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Monday, 31 August 2015
5 Year ticks at Dunge plus a great Merlin at Elmley.
Once again we head off early to Dungeness for the third week running, driving down towards the lighthouse it is completely different from last week with no birds apart from Gulls seen, after the influx that we saw last it's not looking to good for us as we knew before we set out that the weather was not in our favour for birds passing through up on the beach.
So we park up ready to head up to the hide on the beach when a couple of Peregrine are spotted landing on one of the pylons, on the swell it is alive with Gulls & Terns but not much else passing by.
A fair bit of time spent scanning with the scopes gets us a total of three Arctic Skua over the next hour for tick number one & the Gannets start to pour through also a few Kittiwakes, 3 Common Scoter & we then pick out 3 Black Tern needed for a tick so things looking up. Every now & then we see Porpoise & Seal popping up.
Then Brian picks up a Honey Buzzard for another tick, we have been joined by a fellow birder & he gets us onto a Balearic Shearwater so good on him that makes it 4 ticks inside a couple of hours.
A scan over by the power station gets us a Wheatear & a Black Redstart, Yellow wagtail start to show & Jimmy scans a Spotted Flycatcher sitting on the power station fence, so what looked like being a slow day turns out not to bad at all.
A drive to Arc pit gets us some more Black Tern & we then pick out the White-winged black Tern to give myself & Jimmy tick number 5 for the day.
Off now for a quick drive to Gallaways where we see a male & female Redstart more Yellow wags & a good number of Whinchat seen.
Off home now but we just had to call into Elmley, what a let down as we drive down there is not a drop of water anywhere to be seen, so no birds, with all the rain of late where has it all gone to.
Half way down the track a Marsh Harrier shows low over the road & the fourth Peregrine of the day flies over but we think we have wasted our time coming here when we spot a Merlin perched on a gate post, the cameras come out & the bird is in no hurry to fly off, so for a good 10 minutes we get pretty close for some good photos before it takes flight.
So once again we get lucky the Merlin not needed for a tick but we have never been this close for so long to a Merlin. So it turns out to be a really great day again.
So we park up ready to head up to the hide on the beach when a couple of Peregrine are spotted landing on one of the pylons, on the swell it is alive with Gulls & Terns but not much else passing by.
A fair bit of time spent scanning with the scopes gets us a total of three Arctic Skua over the next hour for tick number one & the Gannets start to pour through also a few Kittiwakes, 3 Common Scoter & we then pick out 3 Black Tern needed for a tick so things looking up. Every now & then we see Porpoise & Seal popping up.
Then Brian picks up a Honey Buzzard for another tick, we have been joined by a fellow birder & he gets us onto a Balearic Shearwater so good on him that makes it 4 ticks inside a couple of hours.
A scan over by the power station gets us a Wheatear & a Black Redstart, Yellow wagtail start to show & Jimmy scans a Spotted Flycatcher sitting on the power station fence, so what looked like being a slow day turns out not to bad at all.
A drive to Arc pit gets us some more Black Tern & we then pick out the White-winged black Tern to give myself & Jimmy tick number 5 for the day.
Off now for a quick drive to Gallaways where we see a male & female Redstart more Yellow wags & a good number of Whinchat seen.
Off home now but we just had to call into Elmley, what a let down as we drive down there is not a drop of water anywhere to be seen, so no birds, with all the rain of late where has it all gone to.
Half way down the track a Marsh Harrier shows low over the road & the fourth Peregrine of the day flies over but we think we have wasted our time coming here when we spot a Merlin perched on a gate post, the cameras come out & the bird is in no hurry to fly off, so for a good 10 minutes we get pretty close for some good photos before it takes flight.
So once again we get lucky the Merlin not needed for a tick but we have never been this close for so long to a Merlin. So it turns out to be a really great day again.
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| Brian's photo of the White-wing Tern |
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| Whinchat at Gallaways |
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| again |
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| The Merlin |
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Monday, 24 August 2015
Hundreds of birds at Dungeness
We set off at 5 am & head to Dungeness before going on to look for the Black Stork in Sussex, that was the aim, but after arriving at Dunge the place is alive with over 500 Yellow Wagtails & over twenty Whinchat all along the road to the lighthouse.
The last two weeks got us only one Whinchat, so quite a surprise to see so many this week, we expected a few more but not numbers like this
We are on the watch this morning as we have a family do to get back by lunch time.
So with that in mind we knock the trip to the stork on the head & spend all morning here.
A scan of the sea gets us a tick when a Great Skua knocks into a Gannet & pinches it's catch & had a go at drowning it, the Gannet got lucky & managed to escape.
Common & Sandwich Tern pass by along with a few Kittiwake, one single Common Scoter seen amongst loads of Gannets, a Yellow- legged Gull passes by as well.
A fellow in the hide who works at the obs tells us what the count was on the Yellow wags so our own estimate was a little short.
Back down by the lighthouse in the garden Brian spots a Pied Flycatcher from the car, a quick walk around the garden soon gets us onto the flycatcher & we are able to get a few other people onto it as it sits back down on the fence.
We all needed this for a year tick so a good spot by Brian. Whitethroat & Willow warbler seen in good numbers, we then pick out 3 Black Redstart before it's off for a quick look in Hanson hide looking over arc pit we see 3 Wood sandpipers 1 Little stint a couple of Ringed Plover.
Now for a quick drive home to be in time for the family get together.
The last two weeks got us only one Whinchat, so quite a surprise to see so many this week, we expected a few more but not numbers like this
We are on the watch this morning as we have a family do to get back by lunch time.
So with that in mind we knock the trip to the stork on the head & spend all morning here.
A scan of the sea gets us a tick when a Great Skua knocks into a Gannet & pinches it's catch & had a go at drowning it, the Gannet got lucky & managed to escape.
Common & Sandwich Tern pass by along with a few Kittiwake, one single Common Scoter seen amongst loads of Gannets, a Yellow- legged Gull passes by as well.
A fellow in the hide who works at the obs tells us what the count was on the Yellow wags so our own estimate was a little short.
Back down by the lighthouse in the garden Brian spots a Pied Flycatcher from the car, a quick walk around the garden soon gets us onto the flycatcher & we are able to get a few other people onto it as it sits back down on the fence.
We all needed this for a year tick so a good spot by Brian. Whitethroat & Willow warbler seen in good numbers, we then pick out 3 Black Redstart before it's off for a quick look in Hanson hide looking over arc pit we see 3 Wood sandpipers 1 Little stint a couple of Ringed Plover.
Now for a quick drive home to be in time for the family get together.
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| Rear view of Whinchat |
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| Whinchat |
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| Black Redstart |
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| So many & all I get is this crap photo of one |
Monday, 17 August 2015
19 hours spent to finally get the White-rumped sandpiper
So back we go on Saturday & spend 9 hours to no avail.
Brian was able to try again on Sunday & got lucky with a couple of good views of it,so Jimmy & I had to give it a go today.
We arrive at Oare marsh by 6 am & this time we get lucky as well when the target bird is right in front of us, not great light for a photo but a record shot taken.
So 14 hours taken for us to pin this lifer down but it was a short time before it took to flight, so we are now joined by another birder & spend the next 5 hours helping him to get a fix on the bird, unfortunately for him he had to leave before the bird was spotted again.
The marsh is full of hundreds of Godwits,plus many Avocet, Ringed plover,the odd Little-ringed plover, a dozen or more Yellow wagtail, Dunlin,Ruff, Knot,seven or so Curlew sandpipers, Little Stints all over the place also loads of Golden plover, a couple of Snipe & a Wood sandpiper is picked out in the corner of the marsh, many many Redshanks,four Greenshank & a Spotted Redshank also seen. The tide comes in & pushes all the Gulls onto the marsh & we are able to pick out the Bonapartes gull among the hundreds of gulls here so a really good effort on our part.
Jimmy then gets us another year tick when he scans behind us & picks out a nice Whinchat sitting in the sunshine.
A Peregrine pays us a visit & with the marsh being so full of birds it's a wonderful sight to see them all hit the sky together for a few minutes.
Oare marsh is a really nice place to be at this time of the year being so full of birds to watch, the sun can be a bit of a problem is the only drawback.
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| Wood sandpiper |
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| The Bonapartes |
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| Black-tailed Godwit |
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| Just a record shot of the WRS |
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| Bonapartes |
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| Goldwit |
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| WRS in flight |
Monday, 10 August 2015
Just a nice morning at Oare marsh & Dungeness.
We set off at 5am heading to Dunge once more, we know there is not a lot about in the way of year ticks maybe a Whinchat that we never saw last week &5 had been reported down by the old tank down the path by the military fence.
On the way we decide to pop into Oare marsh for a quick look, that quick look turns out to be about 4 hours.
The place is alive with birds out on the scrape, the pick being 5 Little Stint & some Ringed Plover, many Avocet,the odd Ruff, Curlew Sandpiper,hundreds of Godwits, Plenty of Gulls but we never got the Bonaparte's this time.
A quick look with the scope over the over side gets me a couple of Turtle Doves sitting in a dead tree, not needed as we have seen at least 6 this year but always nice to see them.
Brian then gets onto a bird that we can't seem to identify, we are really struggling with the heat haze & it is a fair distance off.
We have the books out & we think we are looking at either a Baird's or maybe a White-rumped Sandpiper, it has a Sandpiper look with a long body but as I said the haze is not helping us.
We now have a large group of birders all helping to identify it but no body can ID it, a fellow calls a local from the other side of the scrape who he felt sure would know what it is, the answer turns out to be no at least while we are here, by now a very large group had gathered, no one had the answer so we give up & head to Dunge in the hope that something would turn up on the pager with the answer.
As it happens nothing comes out, so maybe it turned out not to be what we thought.
With time marching on we head down the path to the old army tank looking all the way for a Whinchat to add to the year list, we see many Whitethroat also one Lesser whitethroat & Stonechat but the target bird stays hidden to us.
A quick drive down to the visitor centre gets us nothing & on looking at the days sightings board it tells us that 3 Whinchat had been seen where we had just been , so with time running out we head back for one more look, no luck so will have to wait to tick a Whinchat maybe next week.
So no ticks but as usual a very nice morning in the sunshine with the boys.
On the way we decide to pop into Oare marsh for a quick look, that quick look turns out to be about 4 hours.
The place is alive with birds out on the scrape, the pick being 5 Little Stint & some Ringed Plover, many Avocet,the odd Ruff, Curlew Sandpiper,hundreds of Godwits, Plenty of Gulls but we never got the Bonaparte's this time.
A quick look with the scope over the over side gets me a couple of Turtle Doves sitting in a dead tree, not needed as we have seen at least 6 this year but always nice to see them.
Brian then gets onto a bird that we can't seem to identify, we are really struggling with the heat haze & it is a fair distance off.
We have the books out & we think we are looking at either a Baird's or maybe a White-rumped Sandpiper, it has a Sandpiper look with a long body but as I said the haze is not helping us.
We now have a large group of birders all helping to identify it but no body can ID it, a fellow calls a local from the other side of the scrape who he felt sure would know what it is, the answer turns out to be no at least while we are here, by now a very large group had gathered, no one had the answer so we give up & head to Dunge in the hope that something would turn up on the pager with the answer.
As it happens nothing comes out, so maybe it turned out not to be what we thought.
With time marching on we head down the path to the old army tank looking all the way for a Whinchat to add to the year list, we see many Whitethroat also one Lesser whitethroat & Stonechat but the target bird stays hidden to us.
A quick drive down to the visitor centre gets us nothing & on looking at the days sightings board it tells us that 3 Whinchat had been seen where we had just been , so with time running out we head back for one more look, no luck so will have to wait to tick a Whinchat maybe next week.
So no ticks but as usual a very nice morning in the sunshine with the boys.
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| The two Turtle Doves from a distance. |
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| A Little grebe just passing bye. |
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| The ponies making it a pleasant place to be. |
Tuesday, 4 August 2015
A few shots in my garden today.
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| Jay comes to the garden every day. |
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| One of the family of Sparrows |
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| Eats all the sunflower hearts meant for the birds |
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| Guilty |
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Monday, 3 August 2015
3 ticks & a few Butterflies & Moths at Dungeness.
After 3 weeks of going nowhere birding we are happy to meet up with Brian for the 90 mile trip to one of our favourite places & where we head to when we need to get out birding.
On arrival we head to Hanson hide & within a few minutes we pick up 2 year ticks when the only other birder in the hide puts us onto a Little Stint & then we pick out a single Wood sandpiper that was nice as Jimmy & myself dipped on our last trip to find one.
So a good start to the day & nice to get the list moving again, a drive down to the reserve visitor centre gets us no Whinchat only a few Stonechat & a family of Whitethroat was nice to see, the last few times of visiting the centre has been closed with just a note on the window that only says( closed
what is going on there.
On the drive back up the track we spot 5 Stoats & 2 Mink running across the track, not what you want to see on a nature reserve I think, but it was still nice for us to see them.
Up to the beach by the boats hoping to find a Yellow-legged Gull, no luck with very little happening only 3 Common Scoter a single Auk, the odd Gannet plus Sandwich & common Tern.
So we try up by the power station near the hide & soon pick out 2 Yellow-legged Gulls for another tick. No close photos of birds so had to make do with the Butterflies & Moths.
The rest of the morning we spend looking at Moths & Butterflies before getting home to watch the Arsenal at Wembley again.
On arrival we head to Hanson hide & within a few minutes we pick up 2 year ticks when the only other birder in the hide puts us onto a Little Stint & then we pick out a single Wood sandpiper that was nice as Jimmy & myself dipped on our last trip to find one.
So a good start to the day & nice to get the list moving again, a drive down to the reserve visitor centre gets us no Whinchat only a few Stonechat & a family of Whitethroat was nice to see, the last few times of visiting the centre has been closed with just a note on the window that only says( closed
what is going on there.
On the drive back up the track we spot 5 Stoats & 2 Mink running across the track, not what you want to see on a nature reserve I think, but it was still nice for us to see them.
Up to the beach by the boats hoping to find a Yellow-legged Gull, no luck with very little happening only 3 Common Scoter a single Auk, the odd Gannet plus Sandwich & common Tern.
So we try up by the power station near the hide & soon pick out 2 Yellow-legged Gulls for another tick. No close photos of birds so had to make do with the Butterflies & Moths.
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| Add caption |
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| Hawk Moth |
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| Kestrel |
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A long way off the Little Stint |
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