Trip to Greylake Rspb Reserve

                                                  14th February 2022  

                                                Greylake Rspb reserve 

                                                                   

Baikal Teal with Wigeon,Teal & Shoveler.

On Monday the 14th February we took a trip to hopefully see the superb drake Baikal Teal at the quite amazing Rspb reserve Greylake in Somersett & Bristol.

I have never been to this reserve before and i was suitably impressed, there were 1000's of Ducks , mainly Wigeon, Teal, Pintail, Gadwall & Shoveler, plus 5+ Great white Egret were seen.

On the raptor front we saw Marsh Harrier, Sparrowhawk, Kestrel & Common Buzzard, there were both Water Rail & Cetti's Warbler being very vocal but remaining hidden.

Amazing head pattern on the Baikal Teal.

The main attraction Baikal Teal took some finding among all the other ducks however every so often some of the ducks would get spooked and the landscape would change revealing more birds hidden and it was on one of these occasions the Baikal Teal gave itself up to it's admiring crowd.

Baikal Teal having a sleep.

 

An Away Day Plus Shorelarks Revisited

                                       10th February 2022 :  Eastbourne

                                                           

American Robin.

An early morning trip to Hill road in Eastbourne on Thursday the 10th February was rewarded with spectacular views of an American Robin.

We arrived on site at approx 6.40am and we could hear at least 2 Tawny Owls calling from the nearby woodland plus plenty of Song Thrush & Blackbirds singing in the new morning.

Rear view of the American Robin.

Once daylight had arrived and more & more birds were appearing from their night time roosts we were all waiting in anticipation of the  American Robin putting on a show !!

We were not disappointed , the American Robin put on an amazing display, feeding hungrily on the plentiful berries, hopping about on the grass , flying all around us and could often be heard ' calling '.

Many thanks to the residents of Hill Road for allowing us all access to see this amazing bird.

American Robin.

Leysdown - on -  Sea  Isle of Sheppey

After leaving Eastbourne we headed to Leysdown-on-Sea in the search for the wintering flock of Shorelarks.

We managed to see all 7 Shorelarks  on the beach between the free car park at Warden Point and Central Beach, they once again showed really well and with patience the birds come really close, however all my photo's are digi-scoped.

Shorelark

We spent the rest of the afternoon on Sheppey adding 10+ Brambling along the track to Shellness, 1 Whooper Swan in with the Mute Swan herd at Capel  plus a Ringtail Hen Harrier at the same site.

 

RSPB National Garden Birdwatch

                                    30th January  2022 :  09.40 am  -  10.40 am

                                                           

♀ Blackcap  (photo taken in 2019)

The Rspb National Garden Birdwatch was upon us once again this weekend and i did an hour on Sunday morning, here are the results.

1.  BLACKBIRD       1 ♂  &  1 imm

2.  ROBIN                  2

3.  CHAFFINCH       2 ♂  &  1 ♀

4.  GOLDFINCH       5    (very few in garden this winter, normally 30+)

5.  GREAT TIT          2

6.  BLUE TIT             3

7.  COLLARED DOVE   6

8.  JACKDAW  2

9.  WOOD PIGEON  7

10.  STARLING  26        (not as many this winter, normally 200+)

11.  BLACKCAP   1 ♀   (1st sighting this winter)

12.  WREN  1

13.  HOUSE SPARROW  8   

14.  MAGPIE  3

15.  CARRION CROW  2

                PLUS SEEN FLYING OVER GARDEN  (not counted on survey)

1.  SKYLARK  3     (Garden record count !)

2.  HERRING GULL  6

3.  BLACK HEADED GULL   1

4.  FERAL PIGEON   4

          That concludes my totals for the 2022  Rspb Garden Birdwatch.

A few regular birds missing this morning , notably Dunnock which was seen later in the day , also the wintering Grey Wagtail was nowhere to be seen today.

                                 

                                                             

Jackdaw

Little Gull at Chillenden

                                     22nd January 2022 ;   Chillenden

                                                      

1st winter Little Gull

News of a 1st winter Little Gull at Chillenden was to tempting to resist , and having never been to Chillenden before was an added bonus (i do like going to new places).

We arrived at the location and immediately saw the 1st winter Little Gull 'hawking' over the sheep field.

The 1st winter Little Gull was among several hundred Black headed Gulls however it gave amazing close views , even flying right over our heads at one point.

1st winter Little Gull.

 

Isle of Sheppey , Bosseneden Woods & Grove Ferry

                                                January  15th 2022 

                                       Leysdown- on- Sea  Isle of Sheppey

                                                               

5 of the 7 Shorelarks

A trip to Leysdown-on-Sea on Saturday 15th proved very successful with superb views of the wintering flock of Shorelarks , we managed to see all 7 birds together.

Shorelarks

We had planned to bird on the Isle of Sheppey up until lunchtime but it was so misty we decided to head to the woods near Canterbury.

                                                           Bossenden Woods

                                                                        

Lesser Spotted Woodpecker

We had checked out Bossenden Woods before New Year and were successful with 2 LSW (heard only) , so we went to the same area but were unlucky there this time, however Nuthatch ,Coal Tit & several Treecreeper were seen here though.

Lesser Spotted Woodpecker

We spent quite abit of time in the woods and eventually located a pair of Lesser Spotted Woodpeckers , the female especially showed well.

Grove Ferry

The final destination of the day  produced 6+ Marsh Harriers & 1 'Ringtail' Hen Harrier going to roost plus several Little Egret seen from the Ramp .

We waited almost until complete darkness and were lucky enough to see 6 Woodcock come out of roost by the paddocks.

However my personal highlight was seeing for the first time ever 5 Long Tailed Tits all huddled up together in their roost !!!

Kent Birding in the New Year

                                                       JANUARY 1st   2022

                                                    St.MARGARET'S at CLIFFE

First site visited today was Bockhill Farm Wood and we heard the wintering Hume's Leaf Warbler several times before we managed any sort of view, i did see it quite well on a couple of occasions but sadly never managed a photo.

Other highlights here were  2 Raven over the cliffs plus Gannet, Fulmar , Razorbill & Guillemot on the sea.

                                             SANDWICH BAY  &  WORTH MARSHES

                                                                      

Velvet Scoter

We left Bockhill Farm and headed to Sandwich Bay , despite a good search we were unable to find the Snow Bunting this time, however we were more than compensated with a fine Velvet Scoter quite close in on the sea.

Velvet Scoter.

Driving along the Ancient Highway on our way to Worth Marshes we were also very happy to see 5 Grey Partridge , sadly a hard species to see in Kent these days.

Grey Partridge  (photo from 2021)

It didn't take long to connect with the unringed White Stork at Worth Marshes as it happily and successfully fed in the fields near the 'Round House'.

White Stork with a Grey Heron

SWALECLIFFE

We then headed to Swalecliffe in the hope of connecting with the recently re found Black Guillemot.

We had a scan over the sea and picked out 10+  Red Breasted Mergansers , 3 Eider, 1 Great Northern Diver, several Red Throated Divers & Great crested Grebes.

We bumped into Andre Farrar who kindly informed us (thankyou Andre) the Black Guillemot & Slavonian Grebe were showing further down the beach nearer to Hampton.

We soon headed to the area and had decent scope views of this rare Kent bird plus the Slavonian Grebe was also great to see.

Black Guillemot  (photo by FC)

We added lot's of waders here including, Sanderling, Ringed Plover, Turnstone & Curlew.

OARE MARSHES

Barn Owl

We ended a really great days birding at Oare Marshes and had decent views of a Barn Owl, other highlights included a Greenshank in the creek , 30+ Pintail on the East Flood and a high flying Cattle Egret over the East flood heading towards Uplees.