Been a Great Month so Far........

1st September 2021 :  Isle of Sheppy

Pied Flycatcher

A trip to Leysdown-on-Sea produced a superb  Pied Flycatcher this morning, the bushes near the Pitch & Put area look really good for migrants and this bird was the 1st Pied Flycatcher i have seen on the Isle of Sheppy.

A 2 hour sea watch of Shellness was quiet with only 2 Arctic Skuas and a single Fulmar seen.

4th September 2021 : Langdon Cliffs

Wheatear

Langdon Cliffs is quite a migrant hotspot and checking the area on the 4th produced 3 Pied Flycatchers, 2 Common Redstarts & 2 Firecrest plus several Wheatear & singles of Whinchat & Willow Warbler.

Willow Warbler

I called into Oare Marshes on the way home and the Adult winter Bonaparte's Gull was showing well near the slipway.

9th September :  Worth Marshes.

2 of 4 Little Ringed Plovers.

A successful trip to Worth Marshes on the 9th with a brief flight view of the 1st winter Barred Warbler in the corner bend by the wooden gate. (Thanks AL for the heads up).

There were plenty of waders on the Flood including 4 Little Ringed Plovers , there was 5+ Ruff, 3+ Green Sandpipers & 2 Greenshank also seen.

On the way back to the car i heard a Dotterel calling overhead but sadly and rather frustratingly  could not locate it.

11th September :  Oare Marshes & Worth Marshes

Osprey.

An early morning visit to Oare marshes was rewarded with a juv Little Stint & 2 juv Curlew Sandpipers by the slipway plus the Bonaparte's Gull was still present.

A walk past Uplees copse produced an Osprey on the Sheppy side of the Swale on a telegraph post eating a large fish, a 2nd Osprey was seen over Shellness end of the Island.

There was news of a probable Iberian Warbler seen & heard calling at Worth marshes, so that was the next destination, i reached the area it had been seen and no sooner had i turned up the probable Iberian Chiffchaff appeared and started to call, it certainly sounded good for one to me, apparently it had been sound recorded so hopefully we might get a 100% confirmation.

13th September 2021 :  Buckton & Bempton Cliffs

A trip to Buckton in East Yorkshire was taken with RR and the hoped for bird was a Green Warbler which had been trapped & ringed on the 9th September and was remarkably still present.

We arrived at the now famous 'Dell' at 10.16 and by 10.45 i had a very brief view of the bird but not good enough to tick, however it was not long after that the Green Warbler put on a great show for approx 5 to 10 mins , i had really great scope views but sadly never managed a photo.

This was a new bird for both RR & Myself.

The Black Browed Albatross was still present on the sea at Bempton Cliffs Rspb and although quite distant it was still great to see once again.

Black Browed Albatross (from previous trip)

18th September 2021 :  Worth  & Oare Marshes

Sleeping Pectoral Sandpiper.

With 2 Pectoral Sandpipers being seen on the evening of the 17th at Worth Marshes that was the destination to start the day on the 18th, the news was negative before i arrived with the bird news services informing me they had flown off with a Curlew Sandpiper !!

However i was not deterred as they could always fly back again (Glass half full...) not really adding much on the way round to the flood other then a flyover Golden Plover, i bumped into KP  on route who had seen the Sandpipers and informed me they had been spooked by a Crow.

Eventually i arrived at the flood and my first scan was waderless, however AE soon picked out a single Pectoral Sandpiper over on the far bank, then a Dunlin was seen nearby.

Whilst watching the Pectoral Sandpiper we were joined by JC and Neil , all of a sudden AE said get on this Pipit it's a Red Throated, no sooner had he said that then a small Pipit flew in front of us all calling, we all instantly recognised it as a Red Throated Pipit, i have seen & heard several abroad and also in the UK , however this is the first one i have seen in Kent. Great shout by AE and everyone present could not believe our luck.

It seemed to fly straight through,  sadly it flew towards the sun and was lost to view, we did a search of the fields in case it had come down but alas without success.

I ended the day at Oare Marshes and had probably the closest views i have had of the Bonaparte's Gull which has now moulted into it's full winter plumage, here are a selection of photos :

Bonaparte's Gull Adult Winter.

 

 

White Tailed Plover......Blacktoft Sands

                                           28th August 2021 :  Blacktoft Sands Rspb

                                                             

White Tailed Plover.

On the 28th  August I travelled to Blacktoft Sands Rspb in East Yorkshire to try and see the White Tailed Plover (I still prefer to call it  WT Plover to WT Lapwing) which has taken up residence there in the last few days.

Having a wing stretch.

The White Tailed Plover spent most of it's time in front of the Xerox hide feeding , wing stretching and sleeping until a Marsh Harrier flushed everything and the WTP flew towards the Townend hide.

In flight.

The really bright yellow legs were really a stand out feature on this bird and the wing pattern was very striking to.

White Tailed Plover.

 

Melodious Warbler at Langdon Cliffs

                                         22nd August 2021 :  Langdon Cliffs 

                                                                

Melodious Warbler

News of a Melodious Warbler showing well at Langdon Cliffs on Sunday morning the 22nd August was to good to resist , i soon arrived on site and found my way around to the field below the Rader station and bumped into the original finder Rich Bonser (congrats on a great find & good to meet you).

We didn't have long to wait to see this delightful bird as it showed very well whilst it was actively feeding on fly's and small bugs, here are a selection of photos :

Melodious Warbler.

After watching the Melodious Warbler for quite sometime i decided to check out the bushes to see what else was around, lot's of Common Whitethroat & 2 Lesser Whitethroat were seen as was a really cracking looking Spotted Flycatcher.

Spotted Flycatcher.

It was also great to see a Jersey Tiger Moth .

Jersey Tiger.

Wader Catch up....... Snettisham & Minsmere

                                             26th July 2021  :  Rspb Snettisham

                                           

Adult Summer Western Sandpiper.

This blog post is  a little bit out of sequence (should have been posted before last post) so apologises for that , however on the 26th July I travelled up to Snettisham  in the hope of seeing the Adult summer plumage Western Sandpiper.

The news was negative at first but the tide was still on it's way in so the hope was it would appear on high tide, Snettisham is a magical place to wader watch and the sheer amount of birds is mind boggling !!!

Wader spectacle.

After approx 2 hours the Western Sandpiper was located roosting with Dunlin, so i eventually reached the area it was seen, unfortunately the Western Sandpiper was roosting out of sight below a ridge, however by sheer luck the Western Sandpiper walked out in front of us all for a few seconds before returning to the Dunlin flock and out of sight.

Sanderling.

As the tide went out the waders started to feed again including some stunning Sanderling, then once again the Western Sandpiper  came out to feed very close in affording really great views, here are a selection of photos ;

Western Sandpiper.

3rd August 2021  :   Rspb Minsmere

Pectoral Sandpiper & Ringed Plover.

A trip to Rspb Minsmere on the 3rd August proved to be a really great day out, we made our way around to the East scrape hide and almost straight away  the Pectoral Sandpiper was in view and although fairly distant i had great views through the scope.

Pectoral Sandpiper with Dunlin.

Whilst watching the Pectoral Sandpiper i was informed that the White rumped Sandpiper was in the same area and sure enough within a few minutes the WRS walked out past the Pectoral Sandpiper.

A cracking looking bird and once again although distant i got some great views through the scope, the WRS was spooked by a Lapwing and flew towards the back of the scrape giving  good views of it's white rump in flight.

Record shots of White rumped Sandpiper.

Both the White rumped Sandpiper & Pectoral Sandpiper remained to distant for photos all the time i was there, i did see some much closer Spotted Redshank including one in full summer plumage.

Spotted Redshank.

There wasn't huge numbers of waders here however the variety was good, i saw 14 species of wader today plus Little Gull and a good variety of Butterflies including White Admiral & Silver washed Fritillary in the woods.

White Admiral

Silver Washed Fritillary.

 

 

Hoopoe at Oare Marshes & A Surprize Sooty at Dungeness NNR

                                          4th August 2021  :  Oare Marshes

                                                               

Hoopoe in flight.

An early message from MW informed me he had just found a Hoopoe sitting in the distant bushes  between Dan's Dock and Uplees Copse.

So without haste i gathered up my birding gear and headed straight there , i walked west along the sea wall seeing a Green Sandpiper on route.

I reached MW & Y and was informed it had flew towards the Copse and RR was along there looking for it.

Whilst chatting we saw a superb Juvenile Cuckoo sitting out in the open on a post.

Juvenile Cuckoo.

I decided to head off past Uplees copse and join RR and as i approached i could see RR pointing, he had just seen the Hoopoe in flight again , eventually we all converged in the same area looking for the Hoopoe and as i was scanning the Hoopoe luckily flew past my view and landed in the bottom of a tree in full view !!!!!

Hoopoe.

The Hoopoe was a new bird for my Oare Marsh Bird List as this is only the 2nd record of one here (1st record was approx 15 years ago).

On the walk back we saw a superb Whinchat which was new for the year and several juv  Yellow Wagtails plus 2 Corn Buntings.

Many thanks to MW on his great find and for all the info.

7th August  2021  :  Dungeness NNR

A trip to Dungeness to do a sea watch was the order of the day and what a treat laid in store for us, we were outside the seawatch hide on the Point when i heard MC call out Sooty Shearwater  close in, however  i could not pick it up (i was looking to far out).

However the Sooty Shearwater landed on 'The Patch' amongst the Gulls and proceeded to show fantastically well all day there.

I managed some Digi scoped photos:

Sooty Shearwater.

In flight.