood Mouse

I had enjoyed an afternoons birding at Stodmarsh , seeing plenty of Hobby , lots of Common Terns over the main lake & earlier in the Alder Wood a delightful Wood Mouse was very entertaining.

I made another quick stop on my way home and then news came through of a summer plumage Snow Bunting near the bandstand at Walmer nr Deal.

It was less than 30mins away , i had to go and try to see this superb plumage bird which you would only normally see in the high mountain ranges of the Cairngorms in this plumage.

We normally only get to see winter plumage birds in Kent , so of i set and i was soon enjoying some fantastic views of a  Snow Bunting.

Here are a small selection of photo's ;

Snow Bunting

I celebrated seeing this stunning bird with a bag of chips & a can of coke from the local chippy, great way to end the day !!!!

3 New Birds for Oare Marshes plus a Trip to Kings Wood

                                       
                                            16th  May 2020  :  Oare Marshes 

Little Egret from previous visit.

With certain restrictions eased on the Lockdown rules (i am as confused as everyone else is as exactly what you can or cannot do ???), we paid a visit to Oare Marshes at approx 11.45am and the aim was to digi scope & sound record Turtle Dove.

Whilst checking the telegraph posts on the West flood without success i noticed a Peregrine overhead whilst watching this another bird of prey come into view near the sun which made viewing abit tricky.

Low and behold when it came out of the sun i could clearly see a Black Kite , having seen 100's abroad and several in the UK i was delighted to add this superb bird to my Oare marsh patch list.

Whilst getting over the excitement of this sighting and phoning MW with the news a superb 'Ringtail' Hen Harrier flew over the flood & a Hobby flew through, in just over an hour we had seen 7 different species of birds of prey.

OF NOTE : A Black Kite was seen the next day (17th) over Oare and was a pale headed bird like the one we saw , also i believe their was one on the 12th on Sheppy presumably the same bird.

                                                 
                                              16th & 20th May 2020  :  Kings Wood

                                                                     

Lesser Spotted Woodpecker

A trip to Kings Wood produced superb views of a Lesser Spotted Woodpecker , we enjoyed prolonged views of it drumming & frequently calling , and had to drag  ourselves away from this superb bird. 

Male Lesser Spotted Woodpecker.

We heard and saw a Firecrest and heard a Tree Pipit flight call before seeing one briefly on the ground before it flew up onto a nearby bush before it disappeared out of sight.

20th May 2020  ;  Oare Marshes

Female Red Footed Falcon.

Whilst walking around Kings Wood news came out of a female Red Footed Falcon showing from the sea wall at Oare Marshes, so the decision was made to head there asap, we arrived in the car park and could see MW & others in the distance at Dans Dock , so as we made our way along the sea wall towards them we heard a fantastic Bittern 'Booming' , this was a new bird for my OMPL (2nd patch tick in a week) .

We continued to walk to join the others and was greeted with the news the RFF had disappeared, but the general feeling was it's still around , approx 15 to 20 mins later someone picked it up quite high and eventually really good views of this superb falcon were obtained.

It never come really close and eventually landed on a bonefire pile where it remained for quite sometime allowing many birders to connect with it.

The Red footed Falcon was my 3rd Oare marsh path tick of the week and remarkably it's only the 2nd record of this species for the reserve.

Female Red Footed Falcon.

Lockdown Garden Birding........

                                             March  23rd    to    April 16th 


                                                                

Male Blackcap

Since the Government introduced a national Lockdown most birders have taken to their gardens to get their fix of birdwatching & nature watching.

I have also enjoyed some really good garden birdwatching , and added several new birds to my Garden bird List which now stands at 58 species.

Blue Tit.

I have an array of feeders up in my 'feeder tree' plus a squirrel feeder in my 'Squirrel tree' you can see a theme here no doubt ...

I also have a tree i have called 'Chiffy Tree' as you know doubt can guess , i have seen Chiffchaff in this tree.

Chiffchaff.

I get lot's of  Goldfinch visiting the garden , up to 35+ in the winter with lesser numbers through the Spring & summer , Chaffinch is now up to 3 regular birds (2♂ 1♀) and i was very pleased to add Greenfinch (1♂1♀) to my garden bird list during this Lockdown period.

Greenfinch & Goldfinch.

Really pleased to see at least 4 House Sparrows nest building and Starling, Robin,Blue Tit , Great Tit & Blackbird all doing the same in nearby gardens.

House Sparrow nest Building.

I get lot's of fly over birds which i include on my garden list and that's where the most variety comes from, before lockdown i had seen Golden Plover, Curlew & Marsh Harrier .

Marsh Harrier.

Since Lockdown birds of prey have been quite plentiful , Sparrowhawk on a daily basis and on one occasion 5 birds in the air together,  2 Peregrines & 1 Kestrel plus several Common Buzzard have all been seen.

Little Egret & Grey Heron have been seen plus 2 Cormorant's have been seen on 2 occasions , i finally connected with Mediterranean Gull with 2 birds flying over the garden , i had previously only heard them.

I have been enjoying seeing other local birders in Whitstable posting their garden sightings on twitter (surprised how many of us there is..lol).

My last new garden lifer was 2 Ravens heading inland , and my latest addition to my Lockdown Garden List is : Swallow which brings my Garden Lockdown List up to : 35

Coal Tit.

Well that concludes this blog post as we all start a second period of Lockdown , i will post another updated blog post of the next 3 weeks at the end of this next period.

Stay safe everyone, thanks for reading.