Local birding

A quick check on Hadham Hall and surrounds gave great views of common buzzard. This was on its regular lookout, a dead tree near the drive to Hadham Hall. 2 little grebes and 8 mallards on the lagoon with linnets, goldfinch, reed buntings and a variety of tits were also seen. Several gulls, including this 1st year lesser black backed. Also, a small (12) flock of fieldfare with a few redwings were noted over the hall.
Goldcrests were also in the conifers but a quick check showed no firecrests were present.

common buzzard over

common buzzard, Hadham Hall

fieldfare

1st year lesser black backed gull

Updated year list Nov 8th

Ones in red were not recorded in 2012.
great crested grebe, cormorant, grey heron, mute swan, greylag goose, canada goose, mallard, gadwall, shoveler, teal (10sp) wigeon, pochard, tufted duck, scaup, goldeneye, smew, red kite, common buzzard, kestrel, moorhen (20 sp) coot, lapwing, black headed gull, common gull, herring gull, lesser black backed gull, greater black backed gull, collared dove, wood pigeon, dunnock (30sp) robin, blackbird, great tit, blue tit, long tailed tit, jay, magpie, jackdaw, rook, carrion crow (40 sp) house sparrow, starling, chaffinch, goldfinch, siskin, reed bunting, waxwing, fieldfare, redwing, pied wagtail (50 sp) egyptian goose, great spotted woodpecker, treecreeper, mistle thrush, wren, bullfinch, red legged partridge, yellowhammer, stock dove, pheasant (60sp) green woodpecker, nuthatch, marsh tit, song thrush, tawny owl, little grebe, barn owl, little owl, woodcock, sparrowhawk (70 sp) coal tit, little egret, red throated diver, guillemot, razorbill, common scoter, gannet, kittiwake, brent goose, turnstone (80 sp) great northern diver, tree sparrow, oystercatcher, shelduck, pintail, cetti's warbler, stonechat, marsh harrier, snipe, great white egret (90 sp) water rail, dunlin, golden plover, snow bunting, dartford warbler, linnet, greenfinch, redshank, ring necked parakeet, ringed plover (100 sp) pink footed goose, chiffchaff, lesser redpoll, meadow pipit, grey partridge, great grey shrike, merlin, caspian gull, green sandpiper, skylark (110 sp) grey wagtail, brambling, little stint, fulmar, curlew, spotted redshank, black tailed godwit, bar tailed godwit, knot, whooper swan, (120 sp) sanderling, grey plover, avocet, ruff, corn bunting, long tailed duck, purple sandpiper, shore lark, hen harrier, hawfinch, (130 sp)Jack snipe, .
Added since April
black redstart, greenshank, goldcrest, mandarin, kingfisher, swallow, yellow legged gull, water pipit, house martin, (140 sp) sand martin, cuckoo, blackcap, goosander, grasshopper warbler , little ringed plover, sandwich tern, arctic tern, rock pipit, white wagtail, (150 sp) yellow wagtail, wheatear, whinchat, sedge warbler, reed warbler, willow warbler, lesser whitethroat, corn bunting, swift, common tern, (160 sp)garden warbler, turtle dove, hobby, bittern, golden oriole, savi's warbler, stone curlew, spotted flycatcher, little gull, little tern, (170 sp) bearded reedling, spoonbill, garganey, red crested pochard, common crane, curlew sandpiper,wood sandpiper, grasshopper warbler, mediterranean gull, (180 sp)common sandpiper, whimbrel, red necked phalarope.
Added birds:
arctic skua, redstart, pied flycatcher, wryneck, citrine wagtail, red backed shrike, raven, pomarine skua, tree pipit, nightingale, balearic shearwater, peregrine, shag,spotted crake.
New birds to add:
common crossbill, yellow browed warbler, red breasted flycatcher (200 sp) ring ouzel, velvet scoter, grey phalarope, glossy ibis, black necked grebe, barnacle goose, mealy redpoll.
Running total 207 with still a fair few possibilities e.g. great skua, lesser spotted woodpecker, 2 barred crossbill.

Sandwich Bay Bird Observatory

This morning, after an apparently well received talk and a couple of pints in the Crispin Inn, I woke early ready for some bird ringing with the bird obs group. The nets were set in willows over the road and first catch brought one lesser redpoll and a chaffinch.
Upon returning, in excess of 25 redpolls, with the haul containing 3 common or mealy redpolls which had earlier been noted in the trees. A lot paler than the lesser jobs. Common redpoll being year lister 207.
Other birds taken were just dunnock, chiffchaff and a couple of robins, both controlled.
Canada geese were overhead and plenty of curlews in an adjacent field whilst a grey wagtail got on to the list as it flew over the bird obs as I was about to leave.
Lovely stay at a really busy bird observatory.

mealy (common) left and lesser redpoll right



front view of the two species

Cardeulis flammea



Carduelis flammea

same bird

Carduelis cabaret

A calmer Dungeness

Another trip over the Thames and down to Dungeness for a day's birding before heading on to Sandwich Bay Bird Observatory to give a presentation on birding in The Algarve and Baixo Alentejo regions of Southern Portugal
A very calm and mild Dungeness sea watch with a little drizzle. Not too much on the channel apart from the usual suspects; gull varieties, including good numbers of little gull, common scoter, great crested grebes, kittiwakes, few gannets etc. Later apparently a reasonable movement of great skuas, which I missed as I headed off to the RSPB reserve. On the power station wall was a female black redstart but a trip up to the moat and trapping area didn't add to the day list apart from house sparrows, robin and starling.

cormorants

carrion crow

distant little gull

herring gull

Busy on the patch

First stop, after yet again learning how to operate the coffee machine at Reserve HQ, off to Dennis' Hide where both a great white egret and distant black necked grebe were observed. Latter being number 205 for the year list. Also present, pochard, wigeon, teal, coot etc but no hoped for red necked grebes.

distant black necked grebe

great white egret with lapwing, wigeon and flyover black headed gull

As I headed around the reserve it appeared as quiet as my previous visit, with very few passerines. More great egrets and I came across another, still distant, black necked grebe. A marsh harrier patrolled Denge Marsh and a marsh tit was heard near the Christmas Dell hide.

black necked grebe

great crested grebe

great white egret

little egret

After this I took myself over the road, stopping for the tree sparrows at Boulderwall Farm, but they weren't keen to have their photograph so along to the Hanson Hide. Plenty of water here with golden plover and lapwings in large numbers. Another great white egret! but nothing else of note. From here, I drove through Lydd to Scotney Pits where I scored number 206 for the year, barnacle goose. Plenty of plovers, greylags and a fair few hybrid geese but nothing else of note.

barnacle goose

more of the same, the gaggle numbered 40+

late flowering evening primrose

view from Hanson Hide.

the Old Lighthouse 143 feet tall, one of the UK's tallest lighthouses.

All in all, a good 5 hours of birding. The species list:
black necked grebe, little grebe, great crested grebe, gannet, cormorant, little egret, great egret, grey heron, mute swan, greylag goose, brent goose, barnacle goose, mallard, gadwall, shoveler, wigeon, teal, pochard, tufted duck, common scoter, marsh harrier, common buzzard, sparrowhawk, kestrel, red legged partridge, pheasant, water rail, moorhen, coot, oystercatcher, golden plover, lapwing, dunlin, black headed gull, common gull, herring gull, lesser black backed gull, great black backed gull, little gull, sandwich tern, wood pigeon, collared dove, green woodpecker, skylark, meadow pipit, pied wagtail, wren, dunnock, robin, black redstart, blackbird, chiffchaff, cettis warbler,great tit, blue tit, marsh tit, long tailed tit, magpie, jay, jackdaw, carrion crow, rook, starling, house sparrow, tree sparrow, chaffinch, goldfinch, greenfinch, reed bunting (70 sp)

A Bit of a Gamble!

Monday morning and the day of the forecast storm, so, up early and off to Dungeness. Gamble no. 1 would I get there? Gamble no 2: would the M25 QE2 bridge be open and gamble no 3: would the M20 be functioning. Answers in order, yes, no, yes. So, off at 5.15 in breezy conditions on to a fairly empty M11 and M25. A short wait to get through the tunnel as the bridge was closed and on to the M20 by 6.15. Very windy conditions were knocking lorries about a little but, after a coffee at Maidstone, a non eventful journey to the sea at Dunge. I was greeted by an amazing roar and electricity arcing all around Dungeness power station B. The noise was deafening, the wind plus all pumps going full blast at the power station. I found it difficult to walk on to the shingle and shelter on the leeward side of the sea watch hide. Gulls shot by backwards, but cormorants were making steady progress into the head of the gale. Incredible to watch as I was finding it difficult to stand, never mind hold camera or telescope still. The radio 4 news reported the powercut at the power station stating wind gusts had peaked at 90mph. No wonder walking wasn't easy!

cormorants flying into the gale

adult great black backed gull (top) and juvenile lesser black backed gull

dodging the 8 foot breakers

hard work

amazing sight, using the waves to aid flying

The wind battered on unabated but my gamble no 4: birds would be everywhere due to the storm was not materialising. Very little on the sea and the fact that the warden, David Walker was not out at the sea watch hide was a good indication that it was not worth being there. By now, I was covered in salt spray, as were my optics, especially glasses that were caked in salt. The waves were certainly powerful.

spot the cormorant, centre.

By now, time for a little shelter, so off to the ARC pit near the RSPB reserve. Few birds, including my 204th species for the year, a glossy ibis, somewhat distant photos here, next to a cormorant resting after being bashed about in the turbulence.

A greenshank, plenty of pochard, tufties, shovelers and gadwalls present, but little else, so off to the reserve for a coffee. As I pulled into the car park, the only car!! the wind was still bashing about but the sun was out and I chanced upon a fox enjoying a little shelter and some warmth.

After another shot of coffee out onto the trail. Good birds were hard to come by and all small ones were settled, invisible at the bottom of the masses of willows. Marsh harriers, a kestrel (see below), a solitary and very brief male hen harrier were noted along with more wildfowl including  some splendid pintail drakes; always a stunning bird.

great crested grebe

kestrel

too windy for take off and holding on tightly

distant marsh harrier

pintail

Finally, back to HQ to give a brief report of sightings to the manager and a quick check of the hide next to the office. Great stuff, a great white egret, firstly skulking in reeds and then perched in a tree, being observed by a grey heron. Also, a rainbow appeared so all was great and the wind was slowly becoming less powerful; I could walk without difficulty.

great egret with  5 little egrets

trying to climb the vegetation

peaceful shot, with great egret in distance!



definitely a tufted duck!

By this time the storm had passed and so back to the bird obs and the sea watch hide. This time I got into the hide and observed more gulls, kittiwakes, grebes and common scoter heading into the strong breeze, but nothing unusual. After an hour I decided to beat the traffic and head home. So did everyone else and I joined a long queue for the tunnel, which was free to help alleviate congestion.
A worthwhile trip even if the gamble of hoping for some rarities didn't pay off. Glad I made the effort. Finally, a study of a passing juvenile great black backed gull