Tuesday 27 April 2010

New Hythe Lakes 26th & 27th April

I caught this Canada Goose having a gander over my garden fence yesterday morning, you just can't get any privacy any more.


It was a bit grey and quite cool when I went for a quick stroll down to the lakes yesterday morning. The odd little glimpse of the sun first thing bought out one or two butterflies like the Speckled Wood below but they were few and far between, as were the birds. Apart from a brief glimpse of a Stoat the only notable sighting was a small flock of Swifts which was a New Hythe year tick for me giving me a total so far of 84 species. There have been sightings here of Turtle Dove, Common Tern, Lesser Whitethroat and Mediterranean Gull recently, all of which have so far eluded me. Last years total of 107 species seems like a long way off at the moment.


SPECKLED WOOD


Today was a much brighter day so despite having swollen chops and stitches after minor surgery to my bottom jaw yesterday afternoon I hit the lakes once again. There seemed to be much more activity in the Sunken Marsh on my way through, there was a pair of Reed Warblers chasing each other around in the reeds to the right just as you enter the marsh but as usual fleeting glimpses were the order of the day despite waiting for about 10 minutes. Also still here are the pair of Linnets which are nesting in the vicinity but again pictures were hard to come by. Some days it just won't happen as was the case of the Cuckoo which suddenly flew right over my head as I walked along the river, I fired off a few shots of this one but they turned out to be no more than silhouettes really.

I stood in the East Scrub listening to the Nightingales singing all around and scanning for a possible Redstart, which i've found here before in April, when the Grey Heron below flew slowly and gracefully overhead, thankfully this turned out a bit better than the Cuckoo effort.



GREY HERON


Soon after this I met Eddie and his mate just coming out of the West Scrub area, after a brief chat I went on my way, only to be called back by Eddie as he'd found a Water Vole in the polluted stream (picture below). I think this is good news, it seemed healthy enough and was feeding on the reeds quite happily.


WATER VOLE


Quite close by I inadvertantly disturbed the Moorhen from this nest, I took a quick picture and retreated discreetly.



MOORHEN'S NEST


Earlier on I had lifted some pieces of refugia and found a couple of Newt Efts and a Slow Worm so we went back to check them out again and with a bit of help from Eddie managed to get this shot of the Slow Worm although I was a bit disappointed that he wasn't flicking his tongue out in it. I'm never satisfied.


SLOW WORM


We scanned the Heronry on the way back looking for a possible nesting Little Egret but to no avail. The cuckoo was still calling from the other side of the river though and was skillfully spotted by Eddie high up in a tree. The Cuckoo that is, not Eddie! A few Common Whitethroat sang and showed off their display flights to us around Brookland and a very showy Cetti's Warbler flew into and out of a small tree giving nice views. A Sparrowhawk circled high on the far side of the lake and the Mistle Thrush was, as ever, on duty on the grass beside the old cafe rounding off a very pleasant visit.





8 comments:

Greenie said...

Phil ,
How did you know that the Canada was a gander , as you could only see neck and head ?
Trying hard to see you 'retreating discreetly'
BTW , you referred to newt efts , but they are only efts whilst they have gills , before they leave the water and start to breath normally on land .
Good news re. the Water Vole .

Phil said...

Hi Greenie. Your advice re Efts is much appreciated but my understanding is that Eft is a term relating to a terrestrial juvenile and while they have gills they are referred to as Newt Larvae. I am however very much a hammer chewer in these matters!

Warren Baker said...

Hi Phil,
I'm sure those species you've missed so far will end up on your year list soon, keep visiting :-)

PS I might have some species on my list you would like, but there's more on your list I would like!!!

Greenie said...

Phil ,
I feel as if I've joined the hammer-chewers now .
When we were taught how to do amphibian surveys , we were told to record anything with gills as efts .
More reading to be done !

Phil said...

Greenie, many thanks for your reply. Now, about this gander.............:-)

ShySongbird said...

Hi Phil, It's great to be back :)

How wonderful to have that view over your fence! You are so lucky. Lovely to see the Water Vole.

The Fox photos on the previous post are great too.

Steve said...

I agree with you Phil. I was always taught your definition of newt efts. Nice one with the WV. Not seen one this year.

Greenie said...

Phil ,
Please accept my apology . I have been living under the 'eft' misunderstanding for years , ever since that training in fact .
Always more to learn !