I was booked to give an RSPB presentation to the local group in Gravesend at 2pm so an early 7am start from home found me wandering around Cliffe Reserve by 8am. Great light and some wonderful views of common birds. Nothing out of the ordinary but it is March, so I didn't expect much.
Mediterranean Gulls along with a distant Greenshank and a Garden warbler were year listers, but just great to have a walk around the reserve. Cliffe has so much potential but very little investment by the RSPB means it remains potential rather than reality. It is a huge area to cover on foot and I suspect many irregular migrants pass through unnoticed.
Sadly, local vandalism means there are no hides whilst the funding that RSPB had planned for the reserve was taken up by the London Olympics in 2012 and the RSPB didn't receive the money it had anticipated, so I am informed.
Here are some photos from the day and a species list..
- Little grebe
- Great crested grebe
- Cormorant
- Little egret
- Grey heron
- Greylag Goose
- Canada goose
- Shelduck
- Egyptian goose
- Mallard
- Shoveler
- Wigeon
- Teal
- Tufted duck
- Common buzzard
- Moorhen
- Coot
- Oystercatcher
- Avocet
- Lapwing
- Redshank
- Greenshank
- Black headed gull
- Common gull
- Mediterranean gull
- Herring gull
- Lesser black backed gull
- Wood pigeon
- Stock dove
- Collared dove
- Rose ringed parakeet
- Green woodpecker
- Skylark
- Wren
- Dunnock
- Robin
- Song thrush
- Blackbird
- Garden warbler
- Cetti's warbler
- Chiffchaff
- Great tit
- Blue tit
- Long tailed tit
- Magpie
- Carrion Crow
- Jackdaw
- Starling
- House sparrow
- Chaffinch
- Goldfinch
- Greenfinch
Butterflies:
No comments:
Post a Comment