Pallas's Warbler at Swalecliffe

                                              5th January 2023 ;  Swalecliffe 

                                                                   

Pallas's Warbler.

The aim this Year is to stay as local as possible , Oare Marshes will be my local patch for 2023 however as Swalecliffe is just 10 minutes down the road it would have been rude of me not to go and see Andy .T.'s  great find !!

Supercillium & crown stripe plus wings bars were clear to see.

 

It showed well but was always on the move in typical Leaf warbler behaviour , it became elusive at times as it clearly had a circuit around the Brook & sewage works area.

With a bit of patience the Pallas's Warbler always came back to the same area along the Brook (well at least while we were there).

Here are a selection of photos :

Yellow rump.

Pallas's Warbler.

 

Merry Christmas

Just like to wish everyone who has visited my blog this year a

MERRY CHRISTMAS 

&

GREAT BIRDING

FOR

2023

 

Great Grey Shrike at Hothfield Common

                                          26th November : Hothfield Common

                                                                    

Great Grey Shrike.

On Saturday 26th November a trip to Hothfield Common was very successful , i have never been to this site before so many thanks to Neil Burt for site info.

We eventually found the area that the Great Grey Shrike visits on it's quite wide ranging circuit and after a short wait we were treated to some excellent views of this superb bird.

Great Grey Shrike.

The Great Grey Shrike remained low down for some of the time before flying up high onto an Oak tree.

Great Grey Shrike.

Other birds seen & heard were Siskin , Lesser Redpoll , Yellowhammer & 2 Dartford Warblers.

Sabine's Gull & Red Rumped Swallow in Kent

                                           4th November  2022  : Port Lympne  

                                                                         

Sabine's Gull.

News of a Sabine's Gull showing well at Port Lympne filtered through on twitter on the 3rd November (many thanks to Peter Coleman for putting the news out & info of where to park).

I had the opportunity to have a look for myself on the 4th November and wow what a view it was !!!  I have seen many Sabine's Gulls since i have been birding but never one as approachable & close as this one .

The Sabine's Gull came so close it was difficult to get a photograph of it, all my photo's are Digi-scoped .

                                                                                 

Sabine's Gull.

8th & 10th November  2022 : Palm Bay Forness.

Red Rumped Swallow Photo by Jonathan Boyce Leigh

Great views of  2  Red Rumped Swallows & 3 House Martins flying over and around the Cliff's at Palm bay on the 8th & 10th November was a real bonus , they were seen more over the houses on the 10th but we heard the flight call of  one of the Red Rumped Swallows  on the 10th.

Red Rumped Swallow Photo by Jonathan Boyce Leigh.

Many thanks to Jonathan Boyce Leigh for the use of his great photos of the Red Rumped Swallows.

We also saw a very confiding Snow Bunting & a smart Dartford Warbler along the cliff top plus a Black Redstart showed well near the Beach cafe.

Some Highlights from Shetland

                                                   MYRTLE WARBLER  at Bigton 

                                                                          

Myrtle Warbler 

One of the highlights of this years Shetland trip was the superb Myrtle Warbler at Bigton, this really smart looking bird showed well on occasion and all the above photos were Digi-scoped.

WHITE'S THRUSH at Lerwick

White's Thrush photos by Iain Johnson.

The White's Thrush at Lerwick gave us a little bit of a run around but eventually gave some fantastic views , it was great watching it do it's little side to side dance and is without doubt the bird of the trip for me.

Many thanks to Iain Johnson for letting me use his superb photos on my blog.

Siberian Stonechat ? (awaiting DNA results)

Siberian Stonechat (?)

We had some really good views of this smart Eastern Stonechat species, i understand DNA has ben collected so hopefully that will decide it's species, looks good for Siberian to me but what do i know.......Lol

Ring necked Duck    Loch of Spiggie

Ring necked Duck.

We saw the Ring necked Duck on the Loch of Spiggie on a couple of occasions and although not a rare  bird these days it was good to see it at close quarters. 

Having no camera hindered the amount photos i could get as i was only able to Digi scope, we had a great start to the week but the weather was pretty hard going most days (as you would expect up here).

Other highlights which i never managed photos of were : Hornemann's Redpoll x2, King Eider, Barred Warbler, Glaucous Gull, Yellow browed Warbler, Hawfinch & Twite  plus several more year ticks.

We had a couple of great seawatches , one of Eshaness where we saw a superb close in Sooty Shearwater amongst the 1000's of Gannets, Fulmars & Kittiwakes.

Plus we did a seawatch from Quendale Bay and saw a close in Leach's Petrel & a distant Sooty Shearwater.

Long tailed Duck

Whooper Swan & Long tailed Duck

Great northern Diver

Morning sky on Shetland.

Staying Local......Oare Marshes

                                                     Oare Marshes Highlights

                                            10th September to 29th September 

                                                             

1Ad  & 2 Juv Spoonbills

A visit to Oare Marshes on the 10th September was rewarded with 1 Adult & 2 Juv Spoonbills flying high over the East Flood (a good pick up by AE).

The Bonaparte's Gull was still present now in it's full adult winter plumage, how much longer it will stay for before it departs to who knows where for the winter is anyone's guess ?!

The latest the Bonaparte's Gull has been recorded at Oare Marshes is the 26th September by MW, my personal latest date is 18th September.

Bonaparte's Gull  snoozing before it's departure.

Wader numbers & variety is improving with a single juv Little Stint & 4 juv Curlew Sandpipers the pick of the birds amongst the 1000's of waders present.

15th September 2022

Pink Footed Goose.

The surprise bird on the 15th September was a Pink footed Goose in a stubble field below the cottages , you can never be totally certain of the origin of wildfowl especially but i have included this bird on my Oare Marsh Bird List so there !!!!

20 different species of wader were seen today including Spotted Redshank (1) , Little Stint (2) & Curlew Sandpiper (3) being the pick of the bunch.

We also saw a single Clouded Yellow butterfly.

17th September 2022

Juv Curlew Sandpiper

All the attention was on the East Flood today and the highlight was seeing 12 juv Curlew Sandpipers which were in immaculate plumage.

The supporting cast included Bar Tailed Godwit (2), Spotted Redshank (1) & Knot (3), we also saw a Juv Gannet flyover the East Flood and head inland.

It was also great to see 50+ House Martins overhead on their migration south.

22nd September 2022

An amazing movement of House Martins dominated our visit today with 5000+ birds counted , i have struggled all year to see a House Martin so to see this many was overwhelming .

 24th  September 2022

6 of the 7 Juv Little Stints.

For a wader fan like myself i was delighted to see 7 juv Little Stints on the East flood on the 24th September, there was also 3 juv Curlew Sandpipers , Bar tailed Godwit (3) & Spotted Redshank (1).

A seawatch was rewarded with 1 light phase & 5 dark phase Arctic Skuas plus a fantastic view of 1 adult & 4 juv Little Gulls .

The 3 Spoonbills were seen again briefly on Horsesands and there were 3 Eider seen nearer to Castle Coote.

The Pink Footed Goose was present on the East Flood first thing and we saw 100+ Brent Geese in the Swale.

29th September 2022.

Leucistic Bearded Tit.

A walk around the East Flood early on the 29th September saw plenty of Bearded Tit activity including a Leucistic bird among them.

It looked completely white in flight bar a darker tail but when we managed to see it in the reeds you could see there was a little bit more colour then first thought, a stunning bird all the same.

Leucistic Bearded Tit.

There was 4 Stonechats  & a Reed Warbler near the Sluice and a further 6 Stonechats & 2 Wheatear near Uplees, on the East Flood there were still 7 Little Stints & 8 Curlew Sandpipers (AE & JBL) I only saw 6 !!

The Pink Footed Goose was back in the stubble field, 2 Sandwich Terns were lingering in The Swale.

An adult Peregrine Falcon spooked everything on the East flood with 1000's of waders all up at once.

The Spotted Redshank (ad winter), Golden Plover (151), Bar tailed Godwit (1),Knot (1) & Ruff (2) were all seen.