Highs and Lows of Birding

Review of the Year...the final chapter

2011-12-31T22:28:00.003Z

Well 2011 is almost over and a very quick review of highlights of the year that are both readable and 'allowed' to be published on the net!! (lurkers out there).

Only one trip abroad this year to Sri Lanka with excellent company courtesy of Baurs, Andy, Mike, JT, Mark, James and myself had a cracking 10 days birding on this supeb island seeing all the endemic bird species currently recognised by taxonomists as well a host of great mammals as well. On the Kent scene the sad loss of Ray Turley this year leaves the county without a great chap and birder, very sadly missed. On the bird front in Kent, Northern long-tailed Tits, a resident Glaucous Gull, a Blackpoll Warbler, stunning Daurian Shrike, host of egrets, an early Whiskered Tern and an adult Sabines Gull off Shellness remain memorable. On the Odonata front, two new species for me Dainty Damsel and Vagrant Emperor, whilst moths continue to impress including the first and second record of Black spot Chestnut Moth locally. Beyond Kent, the 'Slaty- backed Gull', Oriental Turtle Dove, host of waders in the SW this autumn and the Sandhill Crane some of the highlights.

Mike has clearly produced something noxious that John has trouble dealing with!

Serendib Scops Owl at Kitugala, the highlight of Sri Lanka and one of mu most wanted birds

Just ahead of Wills and Pippa, sorry Kate, the day I finally got hitched....who would have thought that!

Sandhill Crane in Suffolk taking a break from Scotland, a well deserved UK lifer.

A quick foray into 2011, bring on 2012, but this may be the last entry to this blog as time constraints prevent updates being done, though I may use Facebook who knows

Have a great 2012

Barry

Blackpoll Warbler in Kent

2011-11-29T22:13:00.005Z

Well that's thown you hasn't it, you were expecting crippling shots of the Blackpoll Warbler. With all this modern day technology I could play around with the EXIF files but sadly I never got ant piccies of the bird, but a collection of Kent and nearly Kent birders

Geoff 'the keeper of the lists' hard at work!!

My Hero !!

2011-11-28T21:40:00.002Z

Cornish treats

2011-10-07T20:44:00.005+01:00

Autumn now in full swing, Lou, Forrest and myself head off to the South West for our annual West country visit. Last September proved to be a memorable week with good weather, lovely walks, lots of fun for the dog, good showings of pasty and of course some birds. As has become almost a tradition now we stopped off at Davidstow on the way down or 'Sheep World' as Forrest likes to know it. Whilst I savoured the cracking Buff breast on the airfield, Lou relaxed and Forrest had his sheep fix! This was my fifth or so visit to Davidstow and I must admit it's a personal favourite site as it's great for photographing waders at close range.

The Buff breasted Sandpiper above was one of probably in excess of a hundred seen this year in the UK and Ireland and surely Hurricanes must have a significant effect on their global population for what is basically a decling species.

Next stop was Stithians res where in the pouring rain I manged to locate the 1st year Long-billed Dowitcher that had recently arrived. With time getting on it was quickly off to Drift where the Semi palmated Sandpiper showed brilliantly from the hide and the Lesser Yellowlegs was seen distantly. Four Yank waders on a day wasn't a bad haul plus brief views of a 'probable' Black -headed Wagtail at Drift. It was interesting to listen to the conversation in the hide at Drift from the local birders of the well known and almost 'legendary' suppressors in the County, at time it almost felt like similar talk from certain birders back home. We arrived at our cottage near Pendeen late afternoon and so began a very enjoyable week in one of favourite parts of the country, oh to be retired!

Saturday and an early morning seawatch with cracking views of Bonxies, Manxies, Arctic Skuas and 10+ distant Leach's Petrels were good early morning birds whilst the afternoon was spent watching two Black Kites at Bosfranken Farm near Sennen one of which followed the plough and was watched eating earthworms.

Lesser Legs at Drift, distant but great scope views on my second attempt

Pec Sand on a farmyard muddy puddle near Sennen!! This bird was at Trigithian Farm situated only 500m or so from the coast and evidently attractive enough to tempt a migrant Pec to drop in and feed. On my trips to the West Country and especially this part of Cornwall it always amazes me how much is found by the dedicated army of local birders and visitors scouring the valleys and cliffs yet at the same time how much is missed!! Only a short disdtance away and esaily visible on a clear day is Scilly which was literally brimming with rares the week I was at St Just!

Sheep World complete with sheep, birder car and 'hidden' waders

The Long-billed Dowitcher at Stithians

The week continued as it started with great scenery, variable weather, some good walks, sheep watching for Forrest and some great birds. A memorable seawatch at Pendeen produced all four Skua species, Grey Phalarope, Sabine's Gull and Leach's Petrel. Choughs were seen a few times near Pendeen as well as Peregrine, lots of Sparrowhawks and some great views of the commoner waders. If your ever wondering what to do when you reture and live in the South East, simples...............move to Cornwall

Crossing the Wantsum!

2011-09-11T15:43:00.004+01:00

Today I found myself heading East, not to Asia or Oz but to cross the Want some (Wantsum) and into East Kent, home to many a good birding site and also the vebue for todays KOS meeting at SBBO. With a few hours to spare I ventured across to BOB, as Prof Hanby would see 'the back of beyond' or locally known as Backsand Scrape. This superb hidden corner of Kent is a great place to watch and hopefully photograph waders but locating it when you're an infrequent visitor like me isni' always straightforward. Is you was an escaped birder on the run you could hide out here for a while and not be seen, there's even three hides and some large blue plastic containers to hide in if the blog police are after you.
Looking through my photos on the PC, about 80000 digital images now I decided I needed a few good Greenshank shots and looking at other blogs eg Steve Ashton I also wanted a piece of the action knowing the Bittern land and the viewing hide would be open season on a Saturday at Grove.

I was not disapointed and there were ctaully birds present

A billy bonus came in the form of this cracking juv Temminck's Stint that fed sadly too far away for a decent shot but nonetheless a good bird to find and see. East Kent is full of surprises you just need to get out there and look, don't assume someone else will have checked a site, it's a migrantion hotspot and every day is different.

Greenshank at Backsand, crackers

Ruff at Restharrow scrape

These last images are Honey Buzzards plus atmospheric dust migrating through Kent in the last few weeks

And now for something completely different

2011-09-11T13:31:00.002+01:00

Ok then we all like birding and many of us take it very seriously 'me included' but there are times when we all 'look on the bright side of life', ignore birding for a while and let our guard down. We all do it, I've seen ultra keen birders watching Mr Bean whilst in hysterics, pretend shooting at passing cars with kids pretend shooting back at them with toy guns and playing knock the can over at Dunge on a poor seawatch.

It's a Hobby, but birding aside it's good fun and often the times between birding are the more memorable and amusing.

Above a photo of me pre Sumo wrestling

above in competition with my sister, ...................I won!!

Lou and myself in Devon at Pixie land this year on Honeymoon........... but note the bins are still with me (never leave home without them)

There we are Derek another posting, it's becoming a habit now, no Moths, no birds, just a break from birding.

But.................

Autumn is well and truly here now, bring on the birds!

Billy no mates does Dunge

2011-09-04T15:04:00.003+01:00

I've had little time for birding recently based on many factors ...including moths but with the possibility of a few Moth lifers and a potentially good days birding I decided to pay a visit to Dunge, 'pay' being the operative word as the Treasury reaps the benefits of my fuel costs there and back.

First port of call the reserve for the Cattle Egret but as I struggled to see more than about 50 mretres in the mist I diverted to Galloways, tin helmet on, I'm going in. Galloways is one of the places that always has the 'rare bird' feel to it yet it hasn't happened to me yet! It's also birded less than some of the other 'Gilleard' brother sites nearby....(do they have the monopoly on hides in the UK)? Slowly driving towards the sea I managed six Whinchats, good numbers of Whitethroat and a cracking male Sprog Hawk over. The mist started to lift so next stop the entrance track to the reserve and within a few seconds of parking and scanning the Cattle Egret was UTB showing well with it's wavy neck in the fields. It's incredible to think how the fortunes of Cattle Egret has changed not just in the UK but Worldwide as it moves into areas raped of their forest by large Cattle ranches in S America .

It was nearly 9am now and I will still the only birder watching the Egret so I headed of to the Hanson Hide to check for waders. GPs, Dunlin and a few Little Egrets but little else.

The main reserve was next as it was nearly 10 am now and I had to decide carefully where to park the car next to the RSPB vehicle or the one other vehicle in the car park? Yes it's been a quiet autumn but even I was shocked how few birders were present maybe they were lost in the mist?

It was quite evident I was on the scene early as a Water Rail fed unconcerned on the track, Cetti's performed well, and at Christmas Dell hide the Great White Egret did a fly by, my 3rd Egret in just over an hour. Hobbies chased dragons overhead, a Little Gull parolled the pools and on the main flood 4 Garganey, 3 Spot Shanks and a couple of Ruff. Aware that raptors should be making a move soon in the increasing heat my HB dar was on full alert as a stonker of a Honey Buzzard flew overhead and was seen heading out to see at the obs such is the beauty of mobiles these days. Happy with my fill I visited the obs and had a Moth raid at the fridge, surely one of the most visited fridges in the UK. Book at the ready and with the help of Dave I added a few new moths to my UK fridge list including the splendid little, Beautiful Marbled .

One more stop before heading home was to see the Glauc at the fishing boats.

Job done and back home for Amy Pond, sorry I meant Doctor Who.

Today I was mostly working but yesterday was one of those memorable autumn days and all on my own bar the fridge encounter and raptor man!

Birding still takes a back seat!

2011-08-07T20:38:00.007+01:00

Over the past year I've ventured into Moths to the extent that between April and Sept I appear to do very limited birding. This new 'hobby' I find extremely interesting and it seems at times like a whole new World, akin to when i first started birding. Fortuantely with the help of Messrs Milton and Morris of East Kent I'm hopefully starting to id things correctly now though any mistkes let me know!! In fact I seem unable to go anywhere now without looking at peoples fences, walls, sheds, and only last week whilst in the queue for the tip I saw a Least Carpet on the wall from the car! The garden list grows slowly but at a guess is on 120+ Macro sp and 40+ micros. Only this week I added another couple of corkers to the garden list with Lesser-spotted Pinion and Pebble Prominent whilst a visit to Bromhey today bagged Rosy Footman, Black Arches. Pale Prominent amongst others whilst the fridge held Gordons' prized trophy, Many lined Moth, a first for Kent?

Hours and hours spent perusing UK Moths website and in the fieldguides really has helped me with some Ids yet some completely throw me, which is where Louise the wife comes in handy, as ace moth identifier and surely one of the vows of anyones marriage! In fact she was pretty good at identifying birds when we first starting going out but the early mornings, ie earlier than 11am tend to see her leave me to it these days. I don't think I'll get the dizzy heights of some people out there ie Franny, Dylan, and ace pan lister Dave Gibbs, but looking at Dyls blog certainly has me more aware of what's all around us 'beyond' birds. Keep up the good work. The recent re igniting of the Planet Thanet website is also for me another great asset to what's about and certainly until the birds start getting going again, the MV 125, the guide and a bag of pots does me fine. All above are photographed in the mothcervatory a handy way to photograph them then spend the next ten minutes trying to re catch them once I get behind the camera and they've flown.

Oh the joys of mothing!

Normal Service will resume soon

2011-07-17T13:34:00.003+01:00

Apologies once again for a lack of blogging, far too busy reading other blogs, attempting to identify moths, giving lectures, working, monitoring my ageing body and annoying tufts of aural hair, plus chasing insects! The above picture was from a few weeks ago, sleep induced!

King Eider on the Ythan

Star wort so I believe

Dainty Damsel

Once I get my act backing together I'll resume normal service including the Sunday edition minus phone hacking or any other way of finding whats about!

Work on Monday as usual!

2011-06-12T14:11:00.000+01:00

Cheque books back in pockets, the Brown Booby is a Gannet.

First birders arrive on St Mary's for the Booby...No ladder required

2011-06-12T13:39:00.004+01:00

As has been seen this week the top listers are having a bonanza at the moment, this time the ladders can be pushed aside and the cheque book birders out in force. The first arrivals at the dump on St mary's Scilly for the Brown Booby
Good luck lads remember your sleeping bags (great Blue Heron could strike again)

It's not my real ladder?

2011-06-11T22:19:00.005+01:00

It's my step Ladder !!
It's been a funny old week, stuck at work all week,a good bird 270 miles North and evidently one that provoked much discussion amongst birders and non- birders.
White throated Robin at Hartlepool was always going to attract a big crowd and many were certainly not disappointed going by the photos and video.
Back home I had to make do with a local Toucan that was in a nearby garden only viewable over the fence with a ladder. This made me think about obscure moments in my somewhat sporadic ( recent years) twitching times.

I remember attempting to see a Corncrake on Scilly in 1985 which was only viewable through a tight angle into a field and surrounded other hopeful birders I decided that as a result of short stature I'd be able to see the bird by sticking my head between the bars of the gate and twisting my head and bins to the side to look along the furrows. This was fine until a bright spark started to open the gate with my head still stuck in it!

Secondly whilst running for the Northern Oriole on St Agnes, Scilly I managed to come face to face and was almost run over by a tractor, possibly the only vehicle on the island with a very irate farmer!

This was nothing though compared to the birder that I saw run over in Hugh Town running for the ferry for the Hermit Thrush. As he bounced off the bonnet of the old ladies car she seemed somewhat bemused that he simply got up, and limped off towards the quay!

Twitching is a funny old game and yes we're all a bit nutty but we enjoy it and as a result I've made loads of great friends and had some great days out in the field. The Golden winged Warbler twitch was a day to remember especially when the double decker bus blocked several hundred birders views...........simple solution, driver turned his engine off as the bus couldn't proceed along the road and lots of birders climbed aboard to get more height to view the gardens. Another surreal moment of a birder swimming across to another island on Scilly to look for a Rough leg, or Pete Milford getting caught by the tide in Norfolk and swimming back to shore with his bins tied to the top of his head.

It's a peculiar pastime but so are many others whether it's driving several hundred miles to see a concert, a a moth in a fridge, a racing event or even a field where a caravan is pitched down and you wake up to the smell of bacon all around and toilet tent zips!!

It's whatever you enjoy

Must remember to add ladder to my Xmas list !

The story of the Old Bin Lady and the Dainty Damsels

2011-06-06T21:28:00.003+01:00

Long long ago, on a far away island named Sheppey, lived One man and his blog http://lettersfromsheppey.blogspot.com/ but not so Far Far away another bridge was built over to the Island of Sheppey which alleviated the summer and bank holiday traffic problems caused by any boat taller than a canoe and the ceremonial lifting of the bridge. Such isolation from the mainland brought with it a rich variety of habitats and a flourishing set of pools situated next to the new bridge which could now be available to that new breed of birder, the damsel hunters!

John and Gill Brook made the discovery of the decade when a little known species of Damselfly, Coenagrion scitulum was rediscovered in the UK following the loss of the species from Essex in the 1950's associated with the floods http://www.british-dragonflies.org.uk/species/dainty-damselfly

Saturday morning found me and a few other Odonata followers attempting to track down this enigmatic species and in so doing we were amongst a small but growing group able to once again witness this cracking but 'subtle' species in the UK. Two males were found and another different male (based on abdominal markings on the Sunday). Hopefully the two photos show many of the 'key' features for this species but I will certainly return to hopefully see more. This was my 45th UK species of Odonata and with two still in Scotland and another in Ireland, the magic 50 is getting nearer.
Size wise they really do live up to their name, and the markings on Segment 2 of the abdomen plus the 'long' pale pterostigma give them a slightly different appearance to puella.

Yesterday evening, there was a shout from the garden from the missus 'what's this moth in the bin' ...................!

It's the Old Lady, or as in this case the BIN LADY. First one I've seen this year and another great addition to a fantastic weekend of insects. I spent Saturday with Lou down at Hamstreet with Steve Whitehouse and friends seeing loads of moths, probably 30 new species for me, including the wanted Scarce Merveille de Jour, Red necked Footman, Rannoch Looper (part of a large influx), Lobster, Pale Tussock, Ingrailed and Purple Clay, Pine Hawk Moth, and loads more, cracking stuff!

I also saw a few birds this weekend including this Little Tern....

IRANIA good luck to all

Twenty years ago today. Bridled bliss

2011-06-02T22:16:00.002+01:00

Twenty years ago today, I heard about a sum plum White winged Black Tern at West Thurrock, Essex and being a bit short of cash, time and generally being tight I decided to attempt to see if I could see the bird from Greenhithe, Kent ! In attempting this long distance spotting across Old Father Thames I bumped into Paul Larkin who I informed that maybe we should try our luck out at Swanscombe, I knew the security guards and access was granted to the riverfront.

On arrival the White winger was showing incredibly well just offshore from the jetty at Swanscombe and sadly in those pre digital days I didn't have a camera at hand, but I did have a rather large and heavy mobile phone!

Just as I was on the phone to Andrew Moon at Birdline South East I noted with Paul another tern coming towards us just offshore, dark above, pale below. I knew it was either a Bridled or Sooty but which one?

a phone call to Andrew solved any ID problems followed by several expletives!! The bird fed just offshore from us for a while, the mobile was hot with calls from others in Essex that could see us watching the bird!

BRIDLED TERN, a real mega then it was off upriver towards the Dartford Bridge and lost to view. Later on I found out that several birders connected with it, a second for Kent, first for LNHS and it was later at Hanningfield, Essex.

A memorable day and I still remember Paul's parting words.....................see you in BB

Sure enough our names did appear in the BB report for that year

Happy days !

Up to date : Wedding, Moths, birds and Dragons!

2011-05-28T12:19:00.005+01:00

Ok then it's nearing the middle of the year, it's a Bank Holiday it's dull outside, Louise is up North having seen Take That in Sunderland, I've got a bit of spare time and in order to prevent Mr Faulkner abandoning me forever I've decided to post. When I first started this blog a few years ago I used to spend huge amounts of time updating it, but I rarely seem to find the time to update now though do enjoying reading many blogs especially the Thanet based ones, Sheppey and my second favourite county in Britain, those from Devon.

To re cap the last few months then, I'll take you back to Dengemarsh and Springfield Bridge where Phil Saunders and Josh Jenkins Shaw started off a mini twitch with the Odonata Elite of the UK (well Dragonfly twitchers really)!

Vagrant Emperor was the target and very smart it was too looking rare as in vagrant but without a vagrants bottles of whiskey! This really is a Dragonfly meag and was widely tipped as about to set wing on UK soil as a result of huge numbers recently seen across other parts of Europe. On arrival on Bank holiday Monday all was looking pretty grim as the quarry failed to show in the slightly cooler temperature compared to the day before but luck was on our side when a timely phone call from Terrington Laws found JT and myself rushing back to Dengemarsh from the ARC and there it was winging it's way up and down the Pike ditch, a corking Vagrant Emperor yet another Odonata UK lifer. It wont be long now before someone achieves a full 50 species for the UK if the Dainties show this year and a few other new UK species turn up.

The small crowd above shows Phil Heath and Steve Whitehouse just before they left the site to twitch a local fridge for a few new Moth ticks !!

The Vagrant..........MEGA

Another trip to Dunge found JT and myself dipping on Crane and a Collared Prat, but once again the birding Gods were on our side when Steve Broyd then Mike B found two Red rumped Swallows on the RSPB reserve which gave good views for the next hour or so amongst the Swifts and other hirundines. Dunge really is having a cracking spring, and with Roseate Tern, Hobby, Little Gull and BTD made the day a great success despite the no show Prat!

April 28th 2011, the day I thought would never come and my childhood statement of 'I'll never get married' was broken!

Anyway it was a cracking day, everything went like clockwork thanks to our families and other guests, and especially to the staff of Leeds Castle who were simply superb. Now me being me, you wouldn't expect to attend even my own wedding without my bins and this paid off with a cracking pair of Spot Shanks and LRPs on the main lake, plus Peregrine, Med Gulls and stacks of hirundines. I never knew weddings could be so much fun and bird filled!! Our honeymoon was to be based in Devon at Crowdy Mill, Harbertonford with Tawny Owl outside and Dipper on the river viewed from the window.

Ok, the wedding went without a hitch but the car rebelled at Budleigh and we were towed to Exeter to exchange for a courtesy car called Kirsty ( a honeymoon with two girls) !! The steering rack had gone on the car and lots of money later we were reunited with our car. Anyway, our dog Forrest (not the little one in the picture above, that's a local) enjoyed being in a people carrier for a few days.

I had to take a photo of this, if you've watched Little Britain you'll know what I'm talking about.

Despite all my attempts I never did manage to see Ring Ousel on Dartmoor but I did find this photo om my memory card, that someone found very funny indeed!! Cheers Wifey!

No trip to Devon is complete without seeing Cirl Bunt, will we ever all see one on Kentish soil again?

Back home, another sighting of Red Kite, they are becoming extremely regular in Kent these days and reminds me of my first at Dunge in Dec in the early 1980's when it was still very rare in Kent.

The mothing continues this year with my first ever spring and it really has been both taxing on ,my ageing brain and great fun with loads of new lifers, just like when I first started birding way back in 1978. Above is White Satin

The Snout, a really great looking moth with a nose to be proud of.

Small Magpie

Big Magpie

Corn Bunting at Cliffe
Finally I will attempt to keep things up to date, (you've heard that one before) It's now 1pm, I'm hungry and I need to get the mansion ready again for the Take That wanderers arrival later today.

2011 Happy New Year

2011-04-12T18:43:00.004+01:00

OK, it's April 12th, only a few days late but it's been a funny old year and I've really not had the time or inclination to update the blog but have been observing others and enjoying reading them. Therefore, do I intend to get back up to date, highly unlikely but as the summer migrants have already started to arrive in the UK and the Waxwing winter seems ages ago now I thought I'd post a quick note.

The Elephant was photographed in Udawalawe national park in Sri Lanka this year, a really great place and a very successful trip seeing all the endemic birds plus great photographic opportunities.

Hopefully my next post will be before December!!

New Years Resolution....

2010-12-31T20:51:00.002Z

Must try and keep this blog up to date....................
NO CHANCE
Have a great 2011

Return to South America

2010-12-12T21:05:00.003Z

Once I get a chance I'll update the blog with my recent adventures in Guyana. A great trip with nearly 50 new species seen out of a total trip list of 380+. Great company, food, great birding in simply the BEST continent in the World SOUTH AMERICA

The Rufous Crab Hawk above was one of many specialities seen, a species difficult to see in Venezuela but easy in Guyana

And so to Winter

2010-11-16T22:54:00.004Z

A few weeks blog absence and not much to say really, a few TTVs a few good birds, lots of rain, even more work, loads of KOS work, lots of blogs read and a break from Moths...........looking forward to next year though
When all is quiet a perusal of websites and a bit of fun thrown in
see http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vHXQp-NhFuE

East Kent........again

2010-10-18T18:44:00.004+01:00

As I was working Saturday I decided to once again head East to the promised land with JT. A late start due to work we arrived at Shuart and nearby and wandered around for an hour trying to jot everything that was moving down.......... Fortunately I had a large piece of paper and an unlimited supply of ink in my pen for jotting down

Brambling 1

Siskin 1

Buzzard 2

Goldcrest 4

Fieldfare 5

East Kent birding at it's best, what to look at next. Following the first hours birding heading West and back home seemed a good idea but we ploughed on to Elmwood Avenue. A quick chat with the lady at the riding school who seems to have been there forever but never ages as if it was still the early 1990's! Again notebook at the ready bins poised the migrants flooded in, Redpoll 1, Siskin 1, Dunnock 2, Mipit >20 . Again heading West looked the best option

Next stop a cup of tea and a sandwich at the pumping station where the ambiance of a charity cycle race was the main interest. JT spotted bird of the morning, a Whitethroat in one of the 3 bushes. Excellent, things were really looking up now, next stop North Foreland where a Wheatear showed well on the clifftops and on the beach below uncle Tom cobley and dog patrol chased the Turnstones on the beach. Time to head West yet?

Next stop the ever reliable Northdown Park, another cup of tea and a text from Gordon ........Pallas's at caravan park Reculver

We dithered, birded the area a bit longer notching up a handsome group of 37+ Bramblings, good numbers of Blackbird, 5+ Chiffs, a male Blackcap ,a Lesser Redpoll then spent a while scraping the migrant turds that had hitched a ride on our boots . As if set in a scene from Slumdog Millionaire the Parakeets kept the background alive with their tuneful racket!

Time to head West, yes onto Reculver with the sweet scent of GTs (growler turds) wafting in the warm car air . The Pallas's Warbler put on a good show to it's small appreciative crowd. This really is one of the best looking migrants to grace our shores. Overhead a Peregrine flew over

Things were finally looking up and off to Grove we headed. Over the years there's been various birding spots named after events like a certain lane near Scotney and Belshaw's Bush at Capel and we decided to park at Howard's Bend turning the car at a 190 degree angle before locking up and entering the reserve. Immortalised for ever this quiet section of road will always be remembered for two things Wilson's Phal and International rescue for GNH!

At Grove the Wilson's Phal was again present from the Harrison's Drove and showed brilliantly through JT's revamped Kowa. A look for the GGShrike drew a blank and we returned towards the car when we had ten minutes of cracking birding

The Wilson's was from the viewing ramp, a Jack Snipe flew over us and away and just before Howards bend, the Great Grey Shrike zipped past us

That's why East Kent is so good for birding it just needs time, perseverance and a willingness to check those areas that you feel others may not have checked yet and well done to Gordon and Chris for finding that wee Sibe cracker that's what it's all about

Why oh why did it have to be sunny!

2010-10-15T18:43:00.005+01:00

Last Sunday was a day in East Kent with high hopes and a 'hoped for list of special birds'. Sadly, despite the rest of Britain being bathed in rares, with Red flanked Bluetails literally popping up all over the place later on, East Kent was very hard going.
Despite living in North Kent, I've always enjoyed birding the outer reaches of East Kent around North Foreland and more recently got to know more about the birding sites nearer to Ramsgate
and Pegwell village. Saturday was dreary, strong E'ly winds and very overcast you could almost smell those rares flying overhead. A call to Nigel Jarman Sat pm revealed that bad news...........starlit sky, Sunday was going to be hard work. East Kent deserves more attention from birders, geographically well paced for migrants with lots of nooks and crannies to look at and always that possibility of something special amongst the migrants. First stop for JET and myself was Margate Cmy where bird of the day appeared almost immediately..........DCG (Dave Gilbert) a real rarity in the field beyond the Margate triangle and great to see him again and looking well. I'd spent a lot of time in the past birding with Dave and have fond memories of travels to Anglesey, Norfolk, South Wales, on the Scillies and even in Ecuador for three weeks !! Still in characteristic migrant plumage we spent a short while birding the area also bumping into Simon Fogg, Jeremy, Bob, Alan and Brenda Like the grand daddy of Kent birding Dave was as keen as ever and his repertoire of jokes as fluent as ever. I've had to alter the exposure on the pictures due to the clash of autumn colours from Jeremy in camouflage mode

Below Courtstairs north of Pegwell village an excellent looking area for migrants and worthy of coverage. The area South of here, Milton ranges, and Solly moth garden a great piece of coastline that allows for great birding and an opportunity to see migration as it happens on a good day with some truly great counts from Phil and Craig in the past week.

Elmwood and the lighthouse, another hotspot for migrants with Bramblings overhead, a Black Redstart, a distant Grey Heron and good numbers of Mipits. Back in the late 80's early 90's I used to bird this area quite a lot with the are adjacent to the old St Stephens college particularly productive. A hard days birding some good migrants with Chiffs, Siskin, Redpoll, a Tree Pipit and a few Swallows but still no star bird despite visiting Northdown Park and King George V park full of sun seekers and ice creams. A last ditch attempt at something rarer at North Foreland revealed a couple of Wheatear and then finally Steve Blaskett informed us of a Shore Lark at the pumping station nearby. Off we shot and there it was very very tame and almost run over a few times by cyclists.

So there you have it, a superb area for birding and a very enjoyable day. Good luck to Dylan, Francis, DCG, Steve, Phil and Craig and monitor the years events with some great photos not just avian on Planet Thanet, Margate Cmy blog and the Dumpton Non Conformist.

Anyone lucky enough to live in this part of Kent enjoy it, as despite rampant development and loss of habitat the birds common and rare will still be there just a bit trickier at times to find, good luck to you

Yank Waders in Kent

2010-10-13T18:54:00.005+01:00

It's pretty rare that you get an opportunity to see more than one or two species of Yank wader in a year in Kent, therefore with a White-rumped Sand continuing it's stay at Oare I decide to finally visit this superb reserve. With luck on arrival I saw the bird almost immediately as it flew onto one of the close islands (close for Oare) and almost immediately fell asleep amongst the Goldies. A cracking little bird and yet another good wader this autumn.
A week later and I was back at Dunge where two Buff breasts had taken up residence in the Kent part of Scotney. Parked in Calandra lane I walked with Alan and Brenda Fossey along the cycle track whereby the two birds were seen well amongst the Goldies and Ruff. The views were excellent though having recently seen the bird at Davidstow, I'd been spoilt with point blank views. The rest of the day turned us ome good birds with Whinchat, two Little Stint, Black and Arctic Tern, Black throated Diver, Merlin and a surprise Barred Warbler on the RSPB reserve that was actually quite showy

Barred Warbler crashing it's way around the bushes and scrub

Nearby, the Two Egrets showed well, Little and Large. A scene like this would have been unthinkable years ago yet Great White seems almost resident at Dunge now and Little Egret are common. A great day out and a good opportunity to see Barred Warbler well

A NON Birding week in the West Country

2010-09-28T19:54:00.003+01:00

As has become a tradition over the past few years Lou and myself have been visiting the South West in September for a week to stay at a cottage. Acting as a substitute Scillies as that has become very expensive we've managed to coincide with some good Lou weather and some good me birds!

This year we stayed at Botallack near St Just allowing me an opportunity to explore some of the Cornish valleys a bit better as well as stopping at Davidstow on route to see the 'hoped' for Buff breasted Sand.

The week was superb throughout, nothing turned up in Kent, Scillies was quiet, I wasn't at work and most importantly dog walking, relaxing beaches and some great birds thrown in as well. Above is one of six Golden Plover that we drove up to at Davidstow just before Pc Plodette arrived informing us we were on private property and not permitted to drive on the airfield.........that's news to me and to every other birder I've spoke to.

At Marazion a Pec showed well through the scope but not the camera

On an early morning walk this Wryneck showed brilliantly a few mornings at Botallack pre breakfast, and testament to the fact that this really is a great part of the UK and warrants lots of attention from birders that can rival Scilly sometimes

On the way back home two Dotterel showed well by the car at Davidstow and even better no Pc plodette

Buff breasted Sand the star of the show and one of my most wanted 'close views' birds. Davidstow ranks as one of the better places in the UK for this species and as expected the views were mega

A juv Spotted Sand at Turf near Exminster was equally approachable and worth the twenty minute walk from the car park. Add to this a Rosy Starling at Lands End on the Tardis, Lap Bunts, Sooty and Balearic Shears, Red backed Shrike at Treeve Common Lands End and a pair of Choughs not a bad non birding week

As usual the blog is behind once again but will be updated ASAP with more Yank waders, a corking ShoreLark in East Kent and a chance meeting with Kent legend Dave Gilbert in a cemetery! All to be revealed soon when life allows

What's the (Blakeney) POINT !!

2010-09-27T20:34:00.005+01:00

Why oh Why oh Why!
I've been asking myself this since my first wanderings into the Birding World beyond the local area way back in 1981. I've virtually given up twitching but will venture away from Kent for the odd twitch and this certainly fulfilled both of those short words. My association with Blakeney Point is very limited and from an age when I was young fit, very keen and had some good mates living in Norwich, namely Alan 'Huey' Lewis and Pete (trendy) Morris. It was ages of Nancy's cafe, sleeping overnight in the car in Wells car park awaiting the moving on questions from the local constabulary. Marcus and Andrew Lawson often were part of the crew and Bryan Blands beard was made available to the breeding Parrot Crossbills to make their nest more comfy. Birders that were simply names to me then became good friends, Pete Milford, Neil Bostock. Over my few visits to Blakeney I'd seen a few good birds with a White-billed Diver offshore in 1985 having not seen a Lancy that was reported and in 1987 following a few days seawatching in Cornwall and seeing very little, Pete, Alan, Rob and myself drove in my old orange Chevette to Petes' house in Norwich to recoup before heading up to the coast to look for migrants.
Barred Warblers, RB Shrikes, Ickies then on to Blakeney Point for a Great Snipe that showed very well and I distinctly remember two things that remain etched in my mind. The bird landed on the shingle and a guy next to us couldn't see the bird but Alan decided to assist but was struggling to find it 'allegedly' whilst he grilled it through the scope unbeknown to the poor soul who had yet to see it!. The second was a young Dick Filby proclaiming that the bird should be left in peace now , and those words of Bob Geldof uttered from his lips, 'the lesson to day is how to die' !!
Anyway back to Sunday 26th Sept 2010, a walk up Blakeney Point in reasonable weather for an Empidonax flycatcher that had settled in the plantation on the point the previous day. It was going to be a hard walk whatever and Guy and myself set off from the car park with the intention of walking to Halfway house and waiting for news. Just before we got there news came through that the bird was still there and so off we set the 40 somethings heading towards the point still another 1.5 to 2 miles away. It was now that I realised why I rarely walked up Blakeney Point, in fact Barbet Moutain in Peru seemed somewhat easier but nonetheless the adrenalin cut in, the legs moved forward and apart from a dead seal on the beach the journey continued. The crowd was eventually reached, the legs ached and the shingle was merciless but there we were and there it was after a tense wait an unidentifiable American Flycatcher!

About to leap off it's perch

Hiding in the vast wilderness that is the plantation (on a par with the vegetation at the Captain Digby Margate)!

A great little poser, showing all the salient features to prevent it's identification

I'll leave the ID to the Demi Gods of birding and can add little to the discussion but felt happy to see the bird and see some old mates. I sincerely hope I'm fully retired from this young mans game by the time I'm 60 but all credit to the lads out there that were in their 70's

The photos above show the bird and the almost snow like beach caused by the spray and foam at high tide. A good shot here of some bald patches and what looks like a guy praying on the left. The weather is deceptively sunny, but that was soon to change !The plantation as you can see is tiny and fragile but home to an amazing bird

The walk back was horrendous, cold, wet, wetter and even wetter. A scene akin to the front line in Afghanistan with the troops moving up through the field

One picture tells a thousand words!

Sitting in the car with no trousers in says it all(the pic is carefully cropped)

Was it worth it?

YES

Would I do it again?

Of course I would but hopefully in drier conditions

My heart goes out to those that missed it Saturday and returned Sunday to score

After that a difficult Bonelli's in Wells and memories of a great bird (I even saw the bill) and wet day

Ce'st la vie

Birds, yes I do still see a few!!

2010-09-04T22:06:00.005+01:00

RCP at Reculver, a Reculver tick and well worth the wait.............. more medication please!

The last few weeks, and I finally managed to escape the grip of the NHS and relax birding locally. A flying visit to Cliffe produced the hoped for Shelducks plus a bonus Pec Sand, a regular visitor to Kent but one I don't see every year. Also here was a Wood Sand, 2 Greenshank and a soon to arrive KP from Essex, by which time I was at Elmley.

A small group of Curlew Sands part of a flock of nearly 50 birds

Willow Emerald at Reculver, (cheers Derek) a small colony is present hopefully the start of something bigger in the County

At Reculver this 'common' Mipit put on a good show once it settled down and I'd failed to string it into anything else beforehand with it's sneaky habits!

Red-backed Shrike at Reculver, always a good one to see and this was a particularly showy individual.

Autumn is finally here...back to the birds...possibly

2010-09-03T22:12:00.002+01:00

What a Beauty...birding still taking a back seat!

2010-08-18T22:25:00.004+01:00

The Mothing continues thanks to John Young and Tony Morris. Probably 50-60 species in the garden now, not bad for a couple of weeks. Should have done this years ago !!

I will start birding again soon once work allows me to escape from the laboratory!!

A Whole New World.............

2010-08-06T19:28:00.003+01:00

A chance encounter with John Young in Dene Park a few weeks back and talk of Moths etc etc, found me visiting Johns' house a few days later with the offer of borrowing a moth trap, books and even some egg boxes....fantastic.

Like a kid with a new toy I set about with Louise re designing the garden in order that a moth trip could be sited and light up the neighbourhood. Lou and myself were keen to say the least and at midnight instead in being in my slumber I found myself competing with Lou for every moth that happened to venture into our airspace.

A few nights later, exhaustion setting in with working all day and with the kind help of Tony I started to be able to give names to some of these moths. It was a great new World to me and many an hour spent misidentifying them has ensued before Tony's' help!

It would appear that despite being a regular visitor to the DBO fridge over the years I've learnt very little but enthused by this new venture I feel I will also like others become addicted!!

Thumbing through the book I even found one named the Nonconformist!!

Well I never !

Shuttle shaped Dart

Oncocera semirubella

Nutmeg

Knot Grass

Odonata bonanza

2010-08-04T22:12:00.004+01:00

In recent weeks I've done very little birding, instead I've turned to my other favourite subject, Dragons and Damsels. We still have a situation in the UK where birding is incredibly popular, either the casual observer, or the hardened obsessive twitcher and this exists to a lesser smaller scale with the Odonata.

A few have reached the 47 mark in terms of UK species, whilst I'm on a paltry 42 and surely it's only a matter of time before someone reaches the big 50!!

Lestes dryas is very common on the North Kent marshes these days having been a very rare damselfly one time. The picture above shows one of the 'many' at Cliffe. Incredibly someone found a few barbarus, Southern Emeralds at Cliffe still a very rare species in the UK but hopefully a new colonist.

Above Southern Emeralds

The incredible news that there was a small colony of Aeshnea affinis, Southern Migrant Hawker at Hadleigh Essex found me waiting with 30 to 40 other manic Dragon twitchers a few hours for the sun to shine and the show to commence. We were not disappointed with two males seen .

Amazingly enough a pair was also found at Cliffe ovipositing, fantastic hopefully another UK colonist

Th Odonata paparazzi

The 'elite' of Dragons discuss the finer points of anal appendages at Hadleigh.

So, no birds but the next step is Moths!!!!

Oh dear I think I've bitten off more than I can chew this time round!!!

To be continued..........................

Which county is Next?

2010-07-22T21:07:00.003+01:00

Finally the WTLapwing has left Dunge on route to ......who knows where?

Norfolk, Suffolk or an early morning visit to the dam at Weirwood. Definitely a severe case of dump in the pants if that happens I expect!

Wherever it wanders, it was great to know that Kent was on our route and no longer will this species quite be the blocker it once was.

What's next I wonder, personally I'd be happy with am Arctic Warbler or really pushing the boat, Red-necked Stint

Leeds Castle in the summer

2010-07-17T22:06:00.004+01:00

With a yearly pass to use and no visits since March we decided to venture to Leeds Castle today to have a wander, see some Med Gulls and have an ice cream. (mango two scoops highly recommended). Busier than in March but also a lot warmer we spent a few hours wandering the superb grounds and enjoying the wildlife and seeing such award winning events as kids being chased by Geese, chasing after the ball down the slope and the finale of crying. Leeds Castle, fun for all the family and well worth the annual pass. From a bird point of view there's wild and collection birds and an opportunity to see both close up in a beautiful setting.
This Crow was waiting to be fed on the grass whilst overhead Meds and Black heads flew around calling

Med Gull, one of seven seen today

Black-headed Gull outnumbered by Med Gulls here!

Summer in the Uk, bird displays and ice cream

Shock horror as four White Storks came into view, part of the bird display! Keep an ear out for White Stork sightings in this part of Kent. Note the white rings and they all have names!

Even more of a shock 3 Black Kites that spent about 20 mins in the air catching food and putting on a great display, I almost thought I was back in Delhi!!

STOP PRESS. Team Hunter returns to your screens

2010-07-16T18:58:00.001+01:00

http://www.freewebs.com/jameshunter2/index.htm

Mid afternoon Lapwing mayhem

2010-07-13T19:14:00.002+01:00

A lazy start today, Shoreham for Adder, Grass Snake and Slow Worm, then down to Mark Beech for butterflies. A brief stop at Chiddingstone West Kent for dragonflies was suddenly interrupted by the incredible news that the wandering White tailed Lapwing was now in at Dunge on the ARC! Ok, now being a technophobe and not having a satnav. tom tom or motmot what ever there called I have to rely on my knowledge of the Kentish road system and my instinct knowing that less than 60 miles away birders from all over Kent will be descending towards Dunge to attempt to see this lively bird that has a habit of flying off again to another county. A quick glance of the map on the floor once I pulled it from under the heap of cans and crisp bags and sense told me to head back to Bough Beech and follow the M25/M20 to Ashford
I set off at 1544 and at 1657 arrived at the car park, ARC. A quick chat with Chris, Terry and Mike revealed that the bird had already done a runner. I decided to check the RSPB approach road and a few minutes alter saw what looked like the Smart car version of the Batmobile heading along the shingle track towards me with a very red faced driver at the wheel and shouting 'it's at the screen'.
A few minutes later after a 4 point turn the car park was a seething mass of cars parking up, birders falling out of the cars and heading determinedly towards Screen Plover.
Like a Who's who of Kent birders there it was showing superbly the Lapwing I had seen a few days earlier at Rainham Essex, that then spent a short time at Slimbridge, Glos before coming back East to Dunge.
What a day, and finished with a Great White Egret at Denge Marsh and Black eyed Peas blasting out on the stereo on the way home
Monday at work was an anti climax!!

Mark Beech Purps

2010-07-13T19:06:00.004+01:00

For many years now I've been visiting Mark Beech near to Hever in the hope of seeing the big boy of the Butterfly World, Purple Emperor. I've found over the years that I come away unconvinced that I've seen anything other than White Admirals despite seeing black and white butterflies high above the trees in aerial display. This time I was fortunate enough to see up to three chasing each other in exactly the same spot as I always see them but this time actually see them land. Photos do indeed reveal that they are Purple Emps and I guess my previous sightings always looked smaller as a result of the distance that they are viewed at and the height of the 'master oak' ! They seem to regularly fly between 1 and 3 pm on hot sunny days and it would appear to be a reasonable place to see them, though sadly not yet at eye level
White Admiral

Male Purp Emp high above the trees

Male underwing

male in flight

The Lapwing has landed!

2010-07-13T19:03:00.003+01:00

1975 Little Packington, a year and site that remained permanently etched in my mind over the years and despite the passing of times and the passing of a few more of ' The artist formerly called White-tailed Plover arriving on UK shores I still had yet to see one in UK territory. Therefore it came as somewhat of a shock that as I glanced at my mobile following a meeting at work I saw those three words WHITE-TAILED LAPWING

My immediate thought was I'm at work, it's still early and it's in Kent. Only when I read the whole message did I see Rainham, Essex. Slightly less panic now and so it came to pass that I contributed to that great money gulping bottomless pit, the Dartford crossing and say patiently in the traffic until the RSPB sign of Rainham loomed ahead. It was now that I realised I'm no spring chicken these days , more of a Southern fried as I paced in the heat towards the wobbly cluster of birders on the floating boardwalk situated in prime Penduline habbo.
BINGO, there it was White-tailed Lapwing and a splendid bird it was, not just rare but a damn good looker on a great RSPB reserve that it situated in Essex and not Kent. If only Dartford could match this, Bob Dunn pools, the Pete Aley hide or even the Morris screen!

SUPERB

Meds and Sarnies at Rye

2010-07-13T18:53:00.004+01:00

Aware that there were lots of birds at Rye Harbour NR I decided to cross the County line heading West towards the ternery pools at Rye. If you've never been here before it's a great place that should be an extension of the Kent border that has been host to some great birds over the years, including squeaker the Least Tern that was present several years. This site must be one of the best in the UK for Terns and hosts Commons, Sarnies and once again Little Terns as well as hosting over the years Bridled, Sooty, Whiskered, WWB and Least Tern.

I spent a few hours here sheltering from the heat watching the terns and attempting to photograph them plus the Med Gulls that seem to be in abundance. I counted 78 juvs birds on the islands plus 36+ adults loafing around or attending the youngsters

Surely one of the best looking British birds, adult Med Gull

Heron fest at Dunge

2010-07-13T18:51:00.002+01:00

A few weeks ago for a change I thought I'd venture South to Dunge to see if the Purple Herons had finally got off some brown jobs.

No........still no juvs but the adults were still returning to the nest. Nearby on the marshes the scenic windfarm is always a delight to see, still keeps plenty of consultants in work looking for mashed up herons, raptors etc.

Grey Heron at Dunge tickling the wires (as seen on Channel 4 advertising) the pylons not the heron!

Bittern one of two seen in a morning at Dunge. Way back in the late 70's early 80's I could only dream of seeing one of these in Kent, yet nowadays there's plenty of places to look for them in winter, spring or in this case summer!!

Purple Heron, have they bred, haven't they..................must be the longest nesting ever and still no visible young, has it all gone pear shaped?

South Wales Warbler bonanza

2010-06-13T18:36:00.005+01:00

An opportunity arose to visit South Wales and see the territorial Marmora's Warbler that has taken up residence at Blorenge near Abergavenny. The day started at 3am at Joyden's Wood where I met up with Guy and 'as expected' Phil turned up a liitle later with yes you've guessed it ...an England flag on the car!! Fortunately we we're travelling in Guys' car, a flag free zone as we headed to pick up Josh near the M25. And so the quartet headed West through the wee hours chatting about nighttime dog walking, previous twitches, birders with fingers missing etc etc. Josh must have thought he was on a SAGA trip with tales of the 70s and early 80s.

On arrival at the site the bird was already singing it's heart out and we got fantastic views of the European Warbler in a great setting with Tree Pipits, Whinchats and a few other birders escaping Kent including Brendan on route to Liverpool !

I looked up in my notebook when I saw my last Marmora's which was May 25th 1993 at St Abbs, Scotland in a May that saw me doing stacks of birding and seeing a Cattle Egret, Serin, Marbled Teal and Black throated Thrush at Dunge, a cracking male Citrine Wag at Fleet Pond, Ring necked Duck at Stockers' Lake, Great Reed at Elmley, Oriental Prat, Pacific Swift and Desert Warbler in Norfolk, plus Sard, Short toed Lark, Red-backed Shrike, and Melody at Dunge later in the month................................I've had worse months !!

Nearby at Wentwood Forest, this Iberian Chiffchaff sang away and was good comparison having just seen the Walderslade bird.

The Marmora's crowd, note the camouflaged hat!

Neil Bostock finds a high point to view the bird

Wood Warbler near the Marmora's site, sadly rarely seen in Kent these days, a cracking bird and another good reason to visit Welsh Woodlands

Common Buzzard, very common and a great bird always to see, fortunately a regular sight in Kent nowadays. A great day out in the field

Sheppey.....Hares, Avocets and Starlings !

2010-06-13T18:20:00.005+01:00

A very soggy Hare at Elmley

Showing my age, this looks like Hartley Hare from the Pipkins, just google it you'll soon find it.

Some call them vermin, but they're still a cracking looking bird happy to nest alongside other species as long as that other species is 100m away alongside no Avocets !!

Cute and ready to colonise further, another real success story in Kent with breeding birds at many localities now. Gone are the days of special trips to Minsmere to see Avocets and Marsh Harriers................remember Mr Marsh Harrier in Island Mere with his running commentary on the Marsh Harriers....'Marsh Harrier going left' 'Marsh Harrier going right'.................................20 minutes later of non-stop commentary 'Marsh Harrier' in bush. During this time, a Little Bittern, Sponbill or even a Black Kite could have passed over but , on goes the Harriers every movement commentary

Hungry Starling

Med Gulls 'Common as muck'

2010-06-13T18:09:00.005+01:00

Over the last few weeks Med Gulls have pretty much become an expected sighting in North Kent, and I'm started to see/ hear them regularly over the house now (Northfleet). This has been a great success story and one that I could never have imagined years ago whilst waiting to glimpse one at Dungeness. The distinctive call of Meds has very much become a feature of a day out in North Kent, both coastal and inland. Back in the 80's even seeing at bird at Croxley Green, West London was a red letter day yet now we expect them. The bird above was at Swanscombe, one of 3 birds that day.
The sheep fields above Capel Fleet, Sheppey home to 27 Meds the day I visited, with mostly adults present but also some 1st year and 2 year birds.

First summer

adult summer

Another adult at Shellness flew close by looking for a freebie chip or bit of batter!!

It's coming home?

2010-06-10T22:38:00.003+01:00

It would be lovely to think that Stone Curlews were coming home as 1966 was the first year that that didn't actually breed at Dungeness, a sad loss and one I regret missing.........such a bird locally again residing in the county would be fantastic. 1966 just so happened to be the year we last won something apparently.......................... and it just so happens to be the only football I'll ever watch (not that my Dad heard much of it with me screaming in me cot back in 66 !!)

Oh well, 3 matches to watch then they go back on safari!! Is that a Lion or an Elephant?

History in the making?

2010-05-19T21:53:00.003+01:00

see http://www.rspb.org.uk/news/details.asp?id=tcm:9-252299

A morning at Swanscombe

2010-05-16T15:09:00.003+01:00

I decided on another birding session close to home today and birded Swanscombe for a few hours notching up a respectable 53 species. The highlights were a Buzzard that flew high overhead at 1006 am heading North only the second one I've ever seen here and a cracking male Black Redstart that showed well on the fences until a car passed by and it vanished.
Next stop a quick check at Northfleet and Ebbsfleet CTRL with this superb Ring-necked Parakeet squawking away with it's tuneful rendition of a pet shop.

I'm always amazed by the graffiti on walls not just the quality but how they managed to get to this bank and paint, maybe a joint effort with the local scuba club. Yet another one of my local birding areas, I really don't know juts how fortunate I am ..do I !

The local swimming pool next to the CTRL, one of over 10 signs along this walk warning of the wanton desire not to go swimming.

There we are, no digiscoped Pratincoles, Chiffchaffs, Stilts or Dukes just common local stuff that surely the blog police will enjoy reading in the absence of other locals blogs.................

photos are available on Surfbirds though you just need to Hunter them down!

Stour valley mid May

2010-05-15T17:23:00.002+01:00

This morning I decided to take an early morning visit to the Stour Valley with Guy Bailey, which made for a good day out and lots of summer visitors to see. By 0700 we were topping up the Grove Ferry cash gobbling parking machine and making our way down to the deserted viewing ramp, home to Martyn Wilson who was already out and about skulking above the reeds (he's very tall) . A Garden Warbler sand invisibly from the car park whilst Turtle Doves joined the invisible gang in the nearby trees. A few hours wandering about on the fantastic dry paths along the river and back to Harrison's hide allowed us to notch up a fair number of species. A pair of Garganey and 3 Greenshank were on the water meadows by the river, a few Hobbies eventually got up and about above the reeds whilst Cormorants constantly flew overhead in the stratosphere, home of many a a Stork and raptor though not today!

Cetti's put on a good show as did the new hide near the viewing mound with it's clear view of a few metres of reed bed and a narrow channel of water ?

Next stop Preston Court where more Hobbies were seen together with House Martins collecting mud for nesting in a wonderful oldy Wordly setting of traction engines and the cracking St Mildred's Church.

Collards's produced the expected gathering of 11 Hobby, though a long way to go yet to get to the dizzy heights of 60 plus birds that have gathered here some years.

Finally Stodmarsh with cracking views of Garden Warbler, a curious Nightingale and year tick views of Stodders stalwart David Feast who first started in the valley in 1967, when I was a mere 1 years old with only Turkey, Chicken, Budgie and Goose on my list!! (thing's haven't changed much) !

Back up to date......The rest is history!!

2010-05-08T17:00:00.006+01:00

STOP PRESS SWINGATES 8th MAY 2010. BIRDER HAS ONE COLD HAND WAITING IN LARGE QUEUE

I always find it amazing that people lose one glove and a kind hearted soul following on later, places it in an obvious place that allows either the glove loser or indeed a person that likes to only wear one glove the option of picking it up.
With a reluctance to post anything on the blog on late, I've been too busy with proper life and important stuff like work I thought I'd get things bang up to date as of this morning with this Nightingale that was singing at Swanscombe and fortunately showed well a few times for the above crap pictures to be obtained! There's been a few records of Nightingale here over the years but from memory this is my first and well worth the short walk across the rubbish strewn locality that is Swanscombe!

There's been few pickings of late in Kent that have been available for long but the reliable and easily found Iberian Chifchaff (subject to ratification by BBRC) has been performing well at that well known rarity hotspot............Walderslade. !! An interesting bird that if deemed the real deal will be the 17th for the UK and 2nd for Kent following on from the Dunge bird in 2001 pictured in the DBO report by Marcus. An obvious looking bird and distinctive song this bird has been faithful to a few chosen trees and at the time of blogging is still present...............unlike many Kent birders looking at the backs of other birders in a queue in Cornwall!!

Iberian Chiffy

During the Easter weekend I managed a bit of birding and as I hadn't seen a KP in Kent for years I decided to go to Shellness to see this very smart female Kentish Plover on the beach at Shellness. Once a more regular visitor to Kent this has become an increasingly difficult species to catch up with and often are only on one tide then gone the next

Findhorn Valley March 2010. The temptation of sledging down the valley was too much for me and as I'd never indulged in this fun pastime before ( I was a deprived child) it had to be done...........sod the Golden Eagles!! tough I did see a first year bird............More to follow the Doctor is on !

Ok, back to the story. A good week in Scotland, lots of snow, and a Lesser Scaup on the way up at Hogganfield Loch, Glasgow, a quaint little part of Glasgow complete with an ice cream and a cup of tea in the glorious sunshine, not what I'd expected in March !!

Lesser Scaup (drake) a bit too distant for a proper shot

Also over Easter news of an Alpine Swift at Chavford Hundred, Essex saw me admiring this great bird flying around the town not that far away from Swiftsure Rd, always a good omen on a twitch. Alpine Swifts are one of those really great birds that sadly often don't hang around long so this was most welcome and very close to home as the Swift flies. The first one I saw was way back in the 80's at Cromer, Norfolk from the belfry!!

Once I'd enjoyed the Alp it was back home 'eventually' courtesy of that Great British traffic jam, the Dartford Bridge !!

A photo from the winter post not seeing a Bittern at Littlebrook. The trio of Birding legends are from left to right, Andy 'Larid' Lawson..........(Tittletattler to you and me), Guy Bailey and Phil 'Woodlark' Royston sheltering from the cold at that well known beauty spot, Dartford!

Another bird from the May bank holiday, this cracking Hoopoe adjacent to the CTRL at Lenham Heath.how many of them roam the UK 'never to be found by birders' ?

last but not least, our cultural attache on location at Lenham Heath drumming up support for a well hung Parliament...............Our country needs him Vote for Gibbo!!

ps Curently residing in a queue in SW Cornwall taking a break from his beloved Kent

A week in Scotland

2010-04-10T17:58:00.003+01:00

At the end of March I spent a very enjoyable week in Scotland, where we based ourselves at Dulnain Bridge NE Of Aviemore and spent each day in the area including visits to Findhorn Valley and the Moray Firth. The weather was reasonably good and a few nice piccies were taken in between the rain showers !! If time allows I'll post a few more pics in the next few days before posting on sightings closer to home!

Old haunts revisited

2010-03-07T18:45:00.003Z

With a day off work and a few hours spare I decided to visit Dartford marshes and the Thames foreshore in the hope of a Caspian Gull as a few had been seen recently by Andy. It seemed strange venturing out to a familiar site that I spent nearly 20 years watching on an almost daily basis often before, during and after work! In the olden days we could find Yellow leg Gulls amongst the Gulls on the foreshore as well as the nearby Dartford tips that provided hours of entertainment pre Larid mania. Little did we know that another species was in the making, the 'Pontic Gull' that transformed into the beautiful phenomena we now call Caspian Gull. Access to the marshes is sadly no longer as straightforward as it once was, and back in the 80's we used to drive to within a few metres of the Thames and only had to brave the weather for a short while if it was too cold before retreating to the car. One year I remember parking up by the barrier on the concrete platform watching Guillemots on the river, another time a Pom Skua and all the time looking across to Rainham in Essex envious of what they were seeing with less disturbance and a much wider expanse of habitat home to many a good rarity over the years such as Solitary and Western Sand, Lesser Kestrel, Black winged Stilt, Red footed Falcons and even a Bluethroat one year!! I had this time to park near to the burnt out cars and burger van and walk to the foreshore enjoying pretty much the same habitat I remember from before except the larger piles of fly tipped rubbish and heavily frost damaged road. Once at the Thames I saw a Common Sand, these used to be a regular wintering bird and sure enough a few Gulls on the foreshore with a Yellow leg Gull, but no Caspers.
The flooded fields that if present in the spring could hold a wader or two but I doubt it, they'll all be at Rainham !

The wonderful eye catching RSPB centre at Rainham Essex viewable across the river blending in with it's natural surroundings, the toilets working hard to naturally break down many a birders mars bar and pork pie! A comfy place to view the Thames from whilst having a hot drink and a slice of cake whilst on the Dartford side!!

A thoughtfully placed portable hide that allows one to get close to the Gulls and obtain some cracking photos. The Gulls are totally oblivious to this fensman type hide that one can crouch behind and not attract the attention of passers by whilst having a cold can of coke and a packet of crisps. Why o why didn't Dartford see the foresight to have something as good as Rainham has, no chance...........................concrete it all over provide jobs and let the locals have a gun club, motorcycle track, and somewhere to tip rubbish!

Gulls as viewed from the hide at Dartford!! It was a treat to be back there again I forgot just how good birding there was, who needs Rainham and it's multitude of birds anyway!

Stay another day

2010-02-21T17:03:00.004Z

Every so often I find a reason to visit another locality and today was Lockwood Res, Walthamstow E17. I had only previously visited this area once before in 1985 to see at Woodlark somewhere near here but my memory is such that I'm unable to remember where it was exactly?

Direction to the site were pretty straightforward thus avoiding the Spooner spears one can see above that clearly are not to be climbed over, and it's much better to use the correct entrance walk a mile and maintain the contents of your body thus preventing leaving any entrails on the fence for the Moorhens to peck at. The above have had their faces covered to maintain anonymity.

In the words of that lovely 'NOT' song Stay another day by E17 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V4jLfCjlYD0 the Dusky Warbler above awaited my arrival and showed very well through a scope after a wet one and a half hours wait in the pouring rain. This represented the first record for the London LNHS recording area and testament to Lol Bodinis' dedication to patchworking that this Asian gem was found. Located by it's strident call the bird was probably the most showy Dusky I've ever seen in the UK apart from a very confiding one at SBBO in Tim Bagnell's hand and at Dunge in Ian Henshaws' hand. crippling views.
Incredibly this had been predicted as a new bird for London only a week or so before by none other than Tony Morris .

The crowd watch on as the bird feeds happily along the concrete canal wall and adjacent vegetation rarely going out of view.

The locality of the bird, just shows anything can turn up anywhere and another great bird to add to the long list of goodies in this area.

Pre Dusky tacking I saw this very wet Fox looking for an easy meal. At the other end of the Res a Slav Grebe showed well

Before going home I visited Mansfield Park which enables you to see Willian Girling Res. From here I got fantastic hubble views of a Great northern Diver, 17 Black necked Grebes and 11 Goldeneye, but no Red-necked Grebe. A great few hours out, another new area visited, shame about the weather.

Run like an Egyptian !

2010-02-21T16:03:00.003Z

I should be updating older happenings in Kent but such is the enormity of this record that I have to put finger to keyboard now before the memory fades and the moment is lost. I simply could never have imagined that I would end up running for a Gyppo Goose but sure enough yesterday that happened (I'm certain it will never be repeated) Not as pretty as Susannah Hoffs from the Bangles admittedly http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kHngF_b3NuE&feature=related but never the less or should that be loss, a stonking bird !!!! Thanks to Andy the bird was nailed as a local tick at the delightful spa resort of Stone near Dartford.

Delhi beckons

2010-02-19T18:16:00.007Z

As we left the NW of India behind and travelled back to Bhuj for our flight to Nagpur via Mumbai we reflected on what a great trip it had been with nearly all target species seen and only a few more left to target before heading back to the wintry wastelands of the UK. Despite the depiction above the guy with the mask was not covering his face because of Western odours though I'm sure all of us at some time could have benefited from a cover to mask post curry flatulence!
Crab Plover, the first ones I'd seen since 1994 in Madagscar..............a long time ago

Sleepy Forest Owlet.....THE bird to see at Melghat

WOW

Nikhil Devasar one of the partners of Asian Adventures who did us proud with the Owlet lined up in the camera on our arrival having sent a local guide out to locate one for us............that's what I call roll up and see twitching, but in this case not a rare nationally like in Kent but a Critically endangered bird in the World!

GBH (Great Black headed Gull) just awaiting landfall in the UK, that would awaken the birders from their winter recess!

The Flamingo pool at Cliffe was a bit inundated this day, a fantastic sight one of many reasons to visit India , birding at it's best

The grasslands at Lala Bustard Sanctuary, an ideal spot to locate a windfarm? I'm sure this would never happen in the UK, a windfarm in area where there's large flying birds, threatened with extinction or at the edge of their range either breeding or wintering. It would appear no where is sacred from the windfarms and the fact the Great Indian Bustards appear not to use the sanctuary much now is not surprising really............surely if this is the approach they will soon be extinct!

Slender-billed Gull, just like the one on Lade Sands many years ago, a stunning Gull in great light

Whilst we were in Nagpur we were 'bumped' from our hotel booking though the reception informed us we weren't bumped it was just that there were important guests requiring a room and surely nothing whatsoever to do with the fact that the Indian and Sri Lankan cricket teams were there !! Never! Apparently the guys above are famous but I know zilch apart sport especially cricket where those clean white trousers they used to wear end up getting red marks all over them ?

Sun n Sand Hotel Nagpur and the fantastic view from our 5 star room !

Volkert and a lovely pudding

Andy taking a break, tea and biscuits pre Bustard ticking.Many thanks to the lads for a memorable trip, hopefully we'll team up again one day in the future

CEDO Birding

2010-02-13T18:05:00.004Z

One of the advantages of birding at CEDO is that in a day many different habitat zones may be visited from desert, to semi desert, scrub, woodland, grasslands and coastal. One of the big specialities nearby is White-naped Tit a scarce Indian endemic that has one of it's strongholds here and with luck and time should be seen.
One of the desert specialities is Red-tailed Wheatear, this one has chosen a raised pile of dung for a better view of it's 'flattish' environment, 'thank god for camels and being regular'

One of the major target birds in the area was Great Indian Bustard that we knew could cause us problems but finally after two entire days scanning grasslands and studying every large flying part or apparent 'lump' we saw two birds com into roost from the grasslands and a whacky races type twitch was on as we drove rapidly to the tower where despite the failing light we had excellent scope views.

The steps to heaven

Asian Desert Warbler a cracking bird and in the right habitat, common, with many individuals seen in a short period of time

Bengal Eagle Owl, and not a rock in sight seen at it's ground level day time roost expertly picked out by our guide

Marshall's Iora another speciality seen in the same habitat as the White-naped Tit

Once again we saw many Harriers including up to 70birds in the air at once towards dusk

Syke's Lark another Indian endemic

Lesser Whistling Ducks at a small lake

North West India... Dawn till dusk birding

2010-02-12T23:04:00.004Z

The next port of call on our busy India circuit was a real gem of a place called CEDO http://www.cedobirding.com/ which acts as a good base to bird the surrounding area with great food, guides accommodation and local knowledgeable birders/scientists operated and run by Jugal Tiwari. I would thoroughly recommend a visit here armed with a hit list of species or simply for a relaxing week visiting the areas and targeting different species of bird and mammal either to watch and study or photograph (see the website for stunning images of the wildlife). We decided to leave Gir early as we had pretty much achieved what we set out to do ie. see Lion and there was a large number of target species at CEDO. The site is nearing the Pakistan border and the birding very different from one locality to another as a result of the varying habitat zones.
The first photo depicts a Grey-necked Bunting which was sen in large numbers at a couple of sites a short drive away from CEDO, whereas the Hypocolius above is very much a speciality which requires access to a local village and enlisting the help of one of the villagers who knows exactly which toothbrush bushes the birds roost in. Sure enough at dawn there they were waking u and feeding before venturing further afield and out of sight.

Bimaculated Lark. This was a bird which was a lifer for me on the trip and I had manged to miss a few on the trip already but once we were in the correct areas for the winter flocks we saw literally thousands and thousands in flocks of which I've never witnessed before of Larks, very impressive.

Common Crane was indeed Common and a lovely evocative sound heard regularly on our travels. Not always easy to approach the vehicle acted as a great base to photograph them though sadly all the Demoiselles had already left the area

The Lion, the twitch and the war robe !

2010-02-08T22:02:00.005Z

And so the Magnificent Seven and their birding machines entered into Gir National park, Gujarat India to look for that elusive mammal, Asiatic Lion. There are only 400 or so left in the wild and roughly 360 in Gir NP. This is very much like your African safari parks though in this case the Lions won't eat you, they're just big tabbies waiting for a ball of wool and a some attention.
As can be seen from the sign above, there are very strict rules in the park including synchronised moving with guide and no blowing your horn...............ah peace and quiet on an Indian road, bliss ! I do sometimes wonder whether blowing your horn is one of the major tests and requires regular use in order to pass your driving test in India?

Anyway, there we were happily watching a Mottled Wood Owl when hot gen came through via Intel or Vodafone on Tabby Line that Lions had been spotted just down the road. Warm up the motor and the twitch was on, hopefully with good gen and very unlike surges at UK twitches for say Radde's Warbler, Troglodytes, troglodytes, Zitting Cisticola, Phylloscopus collybita, or possibly at a push Slender-billed Curlew, Numenius.........

Sure enough there they were two splendid Lions on show and very photogenic with the park guards just out of picture (I told you they were friendly) here kitty kitty

Magnificent and a fine specimen

Mega, note the small human bone in the foreground and discarded lens cap

Gir is generally quiet though unless you're lucky and spot a Leopard or ..........Leopard. Bird wise it can be hard work though the next few pix show what you could have had. Above, Spotted Owlet, common and the guides know the daytime roosts

Mottled Wood Owl, a huge Owl that was a well deserved tick and not a single torch battery in sight, that's my kind of Owling!

Yellow-footed green Pigeon, very smart

Changeable Hawk Eagle, close to the track and photographed like everything else from the jeep

Tickell's Blue Fly, common but very nice indeed.

Indian Thick knee, a 'split' from Eurasian Stone Curlew. And so ended a great trip to Gir with the Lions, the twitch and the war robes of the residents in the park that apparently are of African decent and years ago set sail from African and make landfall on the coast they believed to be Africa as they saw Lions in the forests, little did they know it was India? I believed the story !!

Furry frenzy at Velavadar

2010-02-08T19:31:00.007Z

Following on from the birding bonanza at LRK we headed off to Velavadar which became a name difficult to remember initially, a bit like Marcapomacocha, Itatiaia, or even Llanfair PG in Wales! but we found the word rolled off the tongue like that ridiculous Muppets song of our youth!

We arrived early afternoon at the Blackbuck reserve and sure enough there they were in profusion Blackbuck, a handsome chap with his mates. This extensive grassland refuge is an important sanctuary and worthy of a brief stop for the hooves, other furries and the 'famous' Harrier roost where it's possible to notch up Hen (Northern), Pallid, Montagu's and Eastern Marsh as the birds fly in from miles around, the roost sometimes getting into the 100's.

One of the other specialities, Harriers aside is Striped Hyena where the rangers often know of an active den that with luck can allow you to observe this cracking canid from a reasonable range. This individual was by the den and watched a wild boar walk on by.

Jungle Cat, the most frequently observed feline, this one was snoozing by the roadside until we unintentionally disturbed it from it's slumber.

Male Montagu's Harrier, almost as good as at Elmley alongside the Blackbuck, Hyena, pack of Wolves, Pallid's galore, Drongos' Syke's Warbler and Sibe Chats.............never has the car park at Elmley been so full (Gordon I'm sure would be ready with his donation tin and anti hallucination pills).

What a bird!

Black Drongo, Nil by mouth (it appears to have lost most of it's bill but I bet that tongue could still nobble up an insect or two?)

Syke's Warbler...................really !

Little Rann of Kutch

2010-02-07T16:24:00.006Z

The Little Rann of Kutch is one of those places you have to visit, to witness the sheer numbers and variety of birds, from wildfowl to Larks, it is an excellent place to explore worthy of more than the 2 days we spent. There is the opportunity to see rare birds like, Stoliczka's Bushchat, Dalmatian Pelican, Macqueen's Bustard, and if time allows Sociable Lapwing. The one drawback is the dust and the early morning temperatures as you head into the deserts, hence the photo above.
It is an important refuge for Indian Donkey, or Asiatic Wild Ass as it should be called. You won't see anyone taking a ride on these boys or having a photo taken with your kiss me quick hat on. They really are an impressive equid, majestic, proud, ideally adapted to running across the wide open plains of the Kutch but potentially a pit fall lies with the very sharp and thorny acacia like brush if you get caught short !!! 'when you've got to go you've got to go' such is the power of digital cameras you don't appreciate what you're photographing until you review your piccies later one!

Hee hahh

Shrek is a great film, for some reason this photo reminded me of Donkey with one of his nervous twitches

The vast open plains and desert like habitat are ideal places to look for raptors sitting around scanning for prey or resting whilst on migration. This Steppe Eagle was the only bird apparent in this square kilometre

The big surprise of the visit, Stoliczka's Bushchat a very rare Chat that is threatened with habitat destruction and a bird we felt we could easily miss by not going to Desert National Park. This mostly terrestrial Chat put on a great show with it's puff and roll actions as it moved across the ground

One of the two species of Courser possible, the three C's, Cream coloured Courser ' pride of Hadleigh 84' and a much sought after bird in the UK. One of these in Kent or indeed anywhere on the UK mainland would be very welcome especially without a blob of mud attached to it's bill and wandering around near a tip!

'Chinese' Isabelline Shrike, common and easy to see in most of the area

Desert Wheatear having a munch. Wheatears are common here, mostly Deserts, a cracking bird that brightens up a dull winter dull in the UK

Lesser Flamingos plus a few Greaters are a spectacular sight in their hundreds at the wetlands

Indian Courser............MEGA

Macqueen's Bustard, rare and mega. A tricky bird to see and approach even in the vehicles, but a tiny population here should be seen with local knowledge and a bit of time early in the morning

Mystery bird???

Male Pallid Harrier, Raptors don't get much better than this

Rann Riders at Kutch, a great place to stay, bird, relax, and scoff loads of superb food

The team early am in the desert complete with milk crate?

Rufous-tailed Lark posing for the cameras next to the vehicle, always a great hide

The sweet smell of success

2010-02-06T18:49:00.004Z

The first proper days birding continued as well as it began following the long overnight train journey. It was a good opportunity to see some birds that are rare visitors to the UK alongside the Indian sub continent species. The common but very smart Ashy Prinia above was enjoying the local delicacy of cattle turd, a feast fit for a King or for building a wall, such is the multi purpose use of this insect attracting nutritious lump. This was indeed be a very rare sight in the UK, but carefully checking those lumps may turn up a rare Wagtail or Pipit?
The star of the show at Mount Abu are the Green things, Munias or Avadavat if you like that fortunately despite being a rare bird nowadays are very easy easy to see in the correct localities at Mt Abu and we enjoyed watching a flock of 30+ birds for over an hour at very close range.

A stunning male RBF, a common species wintering in India and one I've seen many times in Kent though never a male (I was away for the Reculver bird). This species is very common at Mt Abu and easy to see and hear, with many cracking males seen enough to brighten up any day in the UK.

A more typical bird as may be seen closer to home, this is an increasingly rare bird in Kent these days and I've not seen one for over 10 years now!!

A classic Siberian Chiffchaff, 'tristis' that were literally all over the place and many were coming to this stream. A difficult bird to ID in the UK and one that has been the subject of many papers and debates.

Delhi to Mount Abu express

2010-02-05T21:38:00.003Z

Following on from a great meal in Delhi and having paid our monies to Iqbal it was time to head off to the train station, and hopefully a good nights sleep. The morning had been excellent with a few new birds, some great photos and a taster for our 2 week trip to NW India. The Orange headed Ground Thrush above was a real belter at Okhla, and despite being a 'common' bird this was the first chance I'd had to get some good piccies.

A short taxi ride to the station and back on track so to speak we awaited our train to Abu Road a long overnight journey of some 11 hrs or so. Once we identified the correct train and found our cabins we chained our bags to the beds (can't be too careful.............have you seen Slumdog Millionaire !!!!) and awaited the trains departure. Incredible as it may seem and a lesson to be learnt by British trains we departed exactly on time and soon we were able to savour the delights of rail travel in India, the ambiance of the situation, the sweet smell of curry, and the aroma of the hole in the floor..... bog to you and me ! Anyway, I lost my train of thought there and soon we were served a sumptuous meal 'well food anyway' plus drinks and had a comfortable bed to sleep in listening to the clicking of train tracks and clinking of chains . The hours passed by, and we made a few brief stops in the darkness of night somewhere in India until it was nearing day break and we woke up ready for cation to get off the train 'hopefully' at the correct station. Sure enough, out of the gloom appeared a small sign on the platform, Abu Road and within seconds we were off the train fresh as a poppadom and met by our Nepalese guide for the next 10 days, Ganesh.

Volkert having an early morning cup of chai and train issue company biscuit

Mount Abu.....home of the Green things and a mega place for a day or two birding. We headed off up the hill seeing some cracking stuff, Shikra, Indian Vulture (MEGA), Blue capped Rock Thrush (MEGA MEGA) and a bit of good fortune allowed us to see Indian Scimitar Babbler a new bird and a real cracker at that...look at that bill

Following on from the success of the Scimitar Babbler we headed on further up the hill and sheltered from the sun by a small stream home to loads of species including the hoped for Green things

Slumdog Birders

2010-02-03T22:09:00.005Z

It's official, I simply am unable to keep up to date with my blog, and compete with the likes of Gavin Haig and James Hunter! My excuses, well there's quite a few :

Firstly I believe it not work as well as do the odd bit of birding

I have a computer that is being very unfriendly at the moment

Talk Talk took over from Tiscali and they are.......................RUBBISH

I keep going out birding locally to count Robins !

Captain Larus keeps finding gulls at the local bottle tip !

last of all, I decided to take up the new sport of loft diving onto the landing floor (not for the faint hearted)

Here's a few shots from a recent trip to India, fully armed with the latest fieldguide we headed off into the field after a full 10 minutes in bed courtesy of a delayed flight and an over keen hotel receptionist and the early morning wake up call ! The picture above illustrates how easy birds should be to ID in India, Simples!!!!

The stunning scenery, the Taj Mabuilding complete with Black Kite and a pair of skiddies (like birding on Thanet)

The sumptuous food of India worth the visit unless of course you don't do curries. A great view, great food and Black Kites by the bucket load

Mount Abu, home of the Avadavat and alcoholic cows!

Indian Winter

2010-01-17T22:55:00.004Z

I managed to avoid the snow just before Xmas but suffered it the past few weeks in blighty. In the Little Rann of Kutch there was heavy snowfall overnight 'or so it seemed' The above piccie shows the expanses of salt deposits in the deserts

Here's a piccie to brighten up a dull evening, better than the Cornish one (well it's 300 miles from Kent) !!

The Blog Police are after me 'again' !!

2010-01-16T22:43:00.005Z

An unexpected phone call last week from a certain Huey of Basingstoke (he found an Upland Sand once you know) indicated that I was sadly falling behind with my blog yet again and should find time to update it and prevent the Forest Owlet (that would be his 54th Critical) staring at him all the time.

So for the benefit of you Mr Lewis a port of Dover bird awaiting discovery by the local marine Chandlers, sorry Chantlers ! I've found a spare 10 minutes and this is the best I can do. Birding in NW India will be appearing shortly along with tales of the Quarry and the hunt for Timber Dick!

must dash there's a Shilpa Shetty movie on!!

At the 12th year of waiting, an Owlet came to me !!

2009-12-28T19:06:00.002Z

Way back in 1997, the astonishing news broke that Forest Owlet, Athene blewitti as it was known then was rediscovered in India after a very long absence!! Fortunately seeing this species has become reasonably easy as long as you contact the necessary people, make your way to the right area and have scouts working ahead of your arrival to locate the bird and get it lined up ready for you.

December 2009 was the year that I finally got a chance to feast my eyes on this critically endangered species during what proved to be a mega trip to NW and Central India pre Xmas, with over 300 species recorded, some really rare stuff and in great company. Once time allows I'll update you on the highlights of this must visit area of India complete with loads of wintering wildfowl, raptors, Wheatears and Warblers galore and some superb mammals 'furries' for good measure

stay tuned!!

WORK TILL YOU DROP !

2009-11-29T23:14:00.002Z

Quiet of late
I have done a bit of birding, a few trips to Dunge, Sheppey and some local Atlas work. At Dunge, Glossy Ibis, Cattle Egret, Great White Egret and some friendly Barnacle Geese. Common waders at Shellness and close to home two Common Buzzards at Darenth on Friday, 2 adult Yellow legged Gulls today at the Eastern Quarry near Bean and a superb Merlin and Peregrine at Southfleet recently whilst doing a TTV. I don't quite know how people keep up to date with blogs, websites etc, they must be retired or immediately get home from birding and make a beeline for the computer.
Regular updates will appear again soon once work allows me to escape the evil bacterial clutches of the petri dish!!!

A spare hour at Swanscombe

2009-11-02T22:44:00.003Z

The first day of November was very very wet and an opportunity to catch up on some paperwork and homely things. A spare hour in the afternoon saw a break in the weather and I quickly visited Swanscombe for a quick shifty to see what had dropped in during the tropical storm!!!
Black headed Gulls were present 'as always', plus 2 Blackwits and the grotty eclipse Teal that are slowly getting back to their winter finery. A couple of Snipe probed around the muddy fringes whilst a few Herring Gulls dropped in for a bathe then flew again.

After a while a super adult Yellow-legged Gull dropped in for 10 mins and had a bathe, the first one I've actually seen on the CTRL pools. it's legs 'glowed' in the afternoon light and was easily compared with the bog standard 'Herring Gulls'

One of the showy Water Rail. Despite much trying this autumn I never did find a Crake, better luck next year hopefully.

5th time lucky...The Mythical Zit

2009-10-31T21:48:00.003Z

31st Oct 2009, the final day of an interesting month that had seen me both local and not so local of recent weeks. Despite some excellent local birding and some great days out elsewhere the day to day workload had prevented me at times having much flexibility this autumn. An autumn that has so far seen virtually no Goldcrests, lots of Redwings flying over, a few megas and some superb showy Water Rails at Swanscombe. Fortunately I had an extended weekend last week and all was going well until 10.32 on Weds when news of the continued presence of the Fan-tailed Warbler at Pegwell had me thinking about what I was going to be doing Xmas day pre Turkey....................a morning at Pegwell maybe!
Back to work on the Thurs and Mr Zit starts his routine of performing to Phil and the visitors once again following a 10 days absence ! This morning I found out at work that the bird was still present and decided 'yet' again to head East to Pegwell Bay for a presumed fruitless session.

And so it came to pass that at approx 1145 having been on site for 30 mins and with news that that the bird had gone to ground again that suddenly whilst walking through an area behind the hide, Mister Sept 6th 2009 had finally decided to show himself to me in my 20th hour of searching for this Enigma. I could hardly contain my excitement and soon a few birders arrived to feast their eyes on this globally abundant species that hopefully, 'if not already' gain a foothold on British soil

Calling occasionally the bird showed well at times and testament to the fact that I don't give in easily and this day fortune was on my side. I also had a Jack Snipe drop in, 2 Brambling flew over and a mixed flock of Chaffinch and Reed Bunting in the area.

The afternoon was spent looking for the equally mythical St Augustines' Park in Ramsgate that I eventually found under a different name and despite not locating the Pallas's had two cracking Firecrest and a Woodcock(Timber Dick) that I though was a Partridge originally, 'way out there' but the views were brief, flying away, drizzle, wooded, etc. I then spent an hour or so wandering around with Phil Milton where we saw a few bits and pieces and so ended a memorable afternoon in the field seeing some great birds, great company, some new sites for me, and special thanks to Gadget of Planet Thanet for the 'birders guide to Ramsgates unknown park names' !!

Egrets I've had a few.........I dipped it my way

2009-10-28T16:30:00.003Z

With news of an Egret fest at Dungeness JT and myself decided to have a day looking for white birds with the possibility of an Ibis thrown in for good measure. We were on site at Caldicott by 0800 but despite getting good views of Corn Bunt, Curlew and lots of sheep, the Sheep Egret was nowhere to be seen. We continued onto Denge marsh and careful scanning across the flood revealed a Little Egret, a white plastic bag and plenty of ducks and Lapwing. Undeterred we carried on scanning as 4 Swallows flew over and South but still no 'big egrets' or Ibis! At Denge marsh gully we had a concerted look for fresh migrants and managed another plastic bag or two, a Wren, Robin, and best of all Merlin! My attempts at the traditional short cut back to the road across the concrete 'dam' failed abysmally as my ageing body could no longer master this simple feat of wall climbing.........such is old age!

We had a good session at the ARC stacked with birds and eventually the Great White Egret made an appearance back on Denge marsh, but despite being huge, white and near to the above birders they appear not to have noticed it getting up and flying.

The BIG BOY of the Egret World
Finally the two Glossy Ibis flew into Dengemarsh, having dipped them earlier at the ARC, my 10th and 11th individuals this year !!

A Gull that I'm pretty certain is a Caspian Gull was on the ARC and showed well at times from the Hanson Hide.

Arthur the hide, another tragedy presumably of the recession with it's 'missing' back ?
As the day progressed we managed, Little and Great White Egret, Grey Heron, Bitterns, Glossy Ibis but try as we may we never did find the Cattle Egret that had been around a little while. I remember seeing my first UK Cattle Egret in 1986 near Yeovil having travelled down from Scotland overnight with me old mate Poxing Steve. Nowadays they have bred in the UK and appear at times in small flocks, another great addition to the list of breeding birds in the UK

South Shields has got the X factor MEGA

2009-10-25T22:08:00.004Z

I knew that one day I would be heading North once again to the heavily industrialised, cold, wet and mega birding area of Tyneside. The area is generally not known to be very scenic unless of course you spot that real Northern MEGA, Cheryl Cole, pictured above in full birding gear ready to tick off another local mega avian sprite. At 2203 on Thursday I decide to check the bird news and was amazed to see that an Eastern crowned Warbler had made landfall at Trow Quarry, South Shields. Plans were made on the Friday to travel up in the Howard tractor with JT to join the crowd. I rarely travel long distances these days but this one seemed too good to miss, and despite Cheryl being in London at least we knew that there was one potential mega on the cards

The day dawned, dull, drizzly, a stiff wind, and then we all got out of the car to a more pleasant outdoor wind. Fortunately the bird had stayed overnight and soon we were enjoying this mega along with a Yellow-browed Warbler that at times allowed great scope views despite the poor weather and deciding on which end of the scope was best to look through.

The crowd of happy punters enjoying the pleasant weather and well mown grass complete with Growler turds, GT's and some old friends from the past.
smile please
The boy, a real crippler and an educational bird that could in the past have been overlooked given brief or less than ideal views

The crown of the East
Next port of call was Port Clarence near where the Glaucous winged Gull was in the winter, and we duly added this distant and very wet Blue winged Teal to the tally as well as a very showy Pec Sand amongst the bird filled flood and meadows, a great place to bird

We were very fortunate to have the opportunity to photograph at close range the Gibbo in full plum age complete with his new coat, and unlit fag. All the clinching features can be seen here, and it was good to see that our Kentish cultural attache was on site

Last stop, Bempton RSPB following a long dreary drive in rain, mist and heavy traffic. The bird on show was Red-flanked Bluetail, annual in the UK now but way back in 1993 the Winspit wonder was a huge crowd puller, and a mythical bird to see in Britain, how times have changed

The Bluetail, 3200 ISO, for 20 mins exposure, the weather was simply atrocious

It had been a long day, out of Kent and the opportunity was taken to have a kip and dream of the days events. Ever ready for action the bins remain in place. Another great day out and a good set of birds, bring it on

A weekend in North Kent

2009-10-25T13:39:00.005Z

Last weekend I decided to make a second visit to the Stoke area on Grain to look for the Glossy Ibis that had been present over the past week or so. I walked out to the area adjacent to the railway crossing and started scanning across the marshes for the bird. Eventually I picked it up in the bins very distantly and it appeared to drop near to the Mosco Pool. I walked off towards the area also seeing plenty of Little Egrets, 3 or 4 Marsh Harrier and a stunning male Hen Harrier that was drifting around, a fantastic bird that sadly was too distant to photograph. I eventually located the Ibis with 5 or so Little Egret but it flew back towards Stoke, an evidently very flighty individual compared to some. I did manage a few shots though of my 9th Glossy Ibis for the year, quite incredible really.

The Glossy Ibis feeding on a small flood

Having not been to Sheppey for a while I visited some old haunts starting with the Leas at Minster, the site of the 1983 Rock Thrush. The place looks great for migrants and I managed to find not one. The highlight was seeing a family scattering the ashes of a loved one which it would appear were tasted by the chap as their was a slight breeze. One of the ladies then stated that could have been one of their departed relatives legs!! Lovely place Minster !

Last stop was Shellness and quite surprisingly the road to the Hamlet was in pretty good shape and I spent an enjoyable few hours watching the waders as the tide dropped
One good Turnstone deserves another
Lesser Knot
Lots of Knot
Tripod Pipit, Anthus manfrotti
Redshank, this was a ringed individual
Just good friends, Oyk and Sheldy

A fine cock Pheasant
Amazing as it may seem but I'm almost up to date with the blogs, just one more to go. The blog Police will not be able to whinge anymore as we head up North to the land of the Mega!

LNHS birding

2009-10-22T20:05:00.005+01:00

It's been a funny old autumn so far, with trips to Pegwell, a complete lack of Goldcrests, a quiet Scilly (glad I'm not there) and some very sunny weather. Still not complaining, I've seen some cracking stuff locally and even near the garden in Northfleet have had Redwings, Chiffy, Sproghawks, and a few Mipits. Sunday 11th I found myself at Northfleet next the Thames that little known seaside resort complete with car park, shops, and a good place to view the Thames. I'd got a call that Paul larking had seen a Manx Shearwater pass Cliffe heading up river and I was in position ready to intercept this great little seabird close to home. The other reason was that Northfleet is the outermost limit of the London Natural History Societys' recording area, ie 20miles from St Paul's. By a stroke of luck the bird appeared and I duly snapped it, my 250th LNHS bird. With the powers of modern technology others were in waiting further up the Thames but the trail had gone cold, very cold until Andy Lawson indicated he's found it off Swanscombe!!! Excellent news and John Archer was ready at Crossness for this avian delight.......Nope, a GBB had taken a liking to a Manx munch and set about killing the bird and eating it a sad end to an epic voyage in the Thames.

News late on the afternoon of Oct 12th was incredible in that a first winter Shrike had been re identified as a Brown Shrike, a mega in the UK and for me a UK lifer and useful bird to see and study for future reference. 1200 Oct 13th and the Vectra was off heading West to Staines Moor a mere 56 miles away. On parking the car I noted the name of the pub, rather apt I thought.

A good bird to see and a good call from an ID point of view from a brave man indeed.

It was good to see that West London is just as picturesque as East London
The carefully sited sign and map of the area well suited to dwarf and those unable to look upwards!
The Shrike paparazzi, and a man photographing a fish
Chris Collins and trademark jumper(surely not the same one from the 90's) looks intently on at the river assessing it's suitability as a staring point for another seabird spectacular pelagic..............QUITE
Batman scores a lifer
Mike and co peruse the bird in the glorious sunny weather

Is it a bird is a plane............................NO RN Parakeet, rare if you live up North and for some I expect that day another lifer. They should live in Thanet !! hordes of them.

Persistence doesn't always pay off

2009-10-22T18:23:00.002+01:00

Pegwell Bay, tranquil, an early morning view as the sun breaks over the garage pools and the start of a new day and a new set of sightings on the excellent Planet Thanet website http://www.planetthanet.org/ .
This should have been one of those memorable days when suddenly everything came together, goals were achieved irrespective of red beach balls in the play zone and a new UK and Kent bird could be enjoyed and photographed for posterity............NO CHANCE
Eagerly awaiting the first rays of sunlight across the bay the gathered troops from near and far waited in anticipation for Mr Zitting Cisticola or , Cisticola invisiblis as it turned out !
The expected Zit time arrived, 0800, 0830, 0900 but still no Zit, just more and more birders looking on, chatting, scouring the landscape for this tinker of a bird, the Chihuahua of the Bird World. But no, nothing bar a Wren, an excitable cyclist and a distant Peregrine. I stayed until 1400 but nothing. Undefeated I returned the next weekend following another appearance by Houdini and as a glutton for punishment I was back again the next day. In total I spent 19 hours over 4 trips looking at a Cisticola free zone but on the plus side getting to see some old mates including Mr Peggers himself Phil Milton and many mates from over the years.
In all all then not a total waste of time and an indication that this superb birding locality doesn't give up it's trophies easily and surely deserves the attention it gets with a long list of great birds and some great habbo to boot 'so to speak'
One day I'll clap eyes on a Zitty in the County and the 19 hours of birding and scanning will be but a distant memory.

A week in Devon

2009-10-20T18:27:00.007+01:00

As has been the theme for the last few autumns I tend to have a weeks hols in Devon in Sept allowing me a week to relax with Louise and the dog and not worry about what's being seen in Kent!!
2006 saw a Paddyfield Warbler at Seasalter that fortunately didn't show to the masses and I survived that year. 2007 saw another Paddyfield this time at Bockhill which I managed to get home for on the Sat afternoon and enjoy this mega bird. 2008 was the year of the Zit as Mr Burton kindly found a Fan tailed warbler whilst I was driving through Plymouth,this time distance beat me and I dipped! 2009 well would you believe it, Mr Tufty was still fresh in my mind whilst Cockles the Booted Kite tormented me as I enjoyed a relaxing day at Beesands to the constant sound of my mobile and the dog barking. Fortunately this time the bird was re identified as a Black Kite and even though the incredible Zit had made another appearance at Pigswill Bay I manged to enjoy my time in Devon, relaxed, good pasties, ice creams, a well deserved break from work and some good birds thrown in as well.
Stonehenge is always a good sight as you drive along the A303 and this time I thought we'd stop to pray to the Zit Gods and another Kent tick...............NO CHANCE

Incredible as it may seem a quick peruse of the Birdguides website revealed that 6, yes SIX Messy Ibi has made landfall at Seaton, Devon home of the Haig and top seawatching spot. As we drove through Chard, Somerset, the place name rang a bell but I failed to remember why to start with. On arrival at Seaton the Glossy Ibi were on view feeding with Curlew and following the recent Stodders bird were a welcome sight and well worth the A303 diversion. Mr Haig was not on view though and it was then that I realised that Chard was the home of the Egret, a Great white only 12.3 miles away. Following a last look at the Ibis as they flew off on route to Duffy's friends house Dorset, I noted that a large white camouflaged brimmed has was on view, a good move in the superb sunny weather. In the absence of a white hat though the small child has hidden himself under a coat to avoid the harmful UV!

The Seaton 6( part of)

The GWE at Chard initially proved hard to locate on the small Chard Res, and it became apparent that a big white gleaming Heron on a small Res isn't always easy to find, but persistence paid off and I located this monster of a bird that was doing better than the local danglers and their fishing rods

Of course the punishment for all this 'holiday' birding was a detour back to the Hee Haw Sanctuary at Sidmouth, which allowed me and the dog some kip whilst Louise had her donkey fix. Once at home in our cosy cottage near Kingsbridge we had a superb cream tea and sat down to watch yep, you've guessed it ........... the X Factor.

The week passed by and was very enjoyable bar, Mr Zit, Blocky the Beagle and a couple of Wryneck dips.
This Dotterel at Bolberry Down, my favourite locality in Devon, I just need to move nearby and I'd be out birding all the time at this great migrant locality home to many a missed rare I expect.

One day we visited Port Isaac, home of Doc Martin and as can be seen from the pap shot above (the Doc wasn't it) the inquisitive tourists trying to take a peek into The Docs house!
Hawaii 5 dog
Port Issac, busy, hot and very touristy.. Dipped Martin Clunes.
A great sign, a no longer constipated dog drops a pebble.
Gadwall at Beesands, another great locality, and another mega place to live, much nicer than Slapton ..........and free parking!
A surprise find one evening off South Huish, a corking adult Red throated Diver just offshore
A Merlin at Bolberry defeated following a scrap with a Peregrine

The Peregrine and prey, in heavy morbid moult (certainly it's last few moments of life). Bolberry, Soar and Bolt Head all great areas superb for migrants with Whinchat, Wheatear, Tree Pipit, Restart, Spotted Fly and the no show Wryneck!

The Royal Oak Pub, Marborough home of Twiggs and Wright way back in 1986 following a Bonelli's Warbler that we twitched in the August

Sunset looking towards Rame
Another surprise and another Ibis, my eighth this year and a good bird at South Huish following an initial dip in the morning
Rocky's Cafe, South Milton Beach !!! No comment

A day out at Wembury and this excellent little Pink Stink with the Starlings

Viewed from Tintagel, Lundy an island I've visited a few times and seen Ancient Murrelet, Veery, Swainson's Thrush, not a bad trio of birds over 3 trips !!

Davidstow airfield, Cornwall MEGA . A Ringed Plover shows well

The long staying Baird's Sand at the airfield (not totally deserted) as we kept being buzzed by small planes as well as an HGV driver having lessons, still a cracking bird though and my first Yank wader at last at Davidstow. Ans so, back To Kent to the delights of Pigswill Bay........but that's another story.

Can anyone join the Tufty Club!

2009-10-11T10:34:00.006+01:00

Sept 16th ..... 1100 am. There I was happily working away when suddenly the mobile vibrated violently in my pocket, with a breathless and very vocal Gibbard on the phone..............
TUFTED PUFFIN OARE MARSHES ON THE SWALE NOW !

Now then, my initial reaction was oh well no chance of getting off work but then I thought about it for another millisecond and said ..........I need this afternoon off .
Incredible as it may seem it was granted and the next 70 mins were spent in amazement as I carried on working until the time came to leave and drive down the A2 to Oare. On route I already knew the trail had gone cold but carried on regardless passing a certain Mr LGRE on the way and finally made it to Oare parked up with no problems at all and joined the small gathered crowd looking for the bird in the hope it would come back out of the Swale and reveal itself.

I settled down out of the wind with Tony Morris and later on joined by Gary T, Guy and others unaware of the crowd of hopefuls growing behind us . Many years ago lots of us I'm sure would have belonged to the Tufty Club, but today was a day that only the Magnificent 7, Murray E Wright (the name was so near to my own) and 6 visiting birders feasted their eyes on this Pacific top drawer bird.
It soon became apparent that birders were arriving from near and far, all points, East South, North and West and the crowd waited and waited........ but no Mr Tufty. All in all a bleeding cold day, but a memorable one for missing surely one of the rarest and bizarre birds to appear in the UK, and yet see so many old friends from my heavy twitching days that all was not lost .

Above we see on the far left Stephen Message, paint box at the ready, but it wasn't to be. John Clements looks down at his feet and drowns his sorrows, whilst Jack, Nigel, Jerry and a very cold looking Marcus look on. Johnny T peers above Mel Billingtons' head with Ron to the right.

The Oare approach road on an unusually busy day, note that the field on the right had to be opened for cars, whilst Mark Golley keeps his hands warm
Filby is NOT amused
Stu Piner and Chris Batty keep a careful vigil whilst the cyclist remembers great stunt artists like Evil Kenevil, attempting to cross the Swale on a bike!
Filby clutches his road map, and many now know where Oare is !
Steve Webb, blurry, out of focus, not as a result of poor camera craft but his ability to get from A to B in no time at all

Finally Brett and Paul enjoy their afternoon out in Kent, Somerset and Yorks, left behind in a hurry
Anyway, not to worry there'll be another!!

In the meantime, here's the Tufty Club
http://www.tuftyclub.org.uk/

An Old friend returns to the Valley

2009-10-11T09:52:00.002+01:00

Sept 6th, 'eons ago' was a day to remember for many reasons in a fun packed day in North and East Kent. On the evening of Sept 5th I received a phone call from a fisherman 'dangler' at Wagtail Farm, St Nicholas at Wade informing me that he seen, described and identified a bird he felt was a Glossy Ibis......... and yep , he was dead right. I phoned a few birders that evening to keep a look out for the Messy Ibis in case it reappeared in the Wantsum or Stour Valley and sure enough early on the morning of 6th Marc Heath phoned to say it was at Grove Ferry. Keen to see a 'new' Glossy Ibis in Kent and especially at the old haunt of the celebrated Stodmarsh birds of the 70's to 90's I headed East to the marsh hide at Stodmarsh and was soon watching this superb bird with a small group of birders.

We tend to forget that it's been a long time since there was a gettable GIB and I don't mean Gastro intestinal bleed in Kent, and by the modern powers of communication not seen when we were freezing to death in the evening years ago waiting for the Ibi to flew into roost at Stodmarsh, Josh was guided to the correct spot to savour this superb bird.............Little did we know there were more to come in the UK though!

Josh limbers up for a new bird

Meanwhile back at the hide, Martyn still struggles with his height in the hide whilst Alan realises his put the wrong lens on to photograph Brenda. The elbow on the RHS is from an unidentified left arm, answers on a postcard.
Happy with the Ibis I was on my way back to the car park to go home when news broke of a Zitting Cisticola at Pegwell, a bird I'd not seen in Kent and shortly after I joined the crowd to watch Spotted Flies, Blackcap, Chiffs, but sadly no Zit............ oh well It's probably gone anyway!
Later on I ended up at Cooling Castle checking out some weddingy stuff 'briefly' before enjoying the last 20 mins of the birdfair at Bromhey. A strange day, Glossy Ibis, empty Pegwell, lots of wedding bits on show and cracking views of Norman Mccanch at Bromhey, an excellent year tick.
Can autumn get any better!

A day at Dunge

2009-10-04T19:16:00.004+01:00

Way back in 1977 when I first picked up a pair of bins and established which way to look through them I would never have thought that 32 years later I'd still be birding, through different bins though, at birds that quite simply we used to dream of in Kent let alone all seen the same morning!!
Little Egret, Hobby, Sparrowhawk, Marsh Harrier, Buzzard, Great White Egret, Garganey, Red-backed Shrike and Raven in 3 hours birding! Of those Red backed Shrike would have been easier in pre egging times in Kent but the others esp the Egrets were as rare as hens teeth!
A walk out to Hookers from the RSPB reserve car park soon found us watching the long staying Red-backed Shrike, whilst nearby the GWE put on a good show and a Raven kindly flew overhead.

The GWE just waiting to be cut into a thousand pieces by Kent's' latest marshland attraction............so scenic !
A Mallard posed nicely for the camera whilst Goliath tip toed into view
The RBS posing nicely for the crowds, a superb bird and evidently a master at catching food
A Raven and plane illustrating just how big these corvids are. A welcome return to Kent for this species after 100 years absence, hopefully they will become a more familiar sight in Kent now and the future.

One Good Tern..........deserves another

2009-10-04T17:00:00.003+01:00

Ok, so I've e been busy and today I was accosted by the blog police, or should I say James 'Romperstomper' Hunter that my blog was out of date. Therefore to satisfy said parties I decided to leve my beloved Pegwell Bay, an area I've become very familiar with of late and go home to crank up the PC.
Saturday 29th Aug, yep that long ago I made an early start to open my eyes and check the time on the alarm clock, but was rudely awoken by Guy Bailey informing me he was about to venture into Dibley Land and did I want a lift.
Soon after 0830 I was heading into that scenic corner of Kent, Dartford and off round the M25 to Farmoor Res in Oxfordshire via a few Red Kites in the M40 cutting.
On arrival we were informed that there were only 2 Terns left on the Res, and they were both distant dots, a pale one and a dark one. Job done, tick them off and back for breakfast would be the school of thought for some but a quick walk to the causeway to join the small assembled crowd worked in our favour as the birds were viewable this side of the earths' circumference and superb through the scope.
An American Black Tern 'and' a White winged Black Tern together, what a treat, sadly the icing on the Dibley cake, Black Tern didn't fly in until we were back in Kent.
It was a good opportunity to study this taxonomic no hoper with a WWBT and my first ever visit to the Oxfordshire coast.

A landscape photo of WWBT, Coot, GC Grebe, Cormorant and Tufted Duck, copies available on request.
Th main event, Surinam Tern, a rare sighing in the UK and well worth the visit.

WWBT, Yankee Tern and a large overripe apple on the res.Highlight of the trip me old mate, John Dixon sporting his trademark jacket, (wonder if it's the same one from 1984? ) and beard (same as back in 84, a bit like Triggs broom). I spent many an hour with John twitching in the 80's and In Florida and on Scilly where we shared a flat, tricks, stories but strangely enough he never shared his Belgian fudge cake at Longstones,...it doesn't show though !!

Happy now James can I do some proper work now!!!

Jim Bowen's RSPB reserve

2009-08-25T20:55:00.005+01:00

Way back in Sept 1977 I started big boys school and shortly afterwards discovered rambling, not the speech type like this blog but the walking type visiting Magpie Bottom near Fackenden Lane, Shoreham, and then later on Cliffe Pools a short distance from home and with Graham Nicholls my French teacher and the newly formed Wildlife Club, birding as it's now known. The visits to Cliffe opened up a whole new World of excitement complete with SEOwls, Harriers, huge numbers of Waders and Linnets!!! Yes, Linnets which we thought were rare and used to stay hidden next to some bushes in the hope that one may come along and land near to us, we we're new to this birding game!

Little Egret once very rare in the UK, I remember missing oneat Cliffe in the late 1970's early 80's!
I've called Cliffe RSPB 'Jim Bowen's Reserve' as that's how it seems to be at the moment with the Bullseye catchphrase, 'This is What you could have had' ! having missed a Pacific Golden Plover a few weeks back and on Sunday a White-winged Black Tern that decided it would fly off with it's 40 tern mates to pastures new shortly before I arrived. Cliffe has a great history of some cracking birds and I've found some good stuff myself but this autumn they seem to refuse to stay put or reveal themselves to me when I get there. Cliffe is a great reserve, it just needs more coverage in order that it's full potential can be seen once again.

I'll keep plugging away on the North Kent marshes watching the birds fly away before I get to them in the hope that the 'dip' will soon end and the highs be reached once again. Fortunately with the art of modern technology and a mountain bike the area can be covered quite well and with ease
The day that Cliffe RSPB fully fledges as a reserve will hopefully come soon and the evening jaunts for the wader roost and who know waht will re kindle the great days of a bygone age.