Sharp by Nature

SEVENOAKS WILDLIFE RESERVE WED 1ST FEB 2012

2012-02-01T17:12:00.017Z

I foolishly decided to go to Oare Marshes this morning, it started off badly when I realised that two of the three other cars in the car park were shooters. Thankfully they were leaving instead of arriving. It got worse when I stepped from the warmth of my car into the teeth of an absolutely bitter, easterly gale. I walked to the sea watching hide but every time I tried to look across the water my eyes watered so badly I couldn't see anything. I managed one picture of a passing Herring Gull above and watched a Marsh Harrier cross over from Sheppey before returning to the car, wondering what to do next.

I decided on Sevenoaks Wildlife Reserve, arriving at about 11am to a still cold but much kinder environment, and within minutes I had the pleasure of bumping into Marianne Taylor, who was just leaving the site which is her local patch. Click on her name to visit her excellent blog 'The Wild Side'.

As I approached the first hide, several alarm calls alerted me to a Sparrowhawk flying over the treetops. As I looked up I saw the first of many Siskins seen today, for a change they weren't too high and I managed a couple of shots.

Each time I saw a flock of Siskins I checked for a Lesser Redpoll among them but I didn't find one today.

A brief stop in the first hide, which I think is Tyler hide, produced Teal, Moorhen, about 30 or so Lapwings, a few Greylags and a flotilla of Black Headed Gulls but no sign of the Goosanders that I knew to be on site. En route to the Kingfisher and Tower hides, Dunnocks, Song Thrush, Tufties, Grey Heron and Little Grebe were all seen but still no Goosanders.

The Robin above was on sentry duty on the path to Slingsby hide, it's probably the tame one which joined me within seconds of opening the door to the hide. I think somebody tipped him off that I had sandwiches about my person. He had a knowing look in his eye, how could I refuse to share my lunch?
Feeling suitably refreshed I decided to head for Willow hide and a possible Bittern, on the other side of the lake. It's a fairly long walk but there was plenty to keep me occupied, Blackbirds, Wrens, sleepy Pochards, Gt Crested Grebes, more Herons, like the one below which I unwittingly disturbed from the lake edge, along with a couple of Jays and some Chaffinches. Willow hide however, was rammed, standing room only. The Bittern is clearly the star turn here, but not while I was there. I quickly noted the Shovelers, Gadwalls, Canada Geese and Greylags before hastily moving on to have a look at whatever was in the fields at the end of the path.

It was here that I narrowly escaped injury when a branch came crashing down from above and shattered into sizeable lumps on the footpath just behind me. Accident? Who knows, all I do know is that there was a similar incident in this area recently when a blogger from another patch strayed into Sevenoaks reserve.

My return was uneventful, apart from a Treecreeper searching for food in an Ivy covered tree, a Jackdaw, and a Gt Spotted Woodpecker calling from high above while clinging to a bare branch.

West lake was looking calm and inviting, being sheltered from the wind, so I decided to do the circuit around it. The Cormorants and Grey Heron above were resting on a small outcrop of branches and rocks while a Kingfisher flashed by along the reed fringed far bank. Another Treecreeper was also seen here as was a single Goldfinch and a Pied Wagtail. The two Mallards below had chosen a sunny spot nearby for a wash, brush up and snooze, very smart they looked too. As usual the Pochards were also sleeping.

I was disappointed by now that the Goosanders, one of my favourite birds had eluded me, so I gave them one more chance and headed back down to the Tower and Kingfisher hides for a final look. There were just three Snipe feeding almost unseen along the water's edge, a pair of Wigeons and a large flock of geese, who arrived amid their usual fanfare, probably from the nearby fields. But best of all was a single female Goosander who drifted past in the distance, no sign of a drake though, but there's always next time.
Finally while I was at Sevenoaks I had a couple of texts telling me that there were some Wigeon on one of the lakes at New Hythe. So I called in on my way home and managed to bag them, my 64th species of the year so far at NH, the 63rd being a Green Sandpiper seen during the week from the small wood by the river.

LAPLAND AND NEW HYTHE

2012-01-26T17:00:00.006Z

On monday Alan Roman and I paid a visit to Sheppey to try and see the Lapland Buntings which have been in the news so much lately. With a bit of help from a couple of Kestrels who were hunting over the RSPB fields and a lot of help from Rob Clements (thanks again Rob), and after various false alarms involving Skylarks and Reed Buntings, we did see a flock of c.35 Laplands who swirled about for a while in the gloom before coming down just about as far away from us as they could get. Never mind, at least we saw them, who knows when we might see a flock that size again in Kent.
Other birds seen while we waited for the Buntings to put in an appearance were a pair of Peregrines, a couple of Marsh Harriers and what we were pretty sure was a covey of Grey Partridges.
Rob was going off to try and see the Rough-legged Buzzard over at Mocketts so we struck a deal whereby Alan provided a lift over in his car in exchange for Rob's local knowledge. It was a good deal even though we didn't positively ID the RLB, just a brief 'maybe' from the footpath near Mocketts Farm. What we did see though were very good views of at least two female Hen Harriers, a Common Buzzard, and a couple more Marsh Harriers. In the bushes further down the path we found thirty or more Corn Buntings and in the middle distance we watched a couple of small flocks of geese touch down which turned out to be White Fronts. All in all a nice visit despite the cold, gloomy conditions which once again denied me any pictures.

I didn't really intend going out today, it just happened really. One minute I was watching the non stop activity around the garden, fruitlessly hoping for a Coal Tit or Lesser Redpoll and the next I was striding out of Brooklands car park. It wasn't quite like that but you know what I mean.

At the river, the tide was out and hardly anybody was in, although a Kingfisher, a single Redshank, a Little Grebe, several Teal and a couple of Gadwalls did make it worthwhile. From the mound I watched the mechanical diggers scraping away, half hidden at the side of the sunken marsh and noticed that the pumping had now stopped. Maybe the pipe has been repaired and the diggers were just reinstating. I couldn't see anybody to ask but I hope that's the case.

While on the mound I watched a troupe of Long-tailed Tits foraging for goodness knows what among the bare branches and undergrowth. Once again my limited abilities with a camera were severely tested in the semi darkness. The effort above, dissected as usual with a couple of twigs, was courtesy of an outrageously high ISO number, so high as to be completely new territory for me.

Two Goldcrests were hanging out with the LT Tits and I did at least manage to record the occasion. Their inability to stay still for more than a nano second and all my other usual excuses apply to the effort above and the one below.

It's such a lovely little bird, with its stunning gold crest and it's on nearly everybody's favourites list, so somebody tell it to cheer up!
There were at least 115 Coots on Abbey Mead today. I couldn't see all the lake and there must have been a lot more lurking in the reeds. They were in the company of a couple of Shovelers, noticeable by their absence this year I think, a few Gadwalls, Pochards, Gt Crested Grebes and of course lots of Tufties. Good to see such a lot of activity here.

I bumped into a fellow birder near the Railway lake who told me he'd just seen a Firecrest down the millstream path. I couldn't find it but hopefully it will stick around for a while. While I searched, another birder arrived who turned out to be Mike Hook who has commented on my blog quite a few times. Good to meet you at last Mike. We headed off together to relocate the Goosander which i'd seen earlier, still in residence on the Streamside lake. As we set off I heard a Chiffchaff calling from the other side of the stream, we located it but by now it was raining quite hard and photos weren't an option. The Goosander was found eventually and Mike got his hoped for shots, it was, as usual though, out of range of my 70-300mm lens. Time I added something with a bit more reach to my wish list I think.

SUNKEN MARSH UPDATE 18TH JAN 2012

2012-01-18T16:20:00.005Z

I paid a quick visit to the sunken marsh this afternoon to see if the work had started to repair the broken water main that runs beneath it. As you can see it certainly has started, the picture above shows the closure of the path at the southern end of the marsh, Abbey Mead lake is immediately to the right.

I spoke to one of the contractors who told me the work would take possibly two weeks, with the mechanical digger going into the marsh to start digging it up on friday. The work is being delayed a bit because of the sheer amount of water, up to four feet i'm told at this end of the marsh. This is too deep for the digger to work in so they are pumping it out first, as can be seen in the picture above, before laying some sort of matting for it to operate on. The water is quite heavily treated with Chlorine and because of this it cannot be pumped into the lakes, so it's being pumped into a carrier stream which runs along the western edge of the marsh and then straight into the tidal river Medway.

This is a big water main which runs right through the lakes, buried alongside part of Brooklands and the NW corner of Abbey Mead before crossing beneath the marsh and under the river to a pumping station in Burham. It amazes me that a drop in water pressure wasn't noticed somewhere.

I called in at the Alders lakes on the way home to look for the Goldeneye. I checked the Trout lake and, in the fading light, scanned the big lake as best I could without success. There are plenty of hiding places and lots of birds there so I might have missed it, but I wonder if it may have moved on now. Maybe i'll have another look tomorrow once the rain clears.

OARE MARSHES MON 16TH JAN 2012

2012-01-16T16:57:00.006Z

I intended visiting Sevenoaks Wildlife Reserve today, but I changed my mind when I heard of a burst water main on the A25. So that's how I ended up at Oare marshes at about 10am this morning. The east flood was mostly frozen, as you'd expect after several nights of sub zero temperatures, consequently there wasn't much going on. There were the usual Shovelers, Mallards, Teal, Wigeon and some splendid Pintails and as I watched, half a dozen Greylags came honking in and tentatively landed on the thin ice. Some broke through for a soft landing but a couple must have chosen a slightly thicker patch and did a good impression of dancing on ice before regaining their composure.
I left the hide fairly soon and started the walk around the circuit seeing a few Reed Buntings (above), and a Kingfisher who had found a small patch of unfrozen water in the ditch by the sluice and was diving into it, seemingly without success.

I stopped for a few minutes to watch this Robin who was shadowing a cow's every move in the adjacent field. I presumed it was finding some sort of food disturbed by the cow's hooves, as it flew continually from the bushes to the cow for some time. A Kestrel was hunting over the flood and that, together with a couple of distant Marsh Harriers over on Sheppey were the only raptors seen. I stood by the sea wall hide for a few minutes and watched a large flock of Avocets close to the distant tideline at the mouth of the creek, they briefly took to the air for a few moments and looked great in the bright sun, pity they weren't a bit closer. Curlews, Redshanks, Dunlins, Oystercatchers and Shelducks all poked about in the freezing mud but I couldn't find anything out of the ordinary.

After finishing the usual circuit I decided to walk along to Dan's Dock and from there to a small wooded area which I think is called Uplees? There were two Green Woodpeckers flying around on the salt marsh and two Stonechats accompanied me for a while, perching as usual on fence posts and bushes just out of range of the camera. Apart from a few Skylarks, Greenfinches and Robins that was about it. I didn't see a single Egret or Grey Heron during my visit, quite unusual I should think.

Just before I left I had a call from Alan Roman to say he'd just seen a Goosander on Streamside lake at New Hythe. I had decided to stay away from the lakes for a few days but as usual I couldn't resist it and called in on my way home. It took a while to find but sure enough there it was, a fine Redhead Goosander, without a doubt one of my favourite birds and number 62 for the New Hythe year list. Sorry about the crap picture. Despite my misgivings yesterday regarding the duck shooting, I will still continue to patronise the lakes I think, it's where I've spent most of my time in the last few years and I don't want to let it go.

MORE TROUBLE IN THE MARSH

2012-01-15T17:03:00.004Z

I had a brief opportunity to get down to the lakes today. It turned out to be briefer than expected though.

After a short visit to the small wood by the river, where only a Kingfisher and a fly by Redshank were keeping the odd Cormorant company, I joined the sunken marsh path. I only walked a couple of yards when I came across two men and a young lad carrying a 12 bore shotgun. I recognised one of the shooters, as i'd spoken to him before sometime back. He's a pleasant enough chap so I stopped and asked them if they were going to be shooting now. They said they were going into the actual marsh area to see if they could get some ducks. They also asked me if i'd seen many about, which of course I hadn't and i'd hardly tell them if I had. I think everything had already been frightened off by the clay pigeon shooting on the other side of the river. I said to them that I wouldn't bother walking round the marsh, although they said they wouldn't be staying very long.

I walked the path round to the mound and took the picture above, warning of the imminent start to the work that would repair the burst main that we now know is the cause of the flooding. I then climbed the mound and watched the shooters as they and their two dogs crashed through the northern end of the marsh. I kept my fingers crossed that nothing would be flushed and shot, it seemed to work as they emerged on the far side without firing a gun.

Once again I found myself not in the mood to carry on my walk so I headed off around Brooklands lake hearing the inevitable sound of gunshot as I did so.

The dilemma I find myself in is whether I want to continue walking and birdwatching in an area frequented more and more lately by men with guns. As I said earlier this shooter seems to be a perfectly nice chap, I bear him no malice and i'm not a particularly hardliner when it comes to shooting. But I am firmly on the anti side of the fence with both feet. I just don't like it, I never will and I want no part of it, legal or not. Enough said.

As I made my way back to the car I stopped in at one of the fisherman's swims and accidentally flushed a Snipe (61) who made off with a loud 'squelch', luckily it didn't fly over the marsh.

A MYSTERY SOLVED AND A SHORT VISIT TO ELMLEY

2012-01-13T18:43:00.004Z

Further to the mystery of the men in hi vis jackets peering into the sunken marsh a few days ago. I received a text message from Eddie Denson yesterday, this is roughly what it said. 'Mains water pipe broken under sunken marsh, SE Water looking at environmentally friendly ways to get heavy machines in, good job it's January, not April'. So there you have it, i've been puzzled for months as to where all the water was coming from, the marsh just got wetter and wetter last year, now we know why. The big question though, is what the bloody hell is a mains water pipe doing running under the sunken marsh? Where is it coming from and stranger still, where is it going to? It will be interesting and i've no doubt a bit traumatic, to see how the water authority set about putting it right. Watch this space for further updates. In the meantime thanks for the info Eddie.

I had a couple of hours to spare today so I decided to head for Elmley, it's not too far and I like the drive along the track and the walk down to the hides which is a good leg stretch. All I saw from the track today were Lapwings, Skylarks, a single Marsh Harrier and loads of Curlew, always a pleasure to see but most were out of camera range, the nearest being the one in the picture above.

As I approached the farm buildings I saw a couple of large flocks of small birds which turned out to be Linnets and a few Fieldfares which were drinking from the small pond.

The small wood opposite the house was home to the usual assortment of birds attracted by the feeders as well as about half a dozen Moorhens who, for reasons best known to themselves, were all perching in the tops of the trees, like the one pictured above. They must have had their reasons but I don't know what they were.
The walk to the first hide was uneventful and as I approached I could see just four Shelducks on the now flooded scrape. This is the one that was drained last year I think due to the presence of blue-green algae. Anyway, before I got in the hide they departed and all that was left were about twenty Turnstones on one of the small islands. They left about thirty seconds later. Then there was nothing.
I moved to the next hide, Counterwall I think it's called and it was pretty much the same there. Two other birders were in residence and between us we managed to notch up a few bits and pieces including two Common Buzzards, a fine male Marsh Harrier, a Kestrel, a couple of distant Pintails and hordes of Lapwings and Curlews flying by. We left the hide together to return to the car park, seeing Reed Buntings, a single Stonechat, some pretty impressive flocks of pre roost Starlings and waders, some Little Egrets and best of all two Short-eared Owls which I spotted hunting on the rough ground to the left as we approached the farm buildings. I scanned the trees to the right to see if I could find a Little Owl and sure enough there it was perched in the lower branches of the second tree on the right. As we watched the Little Owl we were startled by the screech of a couple of small birds and the whoosh of bigger wings as a Sparrowhawk, nearly parted our hair for us as it pursued it's quarry low over our heads. Exciting stuff, if you weren't the prey.
One other piece of interest was a Common Lizard lying dead on the track, it was still soft and clearly hadn't been dead very long. I don't know how it had died but it had lost its tail so maybe it was the victim of a Kestrel or Heron or something, but either way I suspect the real reason for its demise is the very mild weather which may have woken it from its slumber prematurely. Its all well and good having temperatures yesterday of 13 or 14c degrees but I don't think it really helps those creatures that hibernate and expect to wake up to more sustained mild weather.

NEW HYTHE WED 11TH JAN 2012

2012-01-11T18:36:00.006Z

GREAT CRESTED GREBE - BROOKLAND LAKE

I didn't have too much time today so I just explored the river, sunken marsh and brooklands lake. I think the highlight of the day was probably the sunshine, which was warm enough to produce my first butterfly of the year, a Red Admiral I think which flew across the river and into the marsh. Hopefully it will find some sustenance before resuming its hibernation until the real spring arrives.
There were two Reed Buntings (57) in the sunken marsh and just a single Fieldfare remaining to represent the winter thrushes which are now almost non existent across the site. Above the marsh I saw my 58th species of the year when a small flock of Stock Doves headed north east towards the north downs. A single Chiffchaff and a Goldcrest were also seen and quite a few Greenfinches called and wheezed from the tops of the Hawthorns and Sloes. Lower down, and hidden from prying eyes, the Cettis Warblers continued to call and even lower, also unseen, the occasional squeal of a Water Rail could be heard.
I counted eight Gadwall on the river and maybe a couple of dozen Teals dozing on the far bank in the morning sun and with the tide almost out half a dozen Cormorants made the most of the shallow water to hunt for Flounders and Eels. No Kingfishers seen today and just one Redshank was fossicking in the mud further upstream, while overhead about forty or so Lapwings made their way south in dribs and drabs, lazily alternating black and white against the blue sky.
From the brooklands side of the mound I spotted a Bittern sitting quite high up the reeds in the south western part of the lake. I made my way towards the corner in the hope of getting a picture but by the time I arrived it had melted back into the reedbed, just like Bitterns usually do.
I had the pleasure of meeting up with Greenie, aka Greenie In the Wild later and we revisited to try and find it again, we failed but did see a nice Sparrowhawk (59) cruising over the lake. For some really good pictures of a very showy Bittern at Sevenoaks visit his blog, you'll find the link on the sidebar.

Finally, something's afoot in the sunken marsh, there were three water authority vans in the car park when I arrived and there were four men in hi viz jackets peering intently into the marsh all morning, while talking furtively on their mobile phones. I've no idea what they were doing but could the brightly painted stick (above) planted mysteriously in the middle of a flooded area of the marsh have anything to do with it? When I know, so will you!
Just quickly, I had two Little Egrets flying over my garden to roost late this afternoon, so the New Hythe year list edges up to 60 species for the year.......so far.

GREEN WOODPECKER TUES 10TH JAN 2012

2012-01-10T17:13:00.006Z

Green Woodpeckers are often seen and heard yaffling from our garden, but they don't often drop in. When they do they usually stay right down the bottom of the garden, well out of camera range.

Today I had a visit from this very handsome male. For once he hopped up nearer to the house and I captured him through the patio doors.

They are so wary, a couple of stabs in the soft grass and then it's head up and check for danger.

I like the stiff tail feathers which it uses for support when perched on, or climbing up tree trunks. Surely one of our most striking birds, especially when seen close up, which for me isn't very often.

NEW HYTHE MON 9TH JANUARY 2012

2012-01-09T17:00:00.004Z

It was pretty much business as usual down the lakes and river today with most of the usual species seen or heard. The unseasonally mild weather continues to hoodwink us into thinking that maybe this winter has no teeth and that spring is nearly here. It's a nice thought but there's plenty of time left for things to go pear shaped. It was good though to see and hear the Grey Herons noisily staking their claim to nest sites at the heronry along the river today. I counted at least fourteen birds there, some of them flying in with twigs to build or repair nests, there must have been a lot more that were out of sight at the back of the trees as well.

I added just three more species to my shiny new 2012 New Hythe list today, bringing my total to 57 so far. First was a Grey Wagtail who bounced along the river by the small wood, second was an untidy flock of Lapwings seen later having been pushed off the river by the rising tide, and lastly a brief re-acquaintance with my old friend the Bittern, who decided to make an appearance as I chatted to Dennis and Doreen at the usual Streamside reedbed.

Once again i'm amazed that such a desperately shy bird should fly out of the safety of its refuge and sit on the reeds, out in the open, with seemingly little regard to our presence on the other bank. It stayed for a while, looking around almost curiously, before calmly turning round and clambering back out of sight.

Some of the other notable species seen today included at least half a dozen Bullfinches who seemed happier than usual to let me stare at them, albeit from a respectable distance, along with Chiffchaff, Goldcrest, Cetti's Warbler, two Kingfishers, a couple of Little Grebes, Green and Gt. Spotted Woodpeckers, Redshank, loads of Jays and a couple of Redwings. These were just some of the 48 species seen in all today which as I said is business as usual really at good old New Hythe.

STODMARSH FRIDAY 6TH JAN 2012

2012-01-06T18:05:00.009Z

I haven't been to Stodmarsh for some time, so with a couple of Glossy Ibis in residence there, my uncle and I decided it was time for a visit. Before we set off we called in at the Alders' Trout lake just down the road from me to see if the female Goldeneye was still there, it was and better still the drake was also back, a pretty good way to start the day I think.
On the whole Stodmarsh was pretty quiet, although there were good numbers of Teal and Shovelers on the main lake accompanied by Pochards, Greylags and a distant Bittern flying low towards the Reedbed hide.
Along the River Stour we saw Grey Heron, Gt Spotted Woodpecker, Treecreeper, Goldcrest, a single male Marsh Harrier, the only one seen all day, a male Sparrowhawk and several Water Pipits on the water meadows. There should have been more to see on the meadows but English Nature were busy working there with a couple of mechanical diggers, never very conducive to wildlife watching I find.
From the ramp a flock of maybe two or three hundred Lapwings, maybe more, constantly took to the air for no apparent reason it seemed other than to create a fantastic avian spectacle against the bright blue, winter sky. John and I were very grateful! A couple of Ruff declined to take part in the aerial show, they were far too busy feeding in the shallow margins. The Feast hide offered no more than a few Gadwall, a pair of Mute Swans who seemed to be practicing their nest building skills and a few sleepy Mallards. Apart from that the only excitement came from a distant Bearded Tit who flew into the reeds and pinged for a while and a Cormorant who dropped in and fished pretty fruitlessly before departing for more productive fishing grounds elsewhere.

I must admit that I didn't hold out much hope of seeing the Glossy Ibis from the Marsh hide, the mechanical diggers were pretty close by along with a couple of other vehicles. So we settled down with coffee and watched the Little Egret above as it fished skillfully in the floods in front of the hide. It's preferred technique was to constantly shake its feet in the mud, so disturbing the presumably semi torpid small fish and pick them off with a lightning stab of its beak. Fascinating stuff. So fascinating we nearly missed the arrival of the Glossy Ibis which glided in and landed in a reed lined ditch some distance away. A couple of minutes later a second one flew past the front of the hide in the opposite direction. More Water Pipits, a Ruff, a Redshank and a Kingfisher all kept us entertained for an hour and a half or so until a fellow birder came in and told us he'd just seen the second Ibis a short way up the track. It was time to go anyway and sure enough a few yards along the path, there it was, bold as brass and fairly unconcerned by our presence. I took a few pics but found it really difficult because it never stayed still for more than a split second. I've posted a few below.

NEW HYTHE MONDAY 2ND JAN 2012

2012-01-02T17:24:00.013Z

Well it's 2012 at last. I have high hopes that this year will be an improvement on the last few months of 2011, which for one reason or another haven't been the best I can remember. Although with a fault on our main computer being diagnosed as pretty much terminal, (I think there's a joke there somewhere), and our roof springing a leak during last night's deluge, my optimism is beginning to wane already.

I couldn't get out yesterday but I did call in to the Trout lake to make sure I got Goldeneye on to my New Hythe year list. The immature/female bird had recently been joined by a very handsome male so I was pleased i'd made the effort, especially since he had disappeared when I looked in this morning. It would be nice one day to get a decent picture of them but as in previous years they stayed well out of decent shooting range, as you can see above, just about!

I didn't expect much to have changed as I left Brooklands car park and headed for the small wood by the river and that was pretty much the case, with Pied Wagtail being added to the list along with Collared Dove, Long-tailed Tit, Dunnock, Blackbird and the ever present Robin among others.

The first bird I saw on the river was this female Gadwall pictured above.

The second bird was her mate above who clearly knows his place and glided dutifully past in her wake.

The wood was sheltered from the wind, which coupled with clear blue skies evoked a spring like feel, I think the Blue Tits pictured above felt the same way too. I spent about half an hour watching the tide fall on the river and added among others, Teal, Little Grebe, Jackdaw, Grey Heron, Moorhen, Mallard, Redshank and Cormorant to my list, while a Chiffcaff called constantly and hunted for food in the bare branches of the trees around me.

The footpath around the sunken marsh now resembles a quagmire and looking up is sometimes not advisable. But when I could, I saw a 'little brown job' flit silently past me and into the reeds on the river side of the path. Luckily it then broke its silence and revealed itself as a Cetti's Warbler, a pleasing early addition to the year list. There can't be many better birding sights than a male Bullfinch, lit in all its glory by a low winter sun, so two of them along with two females was a spectacular treat as they posed, albeit a bit distant, in the top of a bush in the marsh. Apart from a couple of Song Thrushes that was about it here, not a Fieldfare or Redwing in sight now that the berries have been eaten.
Pochards, Gt. Crested Grebe, Tufted Ducks, Gadwalls, dozens of Coots and a Little Grebe which was engaged in a monumental struggle to eat a relatively large and spiny Perch it had just caught, were all present in the middle of Abbey Mead lake, herded there by a large dog swimming around the margins. The Little Grebe finally consumed the Perch and eventually the Pochards were able to go back to sleep when the dog climbed out of the lake and subsequently sprayed me with its efforts to shake itself dry, all in a days walk eh!

I reached streamside lake without further incident but once again failed to connect with the Bittern, yes Greenie, I think I am losing my touch. Siskin were a nice addition though, several were feeding in the nearby Alder trees and a Wren also joined the list, as did the Mute Swan pictured below who started his take off from the far end of the lake and passed straight over my head.

With time getting on I started my return to the small wood via Johnson's lake, I dropped in at the north east corner to look for geese and Shovelers and came face to face with a Water Rail, i'm not sure who was most surprised but I think it was me, especially as it took me eleven months to see one down here last year! I also got the Shoveler and a couple of Canada Geese. All I needed now was a Green Woodpecker from the east scrub, there's always a couple there, but not today. There was nothing there actually, but maybe it was because there were rockets being launched there ten minutes earlier, I jest not, smoke trails, loud noises the lot, all in a days walk eh?

The peace and quiet of the railway path gave me a Goldcrest, two more Chiffys and a couple of Redwings and from there it was back to the wood, and coffee and lunch from the comfort of the bucket. From which I saw and enjoyed a Kingfisher, a Gt Black-backed Gull, a distant Buzzard over the north downs and a couple of Rooks, which bought my total species to 46. I bumped into Mike Easterbrook on the way back to the car park and we managed to add Green Woodpecker and Stock Dove. Starling and House Sparrow were seen on my return home bringing the total to a nice round 50.

I know it's a bit gruesome but I took the picture below of poor old Moley on the NH raptor viewing mound. You don't often see their digging utensils do you!

A very happy new year to everybody who reads my blog and many thanks for all the comments, all very much appreciated.

BOTTOMS UP!!

NEW HYTHE TUES 27TH DEC 2011

2011-12-27T15:58:00.005Z

With christmas finally over I was pleased to have a couple of hours at the lakes this morning. Light winds and a mild temperature combined to give an almost Spring like feel. Even the birds seemed to sing optimistically as I made my way to the small wood past the paper mill, rendered quiet at last by the christmas break. I checked Brooklands lake on the way in the hope that the drake Goosander might have returned. It hadn't but at least I'd had some decent views during its visit last week.
A very low tide revealed lots of mud, glorious mud, on the river but only a single Redshank was enjoying it apart from a Little Grebe and a couple of Teal on the far bank. I wondered if perhaps the shooters had been around again, a thought reinforced by what looked like some fairly new tracks winding through the reeds in the sunken marsh. The presence of guns on my local patch saddens me and if this were to become a regular occurrence I think I would prefer to move on to pastures new. I'll see what the new year brings.
In the meantime my thoughts turned to Bearded Tits and specifically, why don't we get them here on a regular basis, I know of no sightings at all this year. The four pictures below, represent the view from the small wood looking left to right. The reed beds in the first three pictures are extensive and look like ideal habitat for the Bearded Tits and there certainly are some half a mile downstream (north) from here at Holborough marshes. So why don't we get them, i'm sure there used to be some in years gone by, the habitat doesn't seem to have changed but something must have.

Having just about stripped the berries from the Sloes and Hawthorns in the sunken marsh, the winter thrushes have moved on. Just a few Redwings and the odd Song Thrush mopping up the last remaining morsels today. Finches seemed the more numerous inhabitants today with Bullfinch, Greenfinch, Chaffinch and Goldfinch all seen in decent numbers, along with Wren, Dunnock and Robins, of which I saw four all in one bush, there may be trouble ahead there I think! Cetti's Warblers and Water Rails were heard but not seen and on the river at the far end of the marsh there was another Redshank and three Herons, who lifted off from the opposite bank and flew laboriously to the tree tops where at least six more were already perched and silhouetted against the grey sky.
Abbey Mead held no surprises, the usual Coots, Grebes, Tufties, Mallards, sleepy Pochards and a few Gadwalls dabbled and dived and a couple of Jays criss crossed the lake going about their noisy business.

Once again no sign of the Bitterns at Streamside, probably keeping their heads down to avoid the daily cacophony of dogs and owners competing for the highest decibel rating. The owners winning hands down as they shout their unheeded commands and direst threats at their untrained and uncontrollable mutts. I moved on, quickly.

A single Water Vole swimming across the east scrub ditch with hardly a ripple to disturb the surface was my reward for my foray to the wrong side of the tracks. A couple of Green Woodpeckers who managed to shine, even in the gloom, also helped.
My December list now stands at 69 species for New Hythe, last Decembers total was 72 and the missing three birds were Slavonian Grebe, Waxwing and Woodcock, what a difference some snow makes! As for the New Hythe year list, it's still at 105 and that's where I expect it to stay now. I'm not unhappy with it but I missed some great birds, most recently the Gt Grey Shrike seen in the sunken marsh, before that the Gt White Egret seen along the river and what about the Black Stork seen circling over Abbey Mead in April, all great birds for little old NH. But there were also some good highlights, the best being the Hoopoe that flew across the corner of the sunken marsh in front of myself and Terry Laws, also in April and two great sightings of Red Kites, one across the east scrub and another over the sunken marsh, not to mention the Common Scoter and Little Gulls at Brooklands both welcome additions courtesy of other birders. It's not quite over yet, I might get down once more before the end of the year and you never know there might be a 106 in the pipeline, but if not i'm really looking forward to the start of another year and another new list.

Finally, many thanks to everyone who has read my blog during the year and especially to those who have left much appreciated comments. Happy new year to you all.

OARE MARSHES FRI 16TH DEC 2011

2011-12-16T17:32:00.013Z

I picked Alan Roman up at Meopham this morning amid a quite generous dumping of snow on the North Downs. We arrived at Oare marshes at around 10.15 and immediately spotted the long staying Great White Egret which was fishing in a narrow ditch to the east of the road down to the car park.

This is quite a showy bird as you can see from the photo above, clock those thighs! I was busily snapping away at it when suddenly a small bird, either a Reed Bunting or a Meadow Pipit I think, flew in front of us hotly pursued by a bird of prey. Before we had time to ID the raptor a second one joined the fray, this bird though was instantly recognisable, it was a stunning male Hen Harrier, just thirty feet or so in front of us. We were speechless as we watched the small bird dive into some small bushes and escape two sets of talons and then saw the Harrier turn away to the west and out of sight. What a great start and we hadn't even reached the car park yet.

To say that it was bitterly cold is a major understatement, the NW wind blowing off the water was vicious. We headed straight for the sea wall hide for some shelter but to be honest it wasn't much warmer in there.

The tide was at its lowest point so the views of Shelduck, Dunlin, Redshanks, Grey Plover, Curlew and a few Turnstones were pretty distant. Murray Wright was bravely scoping in the lee of the hide and we were very grateful to him for drawing our attention to a Great Northern Diver which flew in from the east and passed quite close to the hide. Another really good bird for the morning list, although unusually I had to try and keep the list in my head as my hands were too cold by far to write anything down in a legible fashion.

As the morning progressed the tide turned and began its inevitable return, thus pushing the birds further up the mud towards us and giving me the opportunity to at least get a passable if semi dark shot of one of the Avocets which were feeding on the freezing mud, their dainty heads swinging from side to side like avian metal detectors.

We decided to move on to the hide on the east flood, mainly in the hope that the movement would thaw our now frozen feet. It worked, but the raw wind soon froze our faces instead and even the sight of a Short-eared Owl hunting in front of us was marred by eyes that insisted on watering copiously as we turned into the wind to watch it cross the flood.

Snipe, Teal, Wigeon, Little Grebe, Little Egret, Kingfisher, Green Woodpecker, Ruff and Kestrel were soon seen on and around the water, as well as Marsh Harrier and Buzzard in the distance towards Sheppey.

By about half past two we were treated to a weak but welcome burst of sunshine. This coincided with the arrival to the flood of a lot more birds as they were pushed off the mud by the tide. Flocks of Avocets like the one pictured above were nicely lit by the sun as they circled to land on a small island, as were the white wing bars of the handsome Black-tailed Godwits and flocks of Dunlins caught the light too as they twisted and turned in tight flocks just above the surface. But maybe the stars of this part of the show were the small groups of Pintails that looked absolutely stunning in the sun as they flew in to join all the others already on the flood.

The low sun didn't last too long though, the last few rays giving a dramatic look to the reed beds and the sea wall hide in the distance, set against the backdrop of some very ominous black clouds. Time to go.

NEW HYTHE MON 12TH DEC 2011

2011-12-12T16:13:00.008Z

What a glorious winter's day today, trouble is there's never two the same, wind and rain again tonight and tomorrow I believe.

First bird of the day as I left Brooklands car park was a Jay, I made a mental note to find a way to get a decent picture of one of these beauties, but I won't hold my breath! Brooklands lake was pretty much as usual with Tufties, Coots, Pochard, Gt Crested Grebe and Little Grebe all seen along with the BH Gulls and a couple of Common Gulls. I scanned the reed beds in the hope of finding a Bittern but to no avail.

A party of Long tailed Tits made there way noisily along the edge of the small wood, as I stood and watched four Cormorants fishing in the shallows at the bottom of the tide. On the exposed island there were a couple more, standing upright, wings akimbo, looking like the bird world equivalent of a pair of seedy flashers in black macs. A couple of Redshanks loudly registered their disgust as they flew past upriver and the Grey Herons standing as if on duty along the far bank, all carried on their business with an air of disinterest.

The sunken marsh was lit by the low winter sun making it difficult to see the still plentiful winter thrushes there, their presence though confirmed by the 'chak chak' of the Fieldfares and the 'seep' of the Redwings as my approach sent them crashing noisily from the hawthorns and sloes. A couple of Cetti's Warblers shouted unseen from within the marsh and Bullfinches, also unseen, kept reassuring contact with their soft calls. Opposite, on the riverbank, a single Little Egret made the most of the mudbank as the tide picked up speed and began to flow back inland again.

In the tall reeds that line the river alongside the WW2 pill box, I was pleased to find a couple of Reed Buntings who were feeding on the seed heads.

Compared to some, these little birds are quite confiding at times and they didn't seem too bothered by me, so long as I kept a respectable distance.

The wind was blowing the tall reeds and as the birds moved up them to get at the seed heads the stems travelled, seesaw fashion, from upright to horizontal. Frustrating for the camera, good fun for the birds.....or was that my imagination?

Even a Blue Tit joined in. Unfortunately our fun was stopped when a couple of people with a dog walked by on the narrow path, they looked at me suspiciously as I stood in the reed bed all alone, not even a bird to keep me company now. Perhaps they thought I was a flasher, thankfully I didn't have a black mac on.
I met Eddie Denson as I walked over to the Bittern area at Streamside, he told me the Bitterns weren't playing ball today so I walked back with him via Abbey Meads where earlier i'd stood and watched two Chiffchaffs as they searched every nook and cranny of a small Oak tree in their relentless need for food. This time the highlights were the low level, silent flypast of a Kingfisher just inches above the lake's surface and two tiny Goldcrests who worked their way through the bushes, calling constantly, on the east side of the lake.

A last look from the small wood by the river, at last gave us some raptors in the shape of a Kestrel and a Sparrowhawk who both hunted in the distance on the other side of the river. A Grey Wagtail also graced us with it's presence as it flew past calling loudly. This and a single Rook, along with a small flock of Lapwings pushed my list for the morning to 49 species. I was well pleased with that but I said to Eddie that 50 would have been nice. And so it was when just before the car park a festive Robin posed confidently as we walked past, I should have got that one first not last, but never mind.
Lastly, good to meet you again Roger and thanks for reading my blog!

GREAT WHITES AND LITTLE BROWNS AT DUNGENESS

2011-12-10T15:46:00.008Z

I went back to Dungeness on friday morning. I arrived fairly early and went straight to the Hanson hide on the ARC site with the intention of finding Long-tailed Duck and Penduline Tit. Both of these species have been reported recently, the LTD more frequently than the Penduline, but my luck wasn't in with either bird today.
I stayed at the hide for a while watching Marsh Harriers harry the wildfowl and the Gt White Egret harry the fish on the east side of the pit, shoulder to shoulder with a Grey Heron. I couldn't help thinking how quickly the rare and exotic start to become the norm though. Don't get me wrong, I think the GWE is a stunning and elegant bird however often I see it, but already it seems to be losing a bit of it's cachet, it's presence yesterday morning hardly getting a mention in the hide.
Last time I was at Dungie I missed out on the Tree Sparrows, this time I made sure I didn't.

There were quite a few of these charming little brown jobs in the bushes around the ARC car park but I couldn't get close enough for a decent look at them. So I drove over the road to the reserve, parked by Boulderwall farm and waited.

I didn't have to wait long before they started to arrive near the large feeder at the front of the building. They seemed quite nervous, more nervous I think than their cousins the House Sparrows. They never seemed to be feeding for very long before bolting back to cover en masse, there was no obvious sign of predators so I presume this was their normal highly strung behaviour.

Around the visitor centre, Chaffinches, Reed Buntings, Great and Blue Tits and Moorhens all shared the feeder, yes I did say Moorhens, as witnessed and pictured by Ken Browne last week. A couple of Goldcrests were also seen in the bushes adjacent to the car park.

As for the rest of the reserve, well it wasn't buzzing, or tweeting much for that matter. Just the usual species and a second Gt White Egret, this time from Christmas Dell hide and despite the bright and breezy weather I didn't manage to photograph anything else.

A second visit to the ARC site before leaving for home resulted in a few distant Goldeneye, including a couple of drakes, a lovely Pintail or two, a pair of Chiffchaffs from the Willow walk and an unusually good but fleeting view of a Cetti's Warbler on the way back to the car.

It's not very often I leave Dungie feeling a bit disappointed but you can't win them all. And anyway I did see not one, but two, rare and exotic, stunningly elegant Great White Egrets. Which were almost as good as the Tree Sparrows!

DOWN BY THE RIVER THURS 8TH DEC 2011

2011-12-08T15:46:00.009Z

Despite the horrible weather this morning I decided to venture out anyway, just for about an hour and a half. First stop was the Alders trout lake to see if the recently reported, 'traditional' December Goldeneye was still in residence, and i'm pleased to say it was. It was far too dark for a picture though and the presence of a few fishermen kept the bird distant anyway.

From there I went to the woods by the river where disappointingly, the tide was approaching it's highest point. It was also nearly dark, blowing a gale and raining a bit so I didn't expect to see too much. The star of the show though was a pair of Grey Wagtails, above and below. Their sharp, metallic call cut through the roar of the wind in the trees as they approached and gave me just enough time to crouch down partially out of sight, before they landed in the reeds close by.

There were six Teal sheltering in the reeds in the channel to the right of the woods, but as usual they saw me before I saw them and an in flight rear view was all I got. A single Heron flew along the river, buffeted by the wind on it's big lazy wings, I think it was looking for somewhere to put down, but the now completely full tide denied it permission to land and it headed off upstream.

To my right I watched several flocks of Fieldfares, one consisting of around fifty birds, who all crossed from the other side of the river and landed in the sunken marsh, most likely to feed on the still plentiful supply of Sloe berries along the northern edge. To my left, in the distance, was a large flock of Corvids who swirled untidily over the Holborough marsh area. There were about fifty or sixty of them, i'm not sure what they were and I don't know what put them all up so suddenly, but a few minutes later they had gone and were replaced by sixteen Lapwings who headed south, and gradually disappeared from sight against the darkness of the North Downs.

My only other company was a single Wren in the reeds in front of me, two Blue Tits and a Blackbird in the woods behind me and two Mallards and a Cormorant on the river. All in all enough interest to keep me happy during my short visit.

By the time I left, the tide had turned and the flow was heading northwards. Which was obviously the direction that the three Redshanks above and below wanted to go. Why fly when you can hop on the local 'Shank plank'!

NEW HYTHE WED 30TH NOV 2011

2011-11-30T17:20:00.012Z

It was a glorious, calm sunny morning and the tide was at rock bottom when I arrived at the small wood by the river today. Just the conditions to raise expectations for plenty of birds and maybe something out of the ordinary. And it certainly was out of the ordinary, because all I could see were a couple of Cormorants, nothing else, not even a gull. I couldn't understand it, i'd never seen it like this before, but as I scratched my head in consternation the answer suddenly arrived when the calm was shattered by a shotgun blast. It was close, very close, but I couldn't tell where it came from, I assumed the sunken marsh and so decided to exercise some discretion and avoid the river path around it.
I headed round the outside of the marsh and made my way to the mound thinking I might be able to see where he was. I couldn't, but as I looked I noticed a small flock of Mallards which circled above and tried to drop down to the river, then came another blast and I saw six fly off in panic and the seventh drop like a stone, I just hope it was dead before it hit the ground or the river.
I'd had enough now, I get no pleasure from seing birds blasted out of the sky, so I made my way over the railway to the country park and paid a visit to my old friend the Bittern. There's yet another long distance picture below.

The sun was still shining for a change so I looked in on the railway lake and 'shot' some ducks of my own. Gadwall first, Tufted Duck second and a Coot in attack mode third.

A couple of hours had now passed since the sad demise of the Mallard so I made my way back to the small wood to see if the usual inhabitants had returned. They had. In the half an hour or so that I spent there I saw a Grey Wagtail, three Redshanks, a flyover Snipe, a lonesome Teal, a Little Grebe, a Little Egret, two Mistle Thrushes, a Sparrowhawk and the Kingfisher below, perched on a pole on the other side of the river...... normality had returned. Long may it last.

DUNGENESS MON 28TH NOV 2011

2011-11-28T18:39:00.018Z

I didn't mean to go to Dungeness today, I left home with the intention of going to New Hythe. When I got to the traffic lights at the end of the road I suddenly thought no, i'll pop down to Reculver. So I went left instead of right and joined the M20 coastbound. When I got to the M2 exit I changed my mind again and sailed past towards Dungeness. I used to be indecisive.............. So, with my new, all singing, all dancing binoculars by my side, (please note Terry) I drove slowly along the entrance track towards the visitor centre. The first bird I saw, apart from a Magpie, was the leucistic Grey Heron (below) fishing alongside one of the small pools on the right.............

.........or is it a Great White Egret, one of two on the site at the moment............................

...........or maybe a Great White Cockatoo?? Or maybe there's only one Great White Egret and the other one is the leucistic Heron. Answers on a postcard please.

Keeping with the Egret theme, this one was opposite Scott hide. I watched it for a while as it fished, not too successfully in the gloomy half light.

It peered intently into the water at times, almost as if it was admiring it's own reflection. And who could blame it, what a handsome chap.

It did catch a few very small tiddlers, as in the picture above. Left click it for a bigger image, but the fish will still be a tiddler.

Then a Cormorant came to it's aid, swimming energetically, just below the surface in the shallow water and eventually ending up alongside the Egret and driving some fish in front of it.

The two of them soon became fishing friends, the Egret shadowing the Cormorant wherever it went. The fish presumably breathing a sigh of relief after escaping the Cormorant, only to be mopped up by the eager Egret. What a good team, i've never seen that before.

After a while the Cormorant went his own way but continued to fish the shallows, picking up a few more tiddlers, one of which is in it's beak in the picture above. Again, a left click will help.

Pictured below and a little further away was another fisherman, a Grey Heron. This time at least, I can be sure of it's identity.

Little brown jobs were at a premium, with just the Chaffinch below, a wren, a calling Cetti's Warbler, a single Dunnock, a Goldcrest and a couple of Great and a couple of Blue Tits. I did hear and get the briefest of glimpses of a Bearded Tit from Christmas Dell hide though.

I called into Denge Marsh hide where fellow blogger Ken Browne was already in residence. We sat and watched the arrival of maybe a few hundred Greylag and Canada Geese as they flew in from the surrounding fields probably. I spent a bit of time sifting through them and managed to find a single Pink Footed Goose, it's provenance confirmed with the aid of Ken's scope.

I met up with Ken a bit later over on the ARC hide, where he was occupying the best seat in the Hanson hide. Disappointingly there was no sign of the recent Long-tailed Duck, but several female and one male Goldeneye, a couple of Pintails and about ten Shelducks were on show along with three lovely Bewick Swans and two Kingfishers. Four hours, 47 different species, a fishing lesson and a bit of a mystery. Good old Dungeness.

MOSTLY NEW HYTHE FRI 25TH NOV 2011

2011-11-25T16:51:00.010Z

I took my Uncle for a guided tour of the lakes today. We started out at the small wood by the river where we found the tide was just beginning to come in and the 'island' was still exposed but disappearing fast. We could see a Little Egret in the distance upstream and a single Redshank on the far bank whose legs shone brightly in the low sunlight. Little Grebes, Cormorants, Mallards a couple of Lapwings and a few Teal made up the numbers along with the usual gulls. I also saw a smallish wader fly across the river and land on the island, it was too distant to ID but i'm sure it wasn't another Redshank, which means it could have been a new NH tick, i'll probably never know.
Around the sunken marsh we saw a couple of Reed Buntings, I seem to be seeing these more regularly now. The Sloe bushes just inside the marsh are still loaded with berries, and Redwings, Fieldfares, Blackbirds and a handsome Mistle Thrush were all making the most of them but as usual our approach caused them to fly off noisily, maybe indignantly, before we could see them properly. Cetti's Warblers are still calling well from around the marsh area and Bullfinches were heard but not seen there. The biggest surprise of the morning came as we approached the end of the marsh path, when a Common Seal surfaced in the river just downstream of us, it wasn't the longest of views because he saw us and dived without resurfacing within sight but a good New Hythe tick nonetheless.

Of course it would have been rude not to go and check on the Bitterns while we were there, so we made our way to streamside lake via the northern end of Abbey Mead where a Little Grebe, Tufted Ducks, some Pochards, a Great Crested Grebe or two and surprisingly, a couple of Teal were seen.

The picture above of a Cormorant having a wash and brush up and the one below of a Humpbacked Whale's fluke as it dives in streamside lake, or maybe it too is the Cormorant, were taken (badly) a few days ago when I paid a quick visit looking for the Bittern.

What I found interesting was that as soon as the Cormorant started splashing and thrashing about in the course of it's ablutions a female Tufted Duck attacked it. This happened three times, as soon as the Cormorant stopped splashing the Tuftie retreated, but as soon as it started again the duck came back spitting feathers and gave it another good going over, from a respectable distance of course because those Cormorants have got pretty big beaks. The crap picture below shows brave Tuftie launching one of her attacks and the Cormorant, once again, taking absolutely no notice. What on earth was all that about?

Anyway, back to today and i'm pleased to say that after a few minutes scanning the reeds I managed to find a Bittern, this was a lifer for John and I was pleased that New Hythe hadn't let me down. While we pondered our good fortune with the Bittern John spotted a wader flying across streamside lake which turned out to be a Green Sandpiper, this was another lifer for him and number 69 for my New Hythe November list.
Our return route took us past the Water Vole stream, no sign of them but a couple of Goldcrests and some super views of Goldfinches feeding on Teasels with the sunlight striking their backs more than made up for it. Green Woodpecker, Gt Spotted Woodpecker, Bullfinches and another couple of Goldcrests were all seen and as we had coffee on the mound a Chiffchaff called from the edge of Abbey Mead lake, which is where I took the picture shown at the top of the post, can anybody name it please?

Lastly, Alan Woodcock posted a picture on his blog during the week of a leucistic Grey Heron he saw at Dungeness, click on his name to visit his blog. He wondered if anybody might have mistaken it for the semi resident Gt White Egret down there. That reminded me of a trip I made to Dungie on 25th July this year when I saw the bird below from a distance and thought it was the Egret at first. But when I got home and saw the photo I had second thoughts and after much deliberation decided not to use it on the blog. I'm glad I didn't now, because I think it might be the Heron, mystery solved if it is!

NEW HYTHE MON 21ST NOV 2011

2011-11-21T16:27:00.005Z

Last time I went to the lakes I came away feeling disappointed and a bit bored. I must have been having a funny five minutes because today I couldn't wait to get back. Despite the fog and general gloom I saw some good birds, 49 species in all and these are some of the highlights.
The numbers of ducks seem to be building gradually on Brooklands lake, still mostly Tufties and Coots though but there was also a couple of Shovelers today. A single Little Grebe was also seen in the SW corner and one of the fishermen's swims was occupied by a Grey Wagtail, one of several seen today.

It's probably not looking like a particularly good Waxwing year, but it could change and if it does, the apple tree above might be worth keeping an eye on. That's if they can put up with the halitosis laden breath of the paper mill just alongside it.
Although the tide was quite high I still paid a visit to the small wood by the river, where Cormorants fished, Teal preened and a pair of Redshanks zigzagged upstream, their noisy calls shattering the quiet, misty morning. There's a creek to the side of the wood where a stream empties from the sunken marsh. I crept quietly through the wood to it in the hope of seeing some Little Grebes, there were six in there recently when I looked. There weren't any today, but there was a Water Rail, hoo(bloody)ray, species number 105 for the NH year list, it only took me eleven and a half months! While I watched it a Kingfisher zipped past and two Mallards

crashed out of the reeds in front of me frightening the life out of me and the Water Rail.

Highlight of the sunken marsh was a small flock of Long-tailed Tits who leap frogged from tree to tree in their usual fashion accompanied by a Chiffchaff, one of two seen today and a Goldcrest, one of at least eight seen, with others heard as well. Also in the marsh were Redwings, Fieldfares, Cetti's Warblers, Green Woodpeckers, Bullfinches and two Reed Buntings, the first i've seen for some time here.

Like Brooklands, Abbey Mead is gradually getting busier, about twenty Pochard had joined the Tufties, Coots and Gt Crested Grebes but there's still plenty of room for more. I ventured over the railway line and down to Streamside lake where I was really pleased to find the Bittern (below) sitting in the reeds just a little bit to the right of where I saw it last week, as usual the light was poor but you can just about make it out.

It was here that I saw my second Ciffchaff of the day and one of a few small flocks of noisy Siskins which landed in the Alders at the edge of the water. Another Kingfisher also flashed past here and so did another Water Rail, which flew across the lake, feet almost in the water, from the far end of the Bittern reedbed. Typical, you wait for eleven and a half months..............!

Despite it being mid November there are still some splashes of colour lingering on. I found the flower above in a small piece of woodland near the railway line, I think it's Red Campion, but i'm not sure as usual. The final bird added to the list this morning was a Sparrowhawk who circled above Brooklands car park and was also my 68th New Hythe species so far this month, there's some way still to go to equal last month's total of 74.

SHEPPEY OWL FEST WED 16TH NOV 2011

2011-11-16T17:53:00.014Z

My visit to New Hythe yesterday was a bit disappointing in some ways, with the assistance and good company of Terry Laws I notched up 46 species during the morning. So what's wrong with that? Absolutely nothing, except that it just seemed like the same 46 species as usual. The only different one was in the shape of Greenie, of Greenie In The Wild Fame, who I stumbled across at the side of the Railway lake. He had managed to enter the site undetected, a breach of border regulations I think is the technical term. Anyway, in light of the current furore over the lackadaisical approach to policing our national borders, I will be calling for resignations and the rolling of heads from whoever is responsible for New Hythe's security.
So, what I was trying to say before I went completely off piste, is that I was a bit bored. I like patch watching, I like it a lot, but sometimes I get itchy feet and a desire to see some stuff that i'm not likely to see from the comfort of my own backyard. So today, I went and stuck my beak into somebody else's backyard and this is what I saw. Great to see you yesterday Greenie, by the way!

The bird on a stick is a Short-eared Owl, one of many that are currently residing around the salt marshes at Shellness on the Isle of Sheppey. I arrived there at about 12.45 this afternoon and saw two of these fantastic creatures on the way up to the shoreline, of course the light was awful and the birds were a bit distant, so the usual excuses apply to the couple of pics I did get. But what really struck me as I watched them hunting over the marsh was the brightness of their plumage, especially the upper wings, despite the lack of light, absolutely brilliant.

It was quite difficult to get a grip on the number of Owls I saw in my fairly brief visit because they were quite wide ranging and they constantly dropped to the ground in search of prey, but I eventually saw four in the air at the same time, i'm sure there were more though.

The tide was quite a long way out and this meant there was plenty of space for the many hundreds of Oystercatchers, far more than i've ever seen in one go before. Further birds were arriving in small flocks like the one above every five minutes or so, further adding to the massed ranks already on the beach.

The picture below gives some idea of the total numbers as they were pushed up the shore by the incoming tide. Left clicking might be a better way to view it, especially if you want to count them, I didn't!

Other birds seen here included good numbers of Redshanks, Turnstones, Dunlins, Ringed Plover, Grey Plover and a few Sanderlings all sharing the shoreline, along with lots of Mallards, some Brent Geese and a Seal sharing the water. Kestrels, Meadow Pipits and several Little Egrets were on or over the salt marsh, along with a couple of Marsh Harriers, much to the consternation of the Owls.
With time, tide and light all passing by too quickly I decided to pay a quick visit to the raptor viewing mound, pausing on the way to get a picture of this Curlew in a field by the road.

Also in the same field were hundreds of Brent Geese, some of which are pictured below.

As I made my way along the Harty Ferry Road (I think that's what it's called), I noticed the handsome Kestrel below, perching nonchalantly on a straw bale in a farmers field. He gave me the evil eye but stayed put while I reversed back to take the picture from the car.

Another quick shot from the car was this Grey Heron who stood almost motionless in a stream a mile or so from the raptor mound, I just wish there had been some better light.

What light there was was fading faster by the time I pulled into the small parking area but there was just time to see two more SEO's almost as soon as I got out of the car. The picture below, although not very bright, shows in a small way what I was trying to say earlier about the upper wings, although it by no means does it justice.

I saw very little else from the mound, apart from a field full of Lapwings and Golden Plovers, another Kestrel and a distant Sparrowhawk, no sign of the local Barn Owl unfortunately. No complaints though, six Short-eared Owls in a couple of hours is more than i'd seen in my lifetime, the same probably goes for the Oystercatchers too. The good news is that I was able to cross the border undetected, nobody will ever know!

NEW HYTHE'S BITTERNS ARE BACK!

2011-11-09T17:41:00.013Z

I knew they were back the other evening when I visited the lake, because I could see the bunched and bent reed stems which they or it, had climbed up, just like in the pictures here. But I was still surprised to spot this one today in the middle of the morning giving good views and not taking much notice as I watched and was joined by Dennis and Doreen. I must say it looked in superb condition in the slightly better light today and I hope it stays that way, they had a very hard time of it in the severe conditions of last winter. It's great to see them back, which is why i've gone a bit overboard with the pictures.

Other highlights today were two Little Egrets on the river, together with good numbers of Teal a splendid Kingfisher which brightened the early gloom and two Redshanks who were, like the Snipe last week, hitching a ride on the fast flowing incoming tide, on board a raft of reed stems.

There were plenty of Redwings in the sunken marsh feeding on the abundant supply of Sloes. Fieldfares were few and far between though but I did spot the one above who hung around just long enough for a sneaky snap for a change. Cetti's Warblers were still in good voice around the marsh as was a single Goldcrest and a good size flock of Siskins were seen flying over.

A small flock of ever welcome Long-tailed Tits pictured above and below passed through the Willows along Streamside, as did a single Treecreeper and another Siskin was seen, this time feeding on the Alder seeds. Thirty nine species in total this morning in about three hours, not spectacular but if i'd only seen the Bittern I would have been happy enough.

By the time I got home the sun had come out, this prompted the pair of Common Darters pictured below to take to the wing and spend five minutes apparently ovipositing in my pond. Not bad for the 9th November.

NEW HYTHE 4TH & 5TH NOV 2011

2011-11-05T14:35:00.003Z

Yesterday afternoon I spent the last hour of daylight looking for the first Bittern of the winter on Streamside lake. I didn't see one but it's only a matter of time hopefully. The hour wasn't wasted though because the first bird I saw was a Green Sandpiper which flew up from the small island opposite the Bittern reedbed as I arrived. A Kingfisher was also seen crisscrossing the lake while calling loudly, it's really good of them to draw attention to themselves like that, i'd see far fewer if they didn't. Also drawing attention to themselves were the local Magpies who were having a right old slanging match in the trees to my left. I couldn't see them but as soon as they started, other Magpies began flying across the lake to investigate or join in, I counted 19 of them all heading towards the ongoing fracas in the tree. Five or ten minutes later I counted 19 all heading back from whence they came even though the original fight continued.
Despite the dismal weather this morning I did manage to get a couple of unexpected hours around the lakes, i'm glad I did too as the first bird I saw was a Marsh Harrier which flew south along the river before turning east, away from me, hotly pursued by the local corvids. This is a really good bird for New Hythe, if only one would stick around for a while. Other bits seen included three, possibly four Goldcrests around the southern end of the sunken marsh. Two Redshanks on the river, as well as two Little Egrets, two Little Grebes, plenty of Teal and Mallard still and of course the ever present Grey Herons. There were some good sized flocks of Fieldfare coming down the east side of the Medway Valley, no doubt taking advantage of the northerly winds today. The other large flock of birds seen were the geese pictured below. This is the biggest flock of geese i've ever seen at New Hythe, there were over 100 birds in the skein and they were heading due south high over the sunken marsh and river. I couldn't hear any calling at all and I felt that they weren't the usual 'local' Canadas or Greylags. Any ID thoughts would be really appreciated as these could be a new tick for the patch. Immediately after taking the pictures I glanced to my right in time to see another or the same Marsh Harrier, this time heading north roughly along the course of the river.

DUNGENESS SPOONBILL

2011-11-02T18:47:00.007Z

The day started with a visit to the garden from two male Pheasants, they won't get shot there but the Fox might get them.

I knew that I would have a few hours to spare today, probably the last this week, so I drove down to Brooklands car park thinking I would spend them at the lakes. But a change of heart saw me driving back out and heading for Dungeness. I don't know why because I knew it was going to be windy down there again, and it was. These are some of the few brief highlights.

A couple of Tree Sparrows at the entrance to the reserve courtesy of the feeders at Boulderwall Farm. Burrowes pit was bearing the brunt of the wind and most birds were hunkered down on the islands with their heads tucked into their feathers, but a couple of Common Sandpipers carried on regardless around the margins.

A brief sunny spell spurred on a single Red Admiral who bravely battled southwards against the wind and two Darters, one of which is pictured above. When I took the picture I assumed Common Darter, but now i'm not so sure, could it be a Ruddy Darter?

With the sun still shining this Stonechat posed nicely, like they do. Another one was seen on the track back to the visitor centre. I stopped for a while in the Christmas Dell hide and saw.......a Coot. The area around the hide, often so good for Goldcrests and stuff was equally devoid of feathers with just a Cetti's Warbler making itself heard above the noisy wind. So it was onwards to Denge hide where dozens of Lapwings and Golden Plovers and hundreds of Starlings entertained me by frequently taking to the air in panic for no apparent reason except for maybe creating a superb spectacle against the still blue November sky. I tried to get a few pics but these birds aren't feather brained, we might call it a hide but they know we are in there and wisely keep their distance.

But the star of the show was this Spoonbill, what a fantastically bizarre bird it is, you'd see what I mean if the pictures were better but it was a long way off and this was the best I could do. At first it was on the left hand side of the lake as you look out of the hide, but it joined in with the geese during a panic attack of their own and came back down straight in front of the hide but still a good distance away.

The black wing tips and pale bill make it a juvenile bird I think but either way it was good to see
the 'spoon' in action, being swept side to side as it fed in the shallows.

The Hanson hide on the ARC site held no surprises, with Wigeon, Lapwing, Teal, three Little Egret, Gadwall, Little Grebe and Pintail being the main players. All in all not a bad visit with a total of 45 species in about three and a half hours.

NEW HYTHE LAKES MON 31ST OCT 2011

2011-10-31T16:31:00.007Z

There were two Redshanks, one Little Egret, a couple of Grey Herons, a Common Gull among the usual BH Gulls and a Snipe on the river, as seen from the bucket in the wood this morning. The walk around the sunken marsh produced nothing very special but there were some Fieldfares resting on the wires over the river and a handful of Redwings 'crashed' out of the hawthorns as I walked past. A couple of Skylarks flew over quite high calling as they did so and once again I could hear a Water Rail just a few yards away from me, one day i'll see it even if I have to jump in the marsh after it. Cetti's Warblers and Bullfinches were also heard but not seen, unlike the flock of Long-tailed Tits who passed by quite happy with my presence but no so happy with the Sparrowhawk that passed overhead causing their chatter to change to alarm calls.

The east scrub was uneventful as was Abbey Mead lake where not a single bird was seen on it's surface. There has been a fisherman there with a boat for a few days now and I can only assume that this has spooked our feathered friends. I know we have to share this area now but I think this doesn't bode well for some of the shyer winter species like Goosander, Goldeneye and Smew which I think will not tolerate a boat in their midst, not to mention the Bitterns who should be with us any time now. There were at least eight Shovelers and a Pochard on Johnson's lake but not much else of note, so I made my way to Streamside just in case a Bittern made an appearance. It didn't of course but the three Cormorants and the Grey Heron above were nice to see on the small island nearby.

One of the Cormorants decided to leave in a bit of a hurry, I fired off a few shots but the shutter speed was much too slow in the dull light. But I quite liked the blurred wings and water so i've posted a couple of them anyway.

I returned via the railway crossing where I bumped into Alan Roman who told me he'd just seen the Gt White Egret on the river. He hadn't of course, he was just winding me up, which was a brave thing to do since there was a train coming!! A little further on I ran into Mike Easterbrook and his mate. Mike is the county butterfly recorder I think so it was quite fitting that I should spot a Speckled Wood flying by as we spoke. Quite a late record for this species I think, if it survives tonight of course it could become a November sighting.

I passed the mound on the way back to the small wood and bucket, pausing only to say hello to Dennis and Doreen Capeling who were on the mound having lunch, very civilised. On reaching the wood I saw this lovely little Wren, one of a few seen today, a quick snap and he was gone. Not much else to report from here but I did spot the Snipe pictured below, drifting upstream on the tide on a raft of reeds, clearly stranded and in need of help. As I took this long distance picture a Kingfisher streaked over it's head, if only I could have got that in the picture!

GREAT WHITE EGRET HUNT SUN 30TH OCT 2011

2011-10-30T17:39:00.003Z

I won't beat about the bush, I didn't find it, the Gt White Egret that is. It's most likely moved on, my dip will soon become somebody else's tick when it pitches up somewhere new.

Anyway I still saw some quite nice bits and pieces this morning, including several small flocks of Fieldfares which were seen and heard over and in the sunken marsh as well as a few very shy Redwings in the SW corner.

Having given up on the Great White I decided to have a river watch from the small wood, thankfully the black bucket was still there and provided me with a (nearly) comfortable seat for the next hour or so. During this time some of the birds I saw included, six Skylarks which flew overhead in ones and twos. Two Little Egrets who fished on the river in the company of the ever present Grey Herons. A Sparrowhawk hunting briefly and unsuccessfully over towards the north downs. A single Redshank, the first i've seen for a while probing the mud and successfully extricating long worms which it ate with apparent relish. A flock of Long-tailed Tits cheerfully working their way along the trees behind me, where a couple of Bullfinches also called and a small group of nine Lapwings, who floated in and inspected the area in front of me before landing briefly and then heading off downstream again. It was too grey and dark for photos, how many times will I say that over the next five months or so. But since there are currently loads of Mallards on the river, here's one I took earlier, as they say.

CATCH UP, SATURDAY 29TH OCTOBER 2011

2011-10-29T16:54:00.002+01:00

It's been a bit of a struggle to get out of late. Partly because of lack of time but also down to a lack of enthusiasm at times to be honest.
But a trip to Dungeness on thursday with a long lost uncle was a nice day out, although for once Dungie kept it's best birds under wraps. It was cool, grey, damp and quite windy on the reserve, no surprise there then. But there had been a string of good sightings of late so we had high hopes, and a pair of Stonechats on the track was at least a good start. From the Firth hide we saw a couple of Grey Plovers, a Common Sandpiper, three Snipes, Tufties, plenty of Shovelers and Teal, a couple of Little Egrets and a single Meadow Pipit. I think the next hide was Makepeace, but either way the birds were pretty similar, although a sprinkling of Pintails, Grey Herons, a few Gadwall and a couple of fairly distant Marsh Harriers kept up the interest.
Away from the hides the sky was pretty empty, apart from the now thicker clouds and a bit of drizzle. Birds seen included lots of Green Woodpeckers, or the same ones constantly flying in front of us, Great Spotted Woodpeckers, a handful of calling Cetti's Warblers and a single Kestrel, but not much else of note really. Our woes were further added to when volunteer work on the islands at the ARC site meant that very few birds were in the vicinity. Only the Wigeon seemed reasonably happy to tolerate the human intrusion, but they were joined later by about fifty Mute Swans who all came in together in one serene and graceful flock for their afternoon wash and brush up.
So, no Ring Ousel, although I think the last bird I raised my binoculars to as we walked back to the ARC car park may have fitted the description. No Penduline Tit, I miss this bird every time. No Spoonbill, there had been one the day before I think. No Lesser Spotted Woodpecker, again recent sightings near the Willow Trail, the first ever for the site I believe. And disappointingly, no photos, it was just too dull. Lastly, no Great White Egret which would have been a first for my uncle, sorry John!

Talking of Great White Egrets, Carol and I were on our way down to Hythe for a walk along the seafront this morning when I received a text from Martin Warburton to say that there was a Great White Egret on the river adjacent to the sunken marsh at New Hythe. Fantastic, except that I had a previous appointment as I said.
I got back from Hythe at about 2.15pm and went straight down to the river and along to the creek opposite the northern end of Abbey Mead where it was last seen. I didn't really expect to find it, especially as the tide was high by then and that proved to be the case. I did find a Little Egret resting in a tree on the opposite bank but no Gt White unfortunately. Small consolation came in the shape of a single Wigeon, pictured above, trying to remain incognito among a flock of at least 61 Mallards and a Little Grebe. Their peace and quiet, as well as mine, was shattered though, when a moron in a motor boat came down the river at about 20-25 knots causing absolute mayhem. I only wish that plank had hit one of the planks i'd seen floating upriver on the tide earlier, that would have slowed him down!
I'm hoping to get out first thing in the morning to continue the Great White hunt, I'll keep you posted!

NEW HYTHE LAKES FRIDAY 21ST OCT 2011

2011-10-21T15:34:00.006+01:00

Apart from a couple of short 'stolen' hours, I haven't been able to get out for the best part of three weeks. But today, at last, I was able to change all that, and with the sun still shining I left Brooklands car park with great expectations, to see what Autumn had brought to New Hythe during my absence.
I took my usual route along the northern edge of Brooklands lake, where numbers of Tufted Duck seemed to have gone up considerably and then along the raised embankment alongside the mill. Two Grey Wagtails flew over here, followed by a Great Spotted Woodpecker which seemed to have come from across the river. A quick pause at the outflow into the river failed to find me my long awaited Water Rail, just Moorhens who ran across the mud to the cover of the reedbeds in their usual state of panic. I did see a shoal of what I think were Mullet here though, that is until a Grey Heron flew low across them and sent them swirling and diving to deeper water.

October can sometimes produce the odd Bearded Tit passing through the sunken marsh, so I took my time and hoped for the giveaway pinging that usually announces their presence. It didn't happen, but I did hear and see several Skylarks flying over, and across the river, adjacent to Burham church a large flock of Fieldfares were put up from the bushes by a couple of horse riders. These, together with a small flock of Redwings that dropped into the marsh to feed on the berries were sure signs that things had indeed changed since late September. But even now, some of Summer's creatures like the Hover Fly above, possibly Syrphus ribesii, and a single Red Admiral are hanging on, courtesy of the still warm, mid morning sun.

By the time I reached the end of the marsh I had seen or heard an impressive 36 species of birds, these included; Cetti's Warblers, good numbers of Chaffinches, Lapwings, Jays, Pheasants, Song Thrush, lots of Blackbirds, Teal, Wrens, Greenfinches, and a male Kestrel who flew silently from the telegraph pole, as did a not so silent Green Woodpecker, a fantastically exotic mix of red, green and yellow when seen from above in the low morning sunlight.

From the top of the mound I watched an impressive flock of up to a hundred or so Greylag Geese as they circled in the distance above the east scrub before landing on Johnson's Lake. The other notable sighting here was a flock of Siskins who flew overhead before alighting in a Silver Birch tree behind me. Hopefully a sign of another good Siskin winter.

Surprisingly, Abbey Mead lake was still very quiet, with just a couple of Great Crested Grebes and a couple of Swans to disturb the flat calm surface. But I did see a Goldcrest among a group of Long Tailed Tits in the adjacent bushes. Talking of Swans, I heard today that a Whooper Swan had been found dead at New Hythe recently, possibly the one I had seen a few times on the river during the back end of summer. Sad news either way.

Pictured above is a Water Vole which I spotted in the ditch on the south side of the west scrub. I guess he'll be stocking up his underground larder to help see him through the coming winter. I wish him luck, he'll probably need it. The east scrub was an avian desert as usual, only redeeming itself with a single fly over Fieldfare, a couple of Linnets and surprisingly a small flock of Lesser Redpolls, three of which landed on top of a hawthorn bush giving me a better view, but not a picture.
It's a bit early but I thought i'd check out the Bittern reedbed on Streamside and I was right, it was a bit early. But I did spot a couple of Gadwall and a Kingfisher, who zoomed across in front of me while I was holding the camera luckily, the resulting hurried snap is below.

With the time getting on I decided to head back to the mound. On the way I had to walk along one of my favourite stretches of path between Brookland and Abbey Mead lakes. This is the sunny area favoured by Crickets, Butterflies, Damselflies, Dragonflies and a host of other sun worshipping insects during high summer. But today the honours went to just two Migrant Hawkers, one pictured below and two Common Darters, one of which landed first on my hand and then on my jacket, ruling out any chance of a picture.

I had a very pleasant half an hour or so sitting on the mound watching the Avian world go by, which included a solitary Rook, quite uncommon here and the Common Buzzard pictured below, who was being given a very hard time of it by a flock of Crows. Just time for a last quick look at the river from the small wood where the now receding tide gave a roosting opportunity to Cormorants and a Great Black-backed Gull and a fishing opportunity to a Little Egret. These three species bought my total list to a whopping 52 species in three and a half hours.

It's good to be back!!

FRIDAY 14TH OCT 2011

2011-10-13T20:47:00.006+01:00

This is my Dad, Peter. I lost him on monday morning after a brief and unexpected illness. He was a lovely Dad and a very nice man. I'll miss him terribly.

SUNKEN MARSH & ABBEY MEAD THURS 29TH SEPT

2011-09-29T17:35:00.011+01:00

I think Indian Autumn might be a more appropriate name than Indian Summer. The picture above was taken alongside Brooklands lake this morning, one of hundreds of dew laden webs among the equally dew laden grass that left me in no doubt that it was autumn, despite the warmth. By the time I reached the sunken marsh my feet and legs were absolutely soaked and the low sun and light mist added to the autumnal feel and made it even harder to locate any of the dwindling species of birds still remaining. This was especially the case on the river, where the freshly exposed mud, revealed by the falling tide was too bright to scan properly, who knows what might have gone unnoticed.
In the sunken marsh I saw two Blackcaps, one male, one female, several Bullfinches and lots of calling Cetti's Warblers who were probably top vocalists of the morning. A Lesser Black-backed Gull floated lazily up river at eye level and a single Lapwing flew up from the mud opposite the pillbox. In an attempt to dry my wet legs I moved up to the mound which the sun was warming up nicely. Here I saw a flyover Grey Wagtail to go with the Pied Wagtail i'd seen earlier at the mill having a bit of a disagreement with a Blue Tit of all things. The only other notables were two Jackdaws which flew noisily overhead, probably the same two that I saw about two weeks ago, quite an uncommon sighting on the west side of the river.

Having dried out a bit I made my way over to Abbey Mead via the overgrown footpath from the mound and got soaked. The two Jackdaws again flew overhead, this time back towards the river. Abbey Mead looked fantastic, it's surface flat, calm and mirror like from corner to corner. The reason for this was that it was absolutely deserted, not a single, solitary bird on it, not even a Coot. There were by now though one or two dragonflies about, mainly Migrant Hawkers and one Brown Hawker. I spent the next hour or so chasing them up and down the bank trying to get some better on the wing shots, well there wasn't much else to do at the time.

Things did pick up a bit when eleven Tufted Ducks circled the lake before swooping in and landing in the middle. They didn't stay long, ten minutes or so and off they went back up into the blue. Their departure though distracted me enough from dragon chasing to spot a Little Grebe, the first for a while here and also a Kingfisher which zipped by on my side of the lake.

There were two more sightings of note before I left for home, the first was a flyover Skylark, the second this week, one flew over my garden yesterday, a very rare occurence and maybe a sign of some autumn movement. The second was the Buzzard pictured below, which flew from the direction of the river, straight over Abbey Mead and then circled above the Railway lake before spiralling slowly away.

I know this Indian summer/autumn has temporarily quietened things down even more, but never mind, the much awaited migrants will arrive soon enough and so will winter, in the meantime, soak it up. I'm just glad I went to Spain last week, i'd be spitting feathers if i'd gone this week!

GRAZALEMA, SPAIN PART 2

2011-09-27T18:25:00.022+01:00

As anybody who reads this blog will know, I like all wildlife not just the birds. So I was really happy to see and get a few pictures of some of the other gems on offer in this part of Andalucia. And what a gem this fantastic Swallowtail is, we only saw one and it was a breezy day and it steadfastly refused to stop flickering it's wings as it tried to nectar from a plant alongside the track.

The Swallowtail and the Large Tortoiseshell below were both new species for me but I only saw one of each, maybe a bit too late in the season, although I must say it didn't really feel like Autumn.

Spanish Gatekeeper, Clouded Yellow and Grayling were among the other species seen regularly as well as what I think are Wall butterflies in the next two pictures.

There were also a couple of Skipper species which were quite abundant and as you can see below, at least three of what appear to be Grizzled Skippers were among them.
***Many thanks to Marianne from The Wild Side blog for IDing the above as Sage Skippers***

Pictured below is probably the biggest and most handsome bee i've ever seen, Blue Winged Carpenter Bee I think is it's name. It looks quite fearsome because of it's size and colour but I understand that they are quite placid and generally quite a shy species. Again only two were seen, I would have liked to have seen more.

The fantastic creature below needs less introduction I think, it's a Hummingbird Hawkmoth of course and as usual was pretty difficult to get a half decent shot of. I've only seen one this year in the UK, at New Hythe lakes, so it was nice to get another opportunity to see this amazing moth.

Remember I said yesterday that Carol had a bit of an accident on the trail on our first day? Well below is the Preying Mantis that I found alongside her as I administered first aid. What with that and the Vultures circling overhead I clearly saved her from a very grisly end!

It was my birthday on Thursday, so we decided that we would bag a peak by way of celebration. El Simancon is the second highest peak in the area at around 4,600 ft., although Grazalema is some way above sea level so we only had to climb about two thirds of the total height I think. Luckily it was also our only overcast day, I don't think it would have been conquered in full sun. The rewards for our efforts included some very nice views of some of the local Ibex, pictured below. I think the first is a female and the second her youngster although i'm not 100% sure. It would have been nice to see a male but although we saw some more near the summit they were all females.

Our reward on the way down was an up close and personal meeting with a Spanish Viper species of snake which made me jump as it exited a clump of Thyme alongside my feet, it was under a rock before I regained my composure, too late for a picture.
Apart from one other snake spotted by Carol on our last walk, the reptiles were mostly represented by these abundant and colourful Lizards below. I think they are known as Wall Lizards but again i'm not sure.

Lastly, one more bird picture of a Rock Bunting that I forgot to post yesterday and below that a view of the village of Grazalema. We will definitely return to this beautiful area, most likely in the Spring when the birds, wildlife and wild flowers are apparently even more fantastic.

GRAZALEMA, SPAIN

2011-09-26T18:10:00.016+01:00

Carol and I got back on Sunday afternoon after a fantastic week walking in the Sierra de Grazalema natural park in Spain. It's a beautiful area where wildlife is abundant, sometimes familiar and sometimes very unfamiliar. For me the Griffon Vultures pictured above and below were the stars of the show, their huge size and mastery of the air, as well as their sheer numbers, we saw up to sixty birds in the air at one time, were a great sight. We were pleased to have their company every day while walking in the surrounding valleys and mountains, maybe they thought we were potential carrion, especially when Carol tripped on a rock on the trail on the first day. Their luck wasn't in though when after a bit of first aid she bravely picked herself up and limped on, nothing to do with the Praying Mantis that we saw lurking alongside her in the undergrowth of course.

Other birds of prey seen included Booted Eagles, Short-toed Eagles, Lesser Kestrel, Kestrel, Peregrine, Common Buzzard and Sparrowhawk. Bonelli's Eagle will have to wait for the return trip.

The three pics below are all of a Lark, the question is, Thekla or Crested, or maybe something else? We hired a wildlife guide for one day who pointed out a Thekla but the one pictured was seen by us later in the week. I'm going to put fifty pence on this one being the same but i'll place it each way rather than on the beak, just in case.

Other birds seen during our stay included Southern Grey Shrike, Crested Tit, Crag Martin, Dartford Warbler,Subalpine Warbler, Spectacled Warbler, Firecrest, Short-toed Treecreeper, Spotless Starling, Serin and many more.

Other birds were more familiar like the Stonechat below and an abundance of Redstarts and Black Redstarts

A bird that I was very pleased to see was the Chough, pictured below, I've never seen one in the UK but I think they are great birds and very entertaining as they foraged around the crags and rocks in large garrulous flocks.

Rock Sparrow, Blue Rock Thrush, Mistle Thrush, Yellow and Grey Wagtail, Corn Bunting, Cirl Bunting, Linnet and Goldfinch all turned up during the week as well as plenty of Spotted and Pied Flycatchers, a female is pictured below.

Below is one of three species of Wheatears seen, it's a Black Wheatear, the picture really doesn't do justice to this bird, we saw four of them as well as the Black-eared and Northern species.

Tomorrow i'll try and post a few pictures of some of the other creatures seen on our walks.

DORMOUSE & REPTILE SURVEY FRI 16TH SEPT 2011

2011-09-17T16:30:00.009+01:00

Yesterday, Terry Laws and I once again had the pleasure of helping Greenie (Greenie in the Wild) with the Dormouse and reptile survey on the Greensand ridge. As you can see from the first three pictures we did find some healthy looking youngsters, all of which were born since our last survey just one month ago. The boxes that contained families last month were now empty, hopefully indicating their successful 'fledging'.

The two areas surveyed produced twenty two Dormice, four adults and eighteen youngsters. The first family, recorded from the very first box, contained six babies that were hardly a week old, they will have to put on a fair bit of weight very quickly to see them survive the oncoming winter. The second family had five young who were well on the way to maturity, like the ridiculously cute family of seven bundles of energy pictured above. They and their Mum were the last family found and consisted of six males and one female.

The reptile survey produced just one Adder, a superb female who was spotted basking in a tangle of undergrowth, she stayed just long enough for us to watch her for a minute or so before sliding silently away from our prying eyes. The Slow Worm count ended with nineteen individuals seen, along with five mostly immature Common Lizards and five Grass Snakes, one of which graciously allowed me a quick picture, below. Mammals were represented by two Common Shrews and a Wood Mouse, all three proved to be faster moving than us!

The grassy meadow in the second half of the survey provided us with quite a few Small Copper butterflies, all looking pristine in the afternoon sunshine. But two of them were found to have different colourings. The one below having a much lighter area on it's forewing and the one below that was minus the copper coloured band across the rear of the hind wings. I don't know how unusual this is but the odds of finding two differing aberrations out of a maximum of ten butterflies must be quite high I should think.

All in all a great day in the good company of Greenie and Terry and more importantly a seemingly good result with the Dormice population. I'm looking forward to joining Greenie for the October survey when hopefully, we can report the successful fledging of the three families found today.

NEW HYTHE TUESDAY 13TH SEPT 2011

2011-09-13T17:10:00.021+01:00

The tide was very low when I reached the river, the lowest i've seen it for a while. I didn't walk down to the small wood where the bucket seat is though because the six foot tall reeds and nettles completely covered the path, knocked over by the recent rain and still soaking wet. In other words I wimped out. Instead I stood at the head of the small creek where the EA have kindly erected a short piece of rail and post fencing, which is ideal for resting elbows on while scanning the river. I don't know why they put it there but my guess is it's our old friends health and safety, aka covering one's a**e. So now if i'm stupid enough to carry on walking straight into the river it won't be the EA's fault, unless I do it ten yards further up when presumably it WILL be their fault.

Anyway, I digress, the only birds of note seen here were Little Egret and Kingfisher, both of which looked splendid in the morning sunlight. I saw a single Whitethroat and a single Blackcap as I made my way around the sunken marsh, both these species are becoming more and more scarce now as we reach mid September. Cetti's Warblers were still in good voice though as were the Bullfinches, their presence betrayed as usual by their soft contact calls. A single Pied Wagtail flew over the marsh, where the telegraph pole provided an ideal perch for a watchful Kestrel and there was a small stream of Sand Martins passing through as well. On the stretch of river opposite the pylon I saw four Lapwings, the inevitable Grey Herons, and a couple of Teal, not much of a haul considering how good it looked.

I made my way towards the railway via the raptor viewpoint and down through the sheltered area of thick undergrowth between Brookland and Abbey Mead lakes. I always take my time walking this stretch, especially on a sunny morning like today when it's a great place to find insects of all shapes and varieties. Today seemed to be a good day for these wasp mimics above, I think they are Myathropa Florae but I wouldn't bet my pension on it.
It's just as well I didn't bet my pension because Rob, from 'The Living Isle' blog has pointed out that it's the very similar looking Drone Fly Eristalis tenax. Thanks Rob, there are clearly no flies on you!!

Shield bugs too were out in force making the most of the early Autumn warmth, the ones pictured above with their sharp spined pronotum bear a passing resemblance to Picromerus Bidens but again, i'm keeping my pension safe. I photographed two other different species of these bugs today as well but haven't been able to get close to IDing yet, i'll save them for a rainy day perhaps.
Now comes a short warning. For those of you fed up with my seemingly endless array of dragonfly pictures look away now, because here come some more, taken today at Abbey Mead lake. They are both of Migrant Hawkers, which were particularly plentiful at New Hythe today. A couple of Brown Hawkers and lots of Common Darters were also seen.

I managed to tear myself away from the delights of Abbey Mead and made my way across the east scrub. The only entertainment offered here was a flyover Grey Wagtail, a Green Woodpecker and a small charm of Goldfinches, their welcome presence down to the abundance of Teasels. No sign of Water Voles in the stream adjacent to Johnsons lake, just a solitary Moorhen, but the covering undergrowth is beginning to die back a bit now so i'm hopeful that a long overdue sighting is relatively imminent.
I called in at the Bittern watching area on the edge of Streamside lake, no I didn't see a Bittern but I guess it won't be long before they return for the winter. What I did see was this first winter (?) Black-headed Gull who, unaware of my presence was pre-occupied with chasing some sort of flies on the surface of the lake. I don't know what they were but if you left click the first photo I think you can just see one before it gets caught and devoured.

This was very entertaining but it was time to move on, mainly because I wanted to have half an hour on the raptor viewpoint, in the sun, watching for passing raptors. A very pleasant half an hour it was too, although the hoped for Osprey or Buzzard didn't show up, just a Sparrowhawk who passed overhead and spiralled up over Brooklands lake. Just after this though I saw five birds approaching from the north and as they passed I saw that they looked like Wagtails, but they didn't sound like Pied or Grey, could they have been Yellow Wagtails? I like to think so, but i'll never know so I won't be claiming a New Hythe tick so my year list for here stays at 103 and the September list languishes still at 59, the same as the final August list.

RSPB DUNGENESS FRI 9TH SEPT 2011

2011-09-09T18:28:00.015+01:00

I noticed that the Cattle Egret had been seen again at Dungeness this week so I thought i'd have a look for it. It's usual haunt is in the fields to the back of Boulderwall farm, but a quick scan as I entered the reserve failed to turn it up. But it did turn up a Wheatear, a Green Woodpecker and a flock of about 70 or 80 Linnets, a nice start to the day.
As usual the first three hides produced an assortment of Gulls, a Little Grebe, Shoveler, Pochard, Gadwall and Little Egret. There were also Lapwings, Oystercatchers, a couple of Dunlins, Sand Martins by the bucket load and a surprise Greenshank who dropped in for a brief visit.
While walking to Christmas Dell hide I saw two Grass Snakes but both saw me too quickly and were gone before I could get a picture. The area around the hide was pretty much deserted and apart from calling Cetti's Warblers and a passing Kestrel there was nothing to keep me here.

I turned left at Dengemarsh hide and I was glad I did as I spotted the Gt White Egret in the reed bed that backs on to the Dengemarsh road, it was a bit distant as you can see by the shot above.

But as I watched, a couple of birdwatchers with scopes walked across the field between the reeds and the road and promptly flushed it into the air, closely followed by a Little Egret which nicely shows the size comparison between the two species in the picture above.

It's a pity it flew across in front of the power lines but never mind, it's better than nothing.

As I turned to go back to Dengemarsh hide I spotted a small butterfly resting in the undergrowth, it turned out to be a Small Heath, a species I've hardly seen this year, I found one more later on the return trail.

I was surprised to find the Denge hide empty, so I made myself comfortable and waited for something to happen. I didn't have to wait long. I was watching a Marsh Harrier patrolling the reed beds when suddenly it swung out across the lake and put the fear of God into a large flock of Coots, below. Pandemonium broke out!

Left click the picture to get a slightly better look at the Harrier who dropped into the flock, talons outstretched and caused utter mayhem. I'm not sure what it's tactics were, maybe to give one of the petrified Coots a heart attack or just to grab any unfortunate one that ventured too close. This happened a couple of times before the Harrier gave up and the Coots dispersed, all in a day's aggravation for them I suppose.

Although the sun hardly shone at all, it was very mild, and the weather suited the Lizards who were basking in numbers all around the site. The pictures above and below highlight the diversity of their colouring, which is one of the things I like about them really, that and the fact that they always look as if they're smiling.

Stonechats, Whinchat, Willow Warbler and Reed Bunting were all seen on the way back to the visitor centre but I failed to find the Spotted Flycatcher or Redstart, both of which had been reported earlier.

I had lunch near the bushes by the car park and managed to see the Migrant Hawker pictured above and what I think is an immature male pictured below. Better still I saw my first Clouded Yellow butterfly of the year flutter by as well.

After lunch I headed for the Hanson hide on the ARC site, stopping on the way to get some nice but fairly distant views of the Cattle Egret, my first in the UK, which had taken up it's usual residency at Boulderwall.

The Hanson hide was very busy, as expected as there's been some good birds here recently, and there was today as it turned out. Goosander, Dunlin, Curlew Sandpiper, a superb female Ruff, Godwits, Reed Warbler, Swallows, Golden Plover, Black Tern and two fantastic Arctic Terns, a new Kent tick for me, who 'floated' in so delicately and landed on one of the islands for a wash and brush up.
I just had time for a quick scoot round the boardwalk before heading for home and in a small sunlit clearing I found a couple of Common Darters, one of which is pictured below, I just can't resist a dragonfly.

And lastly, I found these caterpillars below, munching their way through some sort of Willow leaves I think. I'm not 100% sure but they might be the caterpillars of the Buff Tip moth.............. or they might not!

GARDEN BUZZARDS AND NEW HYTHE

2011-09-05T17:11:00.006+01:00

Last friday morning I was out in the back garden and I suddenly realised I could hear a raptor in the distance. A quick scan with the binoculars revealed not one, but three Buzzards, they were circling very close to each other and a cople of times two of them almost locked talons as they called loudly and drifted together slowly to the NE. It was great to see three together from the garden but it would have been better if they had been the group of three Honey Buzzards reported flying NW over Dungeness on the same morning. Or indeed the Osprey and two Buzzards seen together by Warren over his Pittswood patch in the afternoon. Never mind, i'll settle for the Buzzards.........for now!
Today I had a couple of hours at New Hythe. I was lucky enough to bump into Eddie Denson in the car park so we had a bit of a stroll together before he left for home. We walked round to the pylon in the SE corner of the sunken marsh picking up a small flock of Sand and House Martins flying over Abbey Mead lake on the way. There were singing Chiffchaffs, Blackcaps, Greenfinch, Chaffinch and Blue and Great Tits in the SW corner, always a good spot for small birds this time of year there's plenty of cover and plenty of food, the elderberries here being of particular interest now.
Although on the ebb, the tide was quite high and consequently the river was disappointing with just a distant Teal to add to the usual Herons and Mallards. Despite the freshening wind the temperature was climbing, so we thought we might get lucky with a raptor or two, which we did with a couple of Buzzards spiralling up over the Downs and a Hobby which although high did treat me to a stunning dive down towards the river before being lost from sight.

Eddie had to go so I made my way along to Abbey Mead lake via the railway track. And for some strange reason this was the route chosen by the Swan pictured above. I don't know how it found itself on such a narrow path but it certainly wasn't too happy about it. It almost ran in front of me, sometimes with outstretched wings which brushed both sides of the track and left a trail of white feathers behind it. I hung back to let it find a way out and eventually it did, squeezing through a small gap on the lake side of the path. The strange thing is that I too use a small cut through to the lake, very close to the one the Swan used and I got there only a minute or so later. But there was no sign of the Swan, I walked quickly along the length of the lake and checked the complete surface of the water but it was nowhere to be found. Maybe it got onto the lake and took off straight away but it must have been amazingly quick if it did because I was there almost straight away, very odd.

The western edge of Abbey Mead lake is a real sun trap and after giving up on the Swan I settled down for a while to watch and enjoy any wildlife that might happen to pass by. This included a party of I think four, handsome but raucous Jays who have abandoned their invisibility of late to begin to cache some of the abundant crop of Jaycorns on the nearby Oaks. Also spotted was a party of Long-tailed Tits who were loosely accompanied by Blue Tits, Great Tits, Chiffchaffs and a single Lesser Whitethroat, a Little Egret also flew over looking pristine against the blue sky, with the sun shining almost through it's pure white wings.
A Red Admiral settled briefly, the only one seen today, but Meadow Browns, Speckled Woods, a couple of ragged Commas and lots of mostly Small Whites were also on the wing. Only three species of dragonfly were seen, the very common Common Darter, good numbers of Migrant Hawkers and a couple of Brown Hawkers. Perhaps the only other species that could be seen at New Hythe now is the Ruddy Darter but I didn't find it today.

I always think of Craneflies, or Daddy Longlegs as being an Autumn species and I suppose they are really. But the ones pictured above which I think are Tipula paludosa are fairly common from May onwards, but are much more abundant now. I've had some good fishing days in the past when these are being blown onto the surface of Bewl Water. The trout love them, unlike gardeners, who detest their larval stage known as leatherjackets, which damage lawns and crops.

I made a brief visit to the east scrub but apart from a Green Woodpecker, a couple of Goldfinches and a flyover Grey Wagtail it was as usual deserted. A Wheatear or Whinchat would make a very nice change, maybe one day. My last sighting was a young Pied Wagtail perched on a railing inside the paper mill, it has it's uses I suppose. This chap bought my NH September species total to 59 which was the total for the whole of August. I said I had high hopes for this month, lets hope i'm right.

NEW HYTHE LAKES THURS 1ST SEPT 2011

2011-09-01T18:39:00.020+01:00

Well that's August gone, a bit of a damp squib if you ask me. Lets hope September continues as it has started, i'm not holding my breath though because i've just seen the forecast for the weekend and it ain't pretty, not here at least.
Anyway, today I started the month down the lakes hoping to get the September list off to a good start and this is how it went.
I scooted around Brooklands lake without stopping because the noise and stench from the mill was shrouding the lake like a poisonous blanket. There's nothing new in that but sometimes it just seems worse than ever. So my first stop was the south east corner of the sunken marsh, the corner with the pylon and the view of the river. And it was a good view because there were five Lapwings along the freshly exposed mudbank, along with the ever dependable Herons, a few Mallards, assorted Gulls and a Common Sandpiper that flickered from the far bank to the near bank, almost under my radar, a little way upstream. I haven't seen a Kestrel here for some time so I was pleased to see one today, hunting in earnest over the sunken marsh. The second raptor of the morning also turned up soon after, a Sparrowhawk which glided lazily over the river, prompting panic and urgent alarm calls from the Lapwings.

I moved on to the mound aka the raptor viewpoint and on the way I heard Cetti's Warblers and Water Rail calling from their hiding places in the marsh, birds of a feather with their skulking habits. From the slightly raised vantage point of the mound I added a Stock Dove and also watched a flock of 18 more Lapwings as they flapped lazily downstream in loose formation.
By now the sun was properly up and insects of the wing and the undergrowth came out to make the most of it, like the Roesel's Bush Cricket above and the two Dock leaf bugs below.

They were also joined by a Common Blue damselfly..........................

..........and also by a Long Winged Conehead Cricket, below.

Getting back to the birds, I must have heard half a dozen Chiffchaffs singing their ' chiff-chaff ' song. Young birds practicing or adult birds reminiscing? Either way it was an odd contrast to the inescapable Autumn feel to the day. Green Woodpeckers were also in good voice and Goldfinches, Blackcaps and Greenfinches also added to the mix.

I kept disturbing resting dragonflies from their morning perches in the undergrowth, the dry rustle of their wings as they took off was usually the first I knew of their presence, too late to get a picture. But eventually I spotted a Brown Hawker before it spotted me and I managed to get a picture, for me it's not the most appealing dragon but it's a super creature nonetheless.

The sunny, warm edge of Abbey Mead lake is usually a good place to find dragons and damsels but as I arrived the sun disappeared behind the clouds and the picture altered immediately. I only managed to locate a perched Common Darter, below. However a couple of Jays and a fly through Hobby which almost skimmed the surface of the lake, like myself hunting for dragons, was ample consolation.

Apart from a small flock of Long-tailed Tits, some Starlings and at last, a Song Thrush, the east scrub was virtually a no fly zone. A brief spell lifting refugia also disappointed with just a single Slow Worm and very brief views of a couple of Common Lizards for my efforts.
But in the west scrub, in a small, undisturbed clearing I spotted this superb Grass Snake, it was the bigger side of eighteen inches in length and luckily it hadn't spotted me.

I slowly knelt down onto my knees as it crossed my path from right to left, and then turned and came straight towards me, eventually stopping about three feet away from me. I stayed still while he flicked his tongue and presumably sensed my presence before turning and slipping away unhurriedly into the longer undergrowth.

It was a fantastic encounter of the close kind and i'm pleased I got a couple of reasonable pictures before it became too close to focus on. I did wonder what I would have done if it had carried on another few feet, I think I would have drawn the line at having it slither up my trouser leg!
Having dusted myself off and regained my composure I popped into Streamside lake to see if the Kingfisher was around and within a couple of minutes was treated to a traditional, low level flypast. The perfect antidote to the previous few minutes excitement.

The last creature to fall under my overworked lens today were these two Migrant Hawkers. Both of them were found perched at low level soaking up the late morning sun and seemed in no hurry to fly from my careful approach.

I finally found myself standing opposite the small wood that leads down to the river. Should I again brave the tall stinging nettles to get there and if I did would it be worth my while? Well I stung my legs and I stung my arms and I even stung my chin, and was it worth it? Two Mallards, one Swallow and the Whooper Swan, who was waddling in the mud on the far bank was all I got for my troubles. But as it happens the Swallow took my count for the day/month to 40 species so it was really and i'm sure my legs will stop stinging eventually..........

NEW HYTHE LAKES MON 29TH AUGUST 2011

2011-08-29T18:13:00.008+01:00

At last a day without rain, although a coolish NW breeze did give the morning an autumnal feel as I started my walk from the Brooklands car park.
I was pleased to see a low tide as I approached the now almost impenetrable path to the small wood, and by this time my meagre list consisted of just Carrion Crow, Wood Pigeon, Herring Gull, Coot, Great Tit and BH Gull. This didn't bode well for the rest of the morning but I hoped that the river would change things. But it didn't, despite it looking really good, my reward for battling through the towering nettles was Grey Heron (lots), Cormorant, Mallard, Moorhen and Lesser Black-backed Gull.
The sunken marsh area also looked great so I made my way along to Hoopoe corner, hearing a Cetti's Warbler calling half heartedly on the way, the first for a while, and stayed there for 15 minutes or so. I thought I might see a stop over Sedge Warbler here but again it didn't happen, I think this will be one of the species that stays off the New Hythe year list for 2011 for the first time since I started keeping one. Whitethroat, Greenfinch, Goldfinch, Robin, who seem to be singing more now, Jay and Little Egret were all seen though and a Water Rail was also heard, which is another species I haven't seen down here this year, but i'm confident that I will before the end of December.

At the far end of the sunken marsh where the pylon rears it's ugly head, there's a good viewing spot for the river. The tide had receded further by the time I got there and I was surprised to see a Swan snoozing on one leg right by the water's edge. I was even more surprised when something disturbed it (probably me) and I saw that it was a Whooper Swan, probably the feral one that's been around for some time, i've never seen it on the river before though. Also on the far bank I noticed a Kingfisher perched on the end of a piece of driftwood some way back from the river's edge and there were some small ducks in the distance which looked like Teal by their size. As I took all of this in I noticed a small flock of pigeons rise up from behind the tree line, I scanned around them for a possible raptor and was surprised to see that they were in fact Stock Doves, about fifteen of them in all, they circled over me and disappeared over the area of Burham reservoir.

Unsurprisingly there were very few butterflies and Dragonflies on the wing, Speckled Woods and Gatekeepers were the most plentiful butterflies but I did see a couple of Commas (above) and a single Red Admiral. Common Darter, Migrant Hawker and a single Brown Hawker, which perched too high in a tree at Abbey Meads lake for a decent photo represented the dragonflies. As I watched the almost undisturbed surface of the lake about half a dozen Sand Martins suddenly appeared, they spent a few minutes skimming the surface for insects before disappearing as quickly as they had arrived.

A Gt Crested Grebe with three quite young stripey chicks was fishing on Johnson's lake and on Streamside two more Kingfishers suddenly appeared. One of them flew past me not more than six feet away and landed on a branch about fifty feet away to my left, I crept as close as I dared to it and just about managed a fuzzy, through the leaves shot before it was off again, calling loudly as it flew close to the surface and in front of me once again.

I bumped into John Davies (Davis ?) alongside the east scrub, I hadn't seen him for some time so a chinwag was needed, during which I noticed a couple of Linnets on a nearby bush and further on as we walked a pair of Great Spotted Woodpeckers were seen flying over. These two species bought my list to 38 for the four hours I was out and as I left John to walk down the millstream to the car park a Sparrowhawk made it 39. I'm not sure what the Wood Pigeon on it's nest nearby(below) was more concerned about, me or the Saprrowhawk.

As for the New Hythe month list, well it's moved on a bit now, helped by Jackdaw and Mistle Thrush from the garden this afternoon and now stands at an only slightly more respectable 59. I have great hopes for September though................

RUTLAND AND NEW HYTHE WED AUG 24TH 2011

2011-08-24T18:51:00.006+01:00

We had an early start on sunday morning to get to the Rutland Bird Watching Show at the opening time of 09.00. I didn't take my camera, but I wish I had done, if only to get a picture of Johnnie Kingdom in his full camo gear and hat, very entertaining he was too. It was certainly a great day out and we even got to say hello to Simon King, or at least Carol did as he sauntered past us. The only disappointment was that I failed to buy a new pair of Swarovski bins, the reason being that the only people allowed to sell them were Swarovski themselves and they wanted the full retail price. No chance. My consolation purchase was a stunning print of a Painted Lady butterfly by Richard Lewington the natural history painter, maybe i'll start a collection.
We stayed overnight and spent monday morning walking the shores of Rutland Water. It's a fantastic place and we were really pleased to see a Red Kite drift over us early on, which was joined at one point by one of the local Buzzards. But best of all was an Osprey which although fairly distant, twice hovered above the shoreline, presumably in hunting mode, but alas didn't treat us to a fishing lesson. On the way home we stopped off at the south shore nature reserve where we watched from the hide as two juvenile Ospreys were eventually joined at the nest site by an adult, possibly the one seen earlier but we can't be sure. Either way, it was good to meet at least three Rutland Ospreys and who knows, maybe we'll meet again soon at New Hythe as they head south for the winter. Well you never know!

VOLUCELLA ZONARIA

And talking of New Hythe that's where I spent a pleasant couple of hours this afternoon. I feel as if i've neglected the place recently, which I have I suppose, but hopefully visiting times will be back to normal for the next few weeks at least. I'd had a text earlier from Terry to say that he'd finally located a Sedge Warbler at NH, a bird that's eluded us this year so far. So I caught up with him at the southern end of the sunken marsh where we watched and waited for it to reappear and get it's name on my NH year list, which of course it didn't do. I think I may have to have an early morning foray to get one of these passing through the patch, perish the thought. Time's running out though, in one week it'll be September, where does the time go?

The list of birds seen at the sunken marsh is short, very short. A Sparrowhawk was one, and another was an unidentified raptor, flying high and heading south, interesting but anonymous alas. The best of the rest being the odd Swallow and Stock Dove. We decided to cut our losses and move round to the small wood by the river and on the way I finally got a shot of a NH Migrant Hawker. I'd seen some buzzing around on recent visits but I do like to get a picture if possible of the different dragons and damsels seen here. I guess this is the last species to grace the air here this summer, or at least the last to appear. I think the Lesser Emperor is maybe the only one who 'got away' from a photographic view.

If it hadn't been for Terry I may well have trodden on the baby Rabbit above. It was sitting motionless on the edge of the path and really didn't want to move away, or maybe it couldn't. We left it undisturbed and hoped a Fox didn't find it.

We had to wade through five or six foot high nettles to get to the small wood by the river, it had better be worth it. We knew the tide was practically out so we were hoping for some goodies to boost the visit, which we got in the shape of three Common Sandpipers, two or three Buzzards, possibly more over the Downs, as well as one or two distant Hobbys and another Sparrowhawk which flew across the river. A Little Egret was fishing further downstream and a few more Swallows followed the river south, but hopes of a Bearded Tit in the reedbed opposite were unfounded. All the usual gulls were seen including GBB, LBB and Black headed and further entertainment came in the shape of a Cormorant which caught a large Flounder but just couldn't swallow it. He decided to head for the riverbank for another attempt but was promptly robbed by another Cormorant. A brief fight ensued, during which the Flounder escaped into the shallow water, where presumably it floundered about a bit before heading for the relative safety of the deep. Always nice to see the underdog win.

Back home I added Coal Tit, Goldcrest, Chiffchaff and a troupe of six Long-tailed Tits in the garden which helped boost the miserable August New Hythe list to a measly 53 species. This equals the featherweight July total of 53, surely I can find another couple before the end of the month.

DORMOUSE SURVEY TUESDAY 16TH AUGUST 2011

2011-08-18T14:52:00.011+01:00

On tuesday I was lucky enough to be invited by Greenie of 'Greenie in the Wild' to join him on the august Dormouse and Reptile survey up on the Greensand Ridge. Terry Laws also came with us and he drew the short pencil in the 'who's going to do the recording' stakes. My turn next time then.
There are two sites to be surveyed and as we set off in the Land Rover at about 09.30 I felt optimistic and I must admit a bit excited about the day ahead and what we might find.
The last time I went with Greenie on the survey was in June and I think we only found one Dormouse, but now is the nesting season, surely we would do better.
I needn't have worried, after a hesitant start one of the boxes produced our first of four families totalling thirteen youngsters and six adults.

They're sleeping of course when we come knocking rudely at their door and the female and three youngsters above look like they're determined to go back to sleep as they wait in the holding bag for weighing and sexing. All these tasks are performed exclusively by the man himself, he's licensed to handle these highly protected creatures, Terry and I are not, and can only assist with recording and bag holding etc.

They soon wake up though and the 'delight' of Dormice youngsters in the pictures above and below were certainly lively enough. A couple of the other families we found were not so well advanced as these, one set of triplets had their fur but their eyes were still not open, and another trio were tiny, pink and blind, probably only a couple of days old. The last were quads who exploded from the box like a ginger volcano as soon as Greenie lifted their lid.

The reptile survey also brought some pretty good results with four Adders, nine Grass snakes, nineteen Slow Worms and two very young Common Lizards.

The Grass Snake and the slightly scruffy and stumpy Slow Worm above were quite happy to be basking together under a piece of refugia. The Grass Snakes often shoot off at incredible speed when exposed to our gaze but this one stayed a while for pics, it must have learnt that habit from his mate the Slow Worm, who seem to be named quite aptly I think.

The Adder pictured above and below was also a bit lethargic, I think it's an immature male if i'm not mistaken. Judging by it's blue eyes it's getting ready to slough it's skin in the near future. Left click for a better view.

Apart from the Dormice, the top spot for me goes to the superb, large female Adder pictured below. She was basking, despite the lack of any sun, in a tangle of heather, gorse and hawthorn and was well spotted by Greenie as we made our way through bracken to a couple of pieces of refugia. Again, she was quite tolerant of our presence, i'm sure she must have been able to see us with those super amber eyes, or maybe she was too preoccupied with that fly in the bottom left of the shot. She slithered noiselessly away after we'd all taken a couple of pictures. Fantastic.

In keeping with most sites at the moment, the bird life was subdued, but it was good to be accompanied by the mewing of Buzzards, glimpsed occasionally through the leafy canopy. These birds were likely to be the parents and youngsters found nesting in these woods during our last visit in June. Close views of a pair of Treecreepers were also a highlight.

The chance to be able to tag along and take part in the surveys, albeit only in a small way, ranks as one of the best wildlife days of the year for me. Many thanks Greenie, and thanks also to Paul the warden who has made us very welcome both days.

RSPB ARNE 14TH & 15TH AUG 2011

2011-08-16T18:00:00.020+01:00

Carol and I have wanted to visit the RSPB reserve at Arne in Dorset for a long time. With reasonable weather being forecast we decided to go early on sunday morning. The plan was to stay overnight at Wareham and do a coastal walk in the area on monday. It was a good plan and these are some of the creatures we saw.
I have to say that I was a bit disappointed by the lack of birds at this stunning reserve, but i'm not really too surprised because that seems to be the case all around at the moment. Green Woodpecker, Willow Warbler, Common Tern and of course Buzzard were soon seen but the first half of our walk around the reserve was dominated by a visit to a small pond where something very different was found to be lurking.

The lovely creature above and below is a Raft Spider, Dolomedes fimbriatus, or Swamp Spider
as it's sometimes called. They are impressive beasts who sit on the water or partly on a piece of vegetation, often with their front legs resting on the surface in a hunting position. Their prey will be detected through their legs by the detection of small vibrations made on the water.

I really like the dimples on the water in the picture below where the surface tension is bent but not broken by the weight of the spider's legs. I believe these spiders are fairly common in the south in heathland ponds and streams but very isolated elsewhere in the country.

This great little pond was also home to a few Small Red damselflies, two of which are pictured below. Common Darter and Emperor dragonfly were also present.

While watching the Raft spiders I also found my first ever Wasp spider, above, so two firsts in half an hour. This is another stunning species that is again found mainly in the south of the country but I think is gradually spreading northwards.

The picture above shows the underside of the female and also I think probably the male of the species who is much smaller than the female. He's understandably careful when mating as the females often eat their suitors during the act. These spiders shed their skin before maturity and the males usually make their advances to the female after this process when her jaws are still soft. Smart move. Also in the picture you can see the characteristic zigzag web or stabilimentum on the main orb web which this species is known for.

Very close by I found this cluster of what appear to be a nursery web of baby Raft spiders, left click for a closer look. Directly beneath the nursery web was the spider below, who I think is probably their Mum.

We eventually tore ourselves away from the pond and continued our walk round the reserve. From the hide overlooking the tidal stretch of water we watched Curlews, Little Egrets, Oystercatchers and some distant Godwits. Unfortunately the Osprey that habitually stops here on it's journey south hadn't turned up yet, a bit early really.

Another first for me were the Grayling butterflies, above, who were in good numbers across the site. As you can see they are fantastically camouflaged. Maybe that's why they never open their wings at rest.

I noticed a very large insect fly by us and as I looked I thought I saw a piece of blue string or paper hanging from it. Luckily it came down not too far away and I was amazed to see that the blue thing was in fact a damselfly that the creature had just caught, how gruesome is that. The creature is in fact a Robber fly, probably Asilus crabroniformis, one of the largest flies we have. It's large proboscis is used to pierce their prey as in the picture and it's said that they can suck their meal dry in ten to thirty minutes, nice.

Arne is home to a large population of Sika Deer, pictured above and below. They're an introduced species which at first sight look not unlike Fallow Deer at this time of the year. The last birds to make the list included a nice female Redstart, a pair of Ravens who were being harassed in the distance by a bird of prey, possibly a Hobby, a flock of Siskins and surprisingly a good sized flock of up to fifteen Mistle Thrushes who were feeding on the berries of Mountain Ash trees.

On monday we did our coastal walk starting and finishing at Worth Matravers a beautiful village in the fantastic Dorset countryside.

As we walked along the high cliffs a Raven, above, suddenly appeared and cruised alongside us for a few brief moments. I raised my camera and fired off a couple of quick shots and while I did so a Peregrine, below, suddenly appeared not far behind it. Both birds were calling loudly but I don't know the reason why. I just wish i'd had time to try and sort the camera settings out beforehand. Never mind, what I got was better than nothing.

It's good being a bit of a novice with all this wildlife because it means I still manage to find quite a few 'firsts' quite easily. And this weekend proves the point as yet another one turned up in the shape of the Wall butterfly pictured below. In fact it wasn't just one Wall butterfly but probably a dozen or more during our walk.

This is a great walk, one of the best Carol and I have done in a long time. But it had it's strenuous moments as you can see from the picture below.

We had just walked down all these steps, and with trembling legs we had to climb up an identical staircase on the other side of the valley. A stone bench was welcome relief at the top where we sat and watched Cormorants, Great Black-backed Gulls, distant Buzzards, a pair of Stonechats and a Wheatear as we sat and recovered before returning to the car.

We still had n hour or so to spare before we needed to leave Dorset, so we decided to have a last quick look at the pond at Arne. All was pretty much the same as we'd left it the day before except for one damselfly, below, who posed nicely on a twig over the water. A male Emerald I think, one of my favourites.

NEW HYTHE FRIDAY 12TH AUGUST 2011

2011-08-13T16:06:00.005+01:00

Brooklands Lake was like a mirror this morning. The marginal trees and reedbeds, completely motionless, were almost perfectly reflected along the edges of the water. A few Coots diving for weed and a Great Crested Grebe fishing in the middle of the lake were the only small disturbances to the flat calm conditions.

What a welcome, probably short-lived change to the wind driven weather of late. It didn't seem to have made much difference to the birds though, but it certainly made me feel better. I felt even better when a look along the creek by the small wood turned up two Little Egrets, singles have been hard to come by down here this year. Also sharing the rapidly receding mud banks were four Lapwings, it would only be a matter of time before they were all pushed off by the incoming tide.

When I reached Hoopoe corner in the sunken marsh I had a call from Terry Laws to say he was on his way round. This was a good opportunity to rest in the warm humid conditions until he caught up with me. Grey Herons, Cormorants, Mallards and Greylags all flew up from the now rapidly rising river. And from the marsh I saw, but hardly heard, Whitethroats, Reed Warblers, one with a beak full of insects, Blue Tits, Great Tits, Greenfinches, Goldfinches and a Wren. As Terry arrived, a Sparrowhawk circled over the river, the first of three or four sightings to follow, possibly all the same bird but I think maybe at least two individuals. We stayed for some time and scanned the skies above the Medway Valley and the North Downs in the hope of finding some welcome raptors, maybe even an early Osprey passing through. Think big Terry said, but it didn't happen.

What did happen were Buzzards, quite a few sightings, about half a dozen if my poor old memory serves me correctly. At one time we had three in the air together, so that's the minimum different birds seen, the others could have been duplicates, who knows. A couple of Grey Wagtails flew over us and another small flock of ten Lapwings followed the river. While in the distance Sand Martins and Swallows were appearing, maybe using the valley to guide them south as they join in the return migration. Swifts also made an appearance later, their own migration surely well under way by now, with sightings becoming less and less likely.

SCORPION FLY

It was time to move on and as we emerged from the marsh, a scan along the far bank of the now tide flooded river revealed three Common Sandpipers all in about a 100 yard stretch, that's the most i've seen along the river in one go I think.The Elderberries are now out and they are a big attraction for the birds, a source of fuel for those planning a foreign trip and maybe a boost for those staying, before the impending Autumn. Either way, the berries and the surrounding bushes at the bottom of the mound were attracting a steady stream of birds including, Greenfinches, Chaffinches, Goldfinches, Blackcaps and I think the odd Chiffchaff. Long-tailed Tits, not seen very much lately, and Bullfinches were also seen in the area and as we were departing from the mound a Hobby was seen flying high overhead to the east.
Although very warm, there wasn't much sunshine and this meant not many butterflies, Speckled Woods and the 2011 star performers, the Gatekeepers, making most of the numbers. Dragonflies too were hard to find, a couple of Brown Hawkers, some Common and Ruddy Darters and an Emperor or two was about it. Scorpion flies, pictured above were quite numerous, as were hoverflies, maybe the calm conditions suited them all.
We ended up with 40 species which isn't too bad for August, but my NH list for the month is a meagre 47 species, something needs to happen because that is still six behind the poor result of 53 for July........help!

On wednesday Carol and I paid a visit to RSPB Pulborough Brooks, partly to buy a new pair of binoculars, which I ended up not getting, but that's another story. Anyway, the birding wasn't great either, enough said, but I did get two new non bird ticks in the shape of a Southern Hawker dragonfly and a Brown Hairstreak butterfly, neither of which are seen at New Hythe. Pictures below.

RSPB DUNGENESS TUESDAY 9TH AUGUST 2011

2011-08-09T19:12:00.024+01:00

Dungeness was doing what Dungeness does when I arrived at the car park this morning, blowing a stiff breeze. It was northerly too, so a bit on the cool side. I stopped in one of the first hides but saw nothing out of the ordinary except for a Common Sandpiper on one of the many exposed islands. I thought I was the first one along the track today and so might find a Grass Snake or two basking in the early sun. Sure enough, in the lee of the bushes and reedbeds I soon spotted one, trouble is it spotted me too and was gone before I could get a picture. I was a bit disappointed and then even more so when two people came round the corner and overtook me, no more Grass Snakes were seen.

With the sun still shining intermittently I made my way along towards Christmas Dell hide, disturbing a Green Woodpecker on the way who flew off low making one hell of a racket. I found a few dragonflies like the Common Darter above and the Ruddy Darter below, the only other species that were seen and identified were Emperors and a couple of Black-Tailed Skimmers

From the Christmas hide I saw and heard plenty of Common Terns who were fishing around the margins and probably making their way to and from the sea. Despite the lack of interest here I stayed for a while in the hope of seeing a Bittern but it didn't happen so time to move on.

Outside the hide I found this lovely Small Tortoiseshell who was busy feeding on the Vipers Bugloss. I think there colours go together very nicely so I spent a bit of time waiting for it to settle on a flower that was sheltered from the breeze so I could get a couple of reasonable pictures.

While I stood there I heard a rustling noise coming from inside a large, dense clump of tangled brambles and gorse. I thought it was a Rabbit, but as I turned and looked I noticed a pair of amber eyes looking at me that certainly didn't belong to Brer Rabbit. It was a Fox, a young one I think, I quickly fired off a shot and got the picture below before it was gone, back into the brambles. There's a bench just opposite, so I thought i'd sit quietly and see if he came out again. But after five minutes some more people came along and lingered in the area near the hide so I reluctantly headed off.

By now the early sun was disappearing behind more and more cloud and the walk to Denge Marsh hide was pretty uneventful save for some Linnets who posed temptingly on the gorse, but too distant for a shot. Also in the distance was the first of just two Marsh Harriers seen today and quite high above me a flock of maybe 150 Swifts were passing over to the south. They were too high to hear their voices but as they wheeled about above me I could imagine them screeching excitedly as they begin their epic journey away from our shores. I couldn't help but feel that I hadn't made the most of their presence here this year, maybe it's been because of the lack of sunny weather this summer. But anyway they're leaving now and in an odd small way, I envied them their adventure, albeit one that's not without considerable danger.

The grassy areas are absolutely teeming with grasshoppers, mostly you just see them flying a couple of yards away from approaching feet but the one above stayed put for a bit longer. I'm not sure if it's a Field or Meadow species, probably the latter, but either way I think they're a bit overlooked really.

The only blue butterfly species seen was this male Common Blue, above and below, who was grounded for a while by the lack of sun and the cool breeze, thus allowing me to get a couple of pics from different angles.

Little Egret, Grey Heron, Oystercatchers and Lapwings were all seen, as was a Sparrowhawk who optimistically tried it's hand at catching a Sand Martin from a passing flock. Needless to say it failed and the Hirundines never seemed to me to be in any great danger, they didn't seem to think so either.

Ten minutes on the ramp still failed to get me a Bittern sighting but I did hear some Bearded Tits pinging in the distance briefly and the young Sedge Warbler above and below was a welcome diversion too.

I know i've already mentioned Small Tortoiseshells but i've posted another shot of one that was seen further along the track because I like the angle of it. Well, like the Swifts they'll be gone all too soon won't they........

.......plus I had to virtually lie down in the undergrowth to get this pose, so I can't waste it can I.

Here's a scruffy LBJ. It had me a bit puzzled for a while, but I think it's a Dunnock. Or maybe not?

The whole site is absolutely swarming with hoverflies, and the most prolific ones at the moment seem to be these little chaps above, Scaeva Pyrastri. They are everywhere and if you want to see what they look like from the front, check out the picture below.

There were two Stonechats seen on the way back to the visitor centre. They wouldn't let me very close and the picture below is the best I could manage. I also had a brief view of the Great White Egret from the boards as it landed in a distant reedbed.

It wouldn't be the same if I didn't show a picture of our friend the Common Lizard, so here he is below, smiling for the camera.

I bumped into Terry Laws and Martin Warburton in the ARC car park, they had just been down to the beach for a bit of sea watching. They'd seen some good stuff so I decided on a quick visit to the hide before driving down to the beach and having a look.

From the Hanson hide I saw, amongst other things a single Whimbrel, a Ruff, a couple of Little Ringed Plovers, good numbers of Golden Plovers and a Pied Wagtail. Half an hour at the patch at Dungeness beach produced a couple of Black Terns, a Little Gull, some distant Gannets and a couple of juvenile Kittiwakes. I couldn't see any Balearic Shearwaters which the others had seen earlier but never mind 62 species in all was a good result.

GARDEN WOODPECKER AND NEW HYTHE

2011-08-03T18:51:00.010+01:00

Another good garden visitor after the flurry of excitement on sunday was this juvenile Green Woodpecker who turned up at 09.00 on tuesday morning. Luckily the vertical blinds were pulled in the dining room to keep the sun out, which meant I was able to approach the patio doors and poke my camera through the blinds and take a few pics through the glass without being seen.

It's been a difficult time for finding birds and I think my July list at New Hythe probably reflects that. I ended up with a not very impressive 53 species for the month, which is my worst result since I started keeping a monthly list in October 2010. It's probably fair to say that I am partly to blame, having turned my attention a bit more towards dragons, damsels and bugs lately. After two short visits to the lakes so far in August I'm on 37 species, still not good, but in the conditions these last few days i'm not too surprised. The message is that I must try harder, watch this space.
So today, despite the fearsome heat I visited New Hythe lakes,arriving at the car park at about 09.00 I think. Terry Laws was already on site, see, that's what I should be doing, making an effort. I caught up with him at the small wood by the river where the tide was out and so was the sun, already making it's presence felt, even at this time in the morning. The hope was for a few waders, it certainly looked good for some, but one, possibly two Common Sandpipers were all that we found. The other usual species were seen, including a possible pair of Grey Wagtails in the distance, I think Terry had already had one before I arrived. A move further upstream where the low tide had exposed some quite extensive mud and gravel bars turned up nothing but Grey Herons and Black-headed Gulls really. This was a sign of how difficult it was going to be and inevitably our thoughts turned to Odonata.

Probably one of the last of the dragonfly species to be seen at New Hythe is the Migrant Hawker, which should be emerging about now. So this, along with Ruddy Darter, which i'd seen here during the week but Terry hadn't, soon became our focus. We made our way to Abbey Mead and en route spotted what was probably a Migrant Hawker just after the raptor viewpoint, but it disappeared before we could positivly ID it. Abbey Mead only gave us Emperor, Black-tailed Skimmer and Common Darter, but as we left the SW corner another dragonfly circled briefly in front of us and was pretty much confirmed as a Migrant Hawker, not the best sighting but better than nothing.

Brown Hawkers have been on the wing for some time now and the one pictured above on the east scrub looks as if it's been around for a while judging by it's ragged wings. The east scrub was more like the Serengeti now, parched and dry in the oppressive heat. I could easily have imagined a pride of Lions in the distance instead of the usual pack of dogs regularly seen in the this part of the country park.
On monday i'd seen a Ruddy Darter from the divers' footbridge and today it, or another one was still there so that was a result, shame it wasn't close enough for a decent picture though, handsome beast that it is.
By now we'd seen a few more bird species, including some juvenile Reed Warblers, Common Whitethroat, Great Spotted Woodpecker, Greenfinch, Goldfinches, who should be well pleased with the amount of Teasels growing in the east scrub and a Kingfisher. No raptors on the list, but of course you need to be looking up to see them don't you.

We headed back to the car park via the Millstream, where we found quite a few of the elusive Small Red-eyed damselfly doing what they like to do, which is perching on algae and weed on the surface. Again not a great picture but at least this one is a bit less ambiguous than my last effort for this species.

GARDEN SURPRISES SUNDAY 31ST JULY 2011

2011-08-01T17:53:00.013+01:00

After having a late night and too many sherbets on staurday night, sunday morning was going to be an oasis of calm before a planned barbecue, with more sherbets, on the patio in the afternoon.
The first thing I saw from the kitchen window through bleary eyes was this Heron who was perched at the bottom of the garden. It looked great against the blue, early morning sky so it was straight out on to the patio to record it. As I edged closer I disturbed a Grey Wagtail which flew up from the grass where I hadn't noticed it, not a new garden tick but always so nice to see, albeit fleetingly on this occasion. Not a bad start to a slightly hungover sunday morning.

A bit later it got even better when this female Emperor (Empress?) dragonfly pictured above took a fancy to my pond and decided it would be a good place to deposit some of her eggs. I was really pleased to see this as it's a first for me in the garden. I was less pleased though when it eventually left the pond and was promptly grabbed by one of our House Sparrows, the cheeky little blighter. That's the second time i've seen a Sparrow catch a dragonfly at home, but at least this one managed to sow some seeds for the next generation.

I've been banging on recently about how I can never get a picture of a Brown Hawker, although I did eventually manage it at New Hythe last week. Then blow me down this one above, came into the garden soon after the sad demise of the Empress and settled on the vegetation on the side of the pond. I think it's a male and it stayed for about 15 minutes before being frightened off by a Wood Pigeon that called in for a drink and flew right over it.

Of course it was very warm by midday on sunday and this poor old Blackbird looked a bit uncomfortable sitting in the sun with his beak open. He sunbathed for just a few minutes......

.........before going for a quick dip in the birdbath and he looked a bit chirpier when he'd finished I thought.

My final and best surprise on sunday was the Treecreeper, above and below, who turned up and spent a few minutes in our old Laurel tree at the bottom of the garden. This is a mega first for me at home, the pictures aren't great but the bird is, and it's my 47th species to be seen within the garden, a further 29 species have been logged as seen from the garden. All this, plus a juvenile Coal Tit in one short day, without leaving home, how good is that!

RSPB DUNGENESS THURSDAY 28TH JULY 2011

2011-07-28T18:51:00.025+01:00

I've been wanting to get down to Dungeness for ages. All i've been waiting for is a nice calm sunny day. Today I gave up waiting and went down anyway. It was quite bright when I pulled up at the RSPB car park and I was hopeful that it might stay that way, which it did, for about five minutes.

I made my way past the Firth and Makepeace hides, calling in briefly to see the usual species here, the only surprise really being a couple of Ringed Plovers and a Common Sandpiper on the now exposed islands and margins. In the reedbeds that line the water's edge before Scott hide I saw ReedWarblers, who kept themselves mostly away from prying eyes, and distant Reed Buntings like the one above.

I briefly saw a dragonfly here too, and to my eye and probably my imagination, it looked a bit like a Lesser Emperor, there have been a few sightings here recently. I stayed for about fifteen minutes in the hope that it would return but the cool breeze and lack of sun probably grounded it, and anyway, it was most likely a case of mistaken identity. My consolation during this time was the arrival on the far bank of the famous and seemingly summer resident Great White Egret.

The scrub opposite Christmas Dell hide quite often holds a few goodies and today didn't disappoint. I stood for some time watching a family of Sedge Warblers here and managed to squeeze a shot of one of the juveniles who was sitting and waiting for another beak full of flies from it's busy parent. A couple of young Willow Warblers whose yellow-green plumage seemed to look even brighter in the diffuse light were also earnestly fly catching, I wondered if they were stocking up for a long trip in the not too distant future. From the Christmas hide I got another look at the GW Egret who considerately stood alongside a Little Egret on the far bank, giving a helpful lesson in size comparison. Apart from some lethargic Pochards and a small flock of flyover Shelducks, there was nothing more to hold me. So I moved on and spent some time looking at the many Common Lizards who despite the lack of sun, were still keen to bask on the relative warmth of the dry grass and sheltered ant hills. They were literally everywhere, all shapes, colours and sizes. The one pictured below looked particularly gravid and seemed very reluctant to move away and the one below that was a superb green colour which the picture doesn't really do justice to.

Outside Denge Marsh hide another Sedge Warbler below, popped up from the tangled undergrowth and some Linnets called as they lifted up from the top of the nearby Gorse patch. Across the path to the east of the hide I noticed something a bit different, it took me a while to figure out that it was a young Stonechat, confirmation coming with the arrival soon after of the male adult bird.

If you like Coots you'd have loved the view from the Denge hide, hundreds of them, Coot city. Other inhabitants you might also like were Common Terns with some very cute chicks on the floating rafts, and a couple of Marsh Harriers, who also like Tern chicks I suspect.

Like the dragonflies, the butterflies were also in short supply, apart from the Gatekeepers and Meadow Browns, who seem to be perfectly happy flying in cool, grey conditions and once again Red Admirals seemed to be reasonably plentiful. The stars though were the three Peacocks who were feeding on a particular plant just off the boardwalk as I returned to the visitor centre. Compared to some butterflies Peacock's underwings are dark and sombre as you can see in the picture below, probably to help them go unnoticed by predators when hibernating.......

......but what a difference when seen from above, absolutely stunning as you can see below, and this was taken in poor light.

In the same area I found just one Small Tortoiseshell, below. Another beauty, but to my eye, not in the same class as the Peacock. Although i'm sure some will disagree.

After a quick bite to eat I went over to the ARC side where juvenile and adult Little Ringed Plover, both below, ran around like clockwork toys on the grassy edge of the lake opposite the viewing screen, arguing occasionally and chasing each other off for no apparent reason other than the sheer hell of it. Also seen here was a Green Sandpiper, while from the hide a single Dunlin, hundreds of Lapwings, Cormorants, Pochards, Common Terns, Gulls, Common Sandpiper, noisy Oystercatchers, the odd Teal, Little Egrets, a possible Golden Plover and a Brown Hawker all contributed, with others, to a superb grand finale.

In all I saw at least 50 species today. I was going to list them all on this post but i've changed my mind. For one thing it's 10.40pm and i'm too tired and for another thing you've probably had enough too.

But before I go there's just time to say that I had a quick visit to Dene Park wood near Tonbridge on wednesday afternoon. I saw a few butterflies and a few Emperor dragonflies, but best and most surprising of all I found two female and one male Beautiful Demoiselles, the female is pictured below, the male just wouldn't come down from his high perch. I don't know the area but I couldn't see any evidence of running, or even still water nearby, so I don't really know why they were there in the middle of the woods. But i'm pleased they were, what a nice surprise.

NEW HYTHE SUN 24TH JULY 2011

2011-07-25T17:35:00.013+01:00

After being locked in at the Brooklands car park recently and subsequently receiving an altogether unsatisfactory reply from Snodland Town Council to my letter of complaint, I wasn't too surprised when I arrived there on sunday morning and found myself locked out. How difficult can it be to open and shut a car park on time?

However, a bad start to the morning soon gave way to better things, when I finally got my first shot of a Brown Hawker dragonfly, above. It only took me two years or so, well, the flipping things just will not settle nicely. I have to say though, that given the choice I would have preferred it not to have settled on something brown, with a brown background, but never mind.

I didn't bother with the river path today as the tide was in and anyway it's been pretty quiet of late. Instead I went over the raptor viewpoint, aka the mound and took the path down between Brookland lake and Abbey Mead lake in the hope of some more dragons and butterflies from this sheltered, sunny area. As it happened I didn't get much of either but I did get a nice surprise when I spotted this young Grass Snake. It was actually about 18 inches off the ground and lying on the vegetation trying to catch the last of the disappearing suns rays, it saw me immediately and slithered away in an instant, just after I took the above shot.

My next stop was to have been the SW corner of Abbey Mead lake to look for Small Red-eyed damselflies, but I changed my plan when I saw a lady with two vicious looking dogs heading along the path towards it. So instead I crossed the railway line and had a look at the Railway lake, where I noticed eighteen Tufted Ducks, the most i've seen for a long time now.

Crossing the east scrub, I saw a couple of Green Woodpeckers, some Bullfinches, a pair of Linnets and a few Greenfinches, a Gt Spotted Woodpecker was also heard but not seen. Butterfly wise the Gatekeepers were by far the most numerous still, with Meadow Browns next and Red Admirals third, I also saw a Peacock at last, the second brood don't seem to have done too well here so far this year.

I called in at the finger lake at the Brook House entrance and was amazed to see my second Grass Snake of the day who was a bit bigger than the first one and was again basking some way off the ground, curled up on the nettles, thistles and hawthorn. It doesn't sound like a comfortable place but it must have liked it because it was loathe to move, and I was pleased to be able to take my pictures and leave him undisturbed.

There are some pieces of refugia along the edge of the scrub and a quick look under just four pieces revealed at least fourteen Slow Worms, including possibly the biggest one i've ever seen, and a probable Common Shrew who didn't hang around for a positive ID.

I saw a very small butterfly as I made my way back to the railway line, luckily the sun disappeared for a few minutes which prompted it to settle. It was a Brown Argus, the first i've seen for a while at New Hythe so presumably this is a second brooder, it looks very fresh and I think it's a male.

My final stop was the corner of Abbey Mead which thankfully, was now clear of canine activity. When I got there the sun was still behind the clouds and damselflies were hard to find, I amused myself with a picture of a grounded Common Darter, below, and the sight of a Common Buzzard being harassed by a couple of gulls as it drifted lazily over the River Medway.

I continued my search for the Small Red-eyed but could only manage to spot a few Red-eyed damselflies like the one pictured below. I also bumped into Mike Easterbrook here, who was hoping to get a sighting of the Lesser Emperor dragonfly. We both failed, maybe it's too late now, but we had a good chinwag as the sun re-appeared and it was a very pleasant way to end the morning.

I've added a couple of pictures below of a Black-tailed Skimmer which took a liking to the vegetation around my pond one afternoon last week. As ever with this species it's difficult to say whether it's immature or an adult female, either way, it's welcome in my garden any time it likes.

NEW HYTHE LAKES WED 20TH JULY 2011

2011-07-20T17:04:00.017+01:00

Back to good old New Hythe today, and very nice it was too. I didn't expect to see a great deal but sometimes a trip to your own local familiar patch is enough in itself, regardless of what you see. That's how it was today, and this is what happened.
Under cloudy but pleasantly warm skies I parked in Brooklands car park, (i've forgiven them for locking me in last time). I was greeted by a smart Pied Wagtail who looked a bit incongruous as he wagged about on a pile of rubbish in the corner. There's usually a bit going on around the car park area but today all was quiet and I wondered if this would be a sign of things to come.
As I walked past the mill I daydreamed about how good it would be if it wasn't there, thus enabling the footpath to be continued along the river, giving uninterrupted access to Holborough marsh to the north and peace and quiet to the south. I was woken from my reverie though, by a small flock of Goldfinches, whose chattering calls easily cut through the drone from the mill, so maybe it's not as bad as I sometimes think. I continued along the sunken marsh path, where a Pheasant did what Pheasants often do, frightening the c**p out of me as it suddenly flew up, screaming blue murder as it did so. The river was deserted apart from Black-headed Gulls, Grey Herons and Cormorants, although it was good to hear a Kingfisher calling as it flew downstream.

Next stop was Abbey Mead lake where I knew my chances of seeing a dragonfly or two were virtually nil given the weather. As I approached the reed bed at the water's edge the Reed Warbler pictured above suddenly popped up. After a quick look around it flew off and returned a minute or two later with a beak full of goodies.

I kept still and carried on watching and sure enough, up popped junior, below.

Thankfully he wasn't too bothered about my presence, more interested in food I think and I was pleased when he made a short flight out into the open where there was a bit more light

A bit of wing flickering followed, to remind mum that he was hungry, she obliged with another morsel and then gave him the signal to hide in the reeds.

Not wishing to intrude further, I moved on over the railway line to see what the east scrub had to offer, the best of which was a couple of super Bullfinches, the male looking brilliant even in the poor light. Green Woodpeckers were also seen and heard in abundance as well as a surprise pair of Linnets. I don't often see them over there. It was here also that I came across the hoverfly below, it's most probably Helophilus pendulus and I think it must be the male of the species because if you look carefully you can see that he is in fact, scratching his ar*e!

Time was getting on and i'd exhausted the interest in the scrub so I made my way back along the railway path and on to the raptor viewpoint, stopping on the way to capture the Essex Skipper below. This was one of only six butterfly species seen today, the others being Red Admiral, Gatekeepers in abundance, picture after next, Small White, Meadow Brown, Speckled Wood and Green-veined White.

I saw Dennis and Doreen further along the path and as we spoke I noticed the Bee species pictured below, that's one way of collecting pollen, on your bum!

I managed 36 species today, more than enough to make a pleasant visit and I also added two species to the NH July list in the shape of a frightening Pheasant and a lovely Linnet, making a total so far of 52 species. I'm happy with that.

RSPB CLIFFE POOLS TUES 19TH JULY 2011

2011-07-19T18:54:00.024+01:00

Alan Roman and I spent a few hours searching for emeralds at Cliffe Pools today. In particular Southern Emerald Damselflies, but to be honest any emeralds are OK by me, they are all very nice. We didn't actually find any Southern Emeralds, at least I don't think we did, but maybe there's one hiding in the following pictures, or even a Scarce Emerald. If you spot one please let me know.

What about the monster above, it was clinging to a reed stem as if it had just hatched or something and certainly wasn't inclined to fly. It was big, maybe 20mm or so and I think it must be one of the horsefly family, i've seen vicious green eyed specimens at New Hythe before but this was much bigger and didn't have the mottled wings.

We spent most of our time at one particular ditch where Alan had seen the Southern last week. There were certainly plenty of Emeralds to be found, like the ones above. The habit of perching with wings half open is an obvious characteristic of Emeralds, but there the obvious stops for me. The subtle differences between the three possible varieties today are not nearly so easy to distinguish.

Of course there's always one who bucks the trend like the one above who held it's wings in more traditional damselfly fashion.

The pterostigma of the Southern Emerald is bi-coloured, with part of it often appearing white. I had to look twice at the picture above because at first glance there appears to be a piece of white on their pterostigmas, but I think it's just the sunlight catching it.

Another insect spotted on the reeds was my first cricket of the year. I think i'm going to go for Short-winged Conehead, the wings do only extend halfway down the abdomen and the ovipositor is very curved, a new species for me if i'm right.

We walked up and down the ditch for quite some time, during which time the sun came out stronger and persuaded more and more damselflies into action. I snapped as many as possible, but struggled with focusing and the breeze which was blowing straight down it.

How about the in flight, immature Ruddy Darter shot below then. The camera has captured it almost as if it was suspended in mid air. I would be very proud of the shot if it wasn't for the fact that it was actually trapped in a spiders web. This chap was one of hundreds and hundreds of immature Common and Ruddy Darters that lifted from the undergrowth in small clouds as we made our way along the bank.

Although our eyes were mostly looking down, we didn't entirely ignore the bird life, a couple of Hobbys were a welcome sight, even though they were catching and eating our quarry on the wing. Linnets were enjoying the puddles along the tracks and Reed Warblers, Dunnocks, Reed Buntings and Goldfinches all added to the mix.

We left the well trodden ditch and drove up to the sea wall to have lunch and in the lee of the wall where the sun was strong and the breeze was weak I found a good array of butterflies. Small Copper, pictured above, always a welcome find, as well as Skippers, Red Admirals, Gatekeepers, Meadow Browns, a couple of unidentified blues and best of all about four or five Marbled Whites, pictured below, a brand new species for me. Well, i've led a very sheltered life! Later, on the way back for a second look in the first ditch we saw no less than seven Green Sandpipers, which all flew up together from the margins of another water filled ditch, other individuals were also seen at intervals. Further along a Kestrel hunted briefly over the field and a Little Egret also departed the ditch as we returned to the car.

So, back for a final look for the Emeralds and by now the sun was in a better position for picture taking so i've added another couple for luck, sorry about that!

Our final visit was to the ramp which looks over to a couple of distant pools, not sure which ones but could be 'radar' or 'Flamingo' or something like that. Anyway, while we watched the Avocets, Lapwings, Redshanks, shelducks and superbly coloured Black-tailed Godwits, a Sedge Warbler dashed to and fro feeding it's family in the reed bed and finally a Corn Bunting, below, serenaded us as we packed our gear away in the boot of the car. How good is that!

I didn't make notes of bird species seen today so i'm bound to have forgotten quite a bit, sorry Alan.

THURSLEY COMMON THURS 14TH JULY 2011

2011-07-14T19:43:00.021+01:00

Over the last two summers I've become more and more interested in dragonflies and damselflies, but I needed to broaden my horizons and see some different species to those which have been entertaining me locally. I'd heard a lot about Thursley Common and decided that a visit would almost certainly fit the bill. Luckily Marianne from The Wild Side blog was also keen on revisiting and she accompanied me on the trip. Marianne is a mine of information on all things wild and I made the most of this by bombarding her with questions all through the day. Thanks for your company and help Marianne.
The top picture is of a male Keeled Skimmer, a new species to me. They are plentiful at Thursley and this was one of the first dragons we saw as we reached the boardwalk that acts as a raised pathway through the boggy area, thus guaranteeing dry feet. On second thoughts though it wasn't the first dragonfly we saw, I think that dubious honour goes to the unidentified specimen which was plucked from the air over one of the ponds by a Hobby. We watched as it ate lunch in flight and through my binoculars I watched as a solitary dragonfly wing fluttered down below the Hobby like a discarded sweet wrapper. Fast food for a very fast falcon.

Another new species to me was the Black Darter and what little beauties they are. They like to perch in the vegetation alongside the dark acid pools as in the picture below. But frequently we saw them perched on the boardwalk, above, absorbing the heat from the sun warmed wood.

Also benefitting from the same warm surface were the dozens of Common Lizards like the one below. They were surprisingly tolerant of our presence and clearly preferred to stay put while we passed by rather than leave their sunbed. A surprising amount of very young specimens, just a couple of inches long were also noticed. I understood that their young were born in August, maybe this is in line with the early emergence of a lot of wildlife this year, or maybe i'm just plain wrong.

Some damselflies next, first an Emerald, one of several seen, but I really struggled to get my camera to focus properly on such a small slim target. A shame really because these really are stunners and maybe my favourite damsel and I would have liked to have done it justice in the picture, hey ho, better luck next time.

Next was another first for me in the shape of a Small Red damselfly and below that a Large Red.

In common with a lot of places at the moment the bird activity was pretty limited. A small flock of Linnets hidden in the tree tops had us puzzled and hopeful of something more exciting for a while and a couple of Stonechats and a Reed Bunting put in appearances along with a short visit from a Kestrel. But today was unquestionably about the dragons and damsels.

We were watching an Emperor dragonfly hunting and defending it's territory when my mobile rang. It was a friend of mine so I answered it and while I was talking to him the Emperor struck. A pair of Common Blues I think, in the round, became lunch and the Emperor perched to enjoy every succulent, juicy mouthful. I managed to point the camera with one hand while talking on the mobile and fire off a couple of shots, the best of which is below, left click to see a bit more gruesome detail.

There was a small twig sticking out of the water and it was the preferred lookout point for the Four Spotted Chaser below. Luckily it took off and returned a couple of times giving the opportunity to get a couple of different angles. One of my favourite dragons I think, but I do change my mind quite often.

As we returned back along the boardwalk the temptation to try yet again to get an in flight shot of an Emperor proved too strong. The picture above was the result, pity it was flying away but you can't have everything.

Emperors are pretty ovipositing friendly I think. Not for them the non stop, in flight, dip, dip, dip into the water making it difficult to capture the moment. They like to do it sort of standing up, they take their time about it, they give you a chance. That's why Emperors are one of my favourites, see what I mean about changing my mind?

Now for something completely different. The other target for the day was the Silver Studded Blue butterfly. Up until the last half hour, only one blue had been seen, a Holly Blue spotted by Marianne early on. But a search along a track bordered by low Heather finally produced a female and then a quick glimpse of a male Silver Studded, yet another first for me and a great way to end a great day. I should just mention though that these are the edited highlights, lots more species of dragons and damsels and butterflies and all manner of other species all contributed themselves to the day.

ABBEY MEAD AND BROOKLANDS MONDAY 11TH JULY

2011-07-13T18:07:00.009+01:00

I couldn't resist it. One last attempt to get a picture of the Lesser Emperors at Abbey Mead, discovered by Terry Laws over a week ago.
To cut a long story short I still didn't manage it. Despite numerous sightings, at least when the sun decided to shine for a few minutes, it refused to land. Well not in sight at any rate, it frequently disappeared, sometimes for quite long periods so I guess it must have been perching up somewhere. Never mind, at least I filled my boots with sightings and you never know, if summer ever arrives, maybe i'll try again.

Another species which frustratingly, still eludes my lens is the Brown Hawker. I like this species, not least because it's so easy to identify on the wing. But the trouble is I only ever find them on the wing. There were two or three buzzing around at Abbey Mead, sometimes fearlessly flying just a metre or so from my head as they hunted their prey and engaged in battle with intruders, be they other Brown Hawkers or even Lesser Emperor.
So it was left to the more obliging species to satisfy my redundant camera. The first being the immature Common Darter above and the seemingly ever present male Black-Tailed Skimmer below. Judging by a couple of ragged wing tips he has also seen a bit of aerial action in his short life.

All of a sudden Gatekeeper butterflies like the male pictured below, have appeared across the site, competing for prominence with the now fading Ringlets which seem to have dominated for a while. I still haven't managed to find a Painted Lady on the wing at New Hythe this year though. And Peacocks too seem very scarce, so far i've seen none of the offspring of the early adults who hibernated over the winter, although their caterpillars seemed to be relatively abundant here around May time.

I don't often take pictures of flies that look like flies, if you see what I mean. But I have to admit that the one pictured below is quite attractive with it's red eyes and chequered abdomen. It's most likely the Flesh Fly it's a somewhat gruesome name which isn't helped by the scientific name of Sarcophaga carnaria. Interestingly the species is also viviparous, laying larvae instead of eggs into the carrion in which it breeds. Isn't Nature wonderful.

The only bird added to my New Hythe July list was a Common Buzzard that drifted east to west, high over Abbey Mead lake. This took my struggling total to 50 species so far, it's a bit difficult on the bird front at the moment.

But if you're out and about during the week or at the weekend, enjoy yourself, because as my last picture shows, it's later than you think........................!!

LESSER AT LARGE SAT 9TH JULY 2011

2011-07-09T16:16:00.016+01:00

After a call from Dennis to say that the Lesser Emperor was once again at large in the corner of Abbey Mead lake I reluctantly changed my plans from weeding in the back garden to hunting dragons.

It didn't take me long to reach Brooklands car park and from there a double quick yomp along the railway path soon had me at my destination. It was obvious straight away that New Hythe lakes had a major twitch on it's hands. Six people, yes six, including myself and Martin, but not counting Flossie the Golden Retriever, who was languishing in the shade, looking completely bored by the whole thing. I don't recall such a gathering here before, certainly not for a dragonfly.

Before I go any further I should say that the pictures of the Gatekeeper butterfly, above and below, and the Speckled Wood below that were taken a couple of days back at New Hythe. The Gatekeeper being the first one of the year and also the 22nd species seen here so far this spring and summer.

So back to the twitch, and it wasn't too long before the Lesser made some appearances. It reminded me of Wimbledon a bit at times. Small gasps and excited cheers from the crowd as it appeared from nowhere and zoomed along in one direction, before suddenly turning and zooming back in the other, followed each way by six pairs of eyes and then a collective groan as it disappeared from sight and out of play.

Things were made a bit more tricky when the occasional Emperor made an appearance in the same area, sometimes I think being mistaken for it's cousin in the strong sunlight. On one occasion Martin and I followed one further down the bank just to be certain of what we were already pretty sure of and the picture below confirmed that this particular individual was indeed the Emperor.

Eventually I was left alone on centre court and I did have some very nice views of the female Lesser, her bright blue saddle showing much better as the sun lost some of it's brilliance, but it didn't settle in the area so I couldn't get a picture unfortunately.

I was lucky enough to get a couple of shots of the super hoverfly below while I was there today. It's scientific name is Volucella zonaria but it's sometimes called Belted Hoverfly or Hornet mimic, I did think it was a hornet when I first saw it because of it's colour and size. Unlike the Hornet though, it's harmless and doesn't have a sting.

The lakeside and reedbed here are swarming with damselflies, including the Red -Eyed pictured below in the wheel. Somebody also saw a Small Red-eyed before I got there but try as I might I couldn't find one, I will try again though as soon as I can.

I had one last try to get a picture of the Lesser Emperor before I headed off home, but although I saw it again a couple of times it still wouldn't settle. Then the sky became overcast and a few drops of rain started to fall so I gave up for today. Game, set and match to Anax parthenope. It even sounds like a tennis player!

Just before I go, a word of warning to visitors who park their car in Brooklands car park. On a saturday afternoon it should close at 3pm according to the sign on the gate. I arrived back at my car today at 2.35pm and found myself locked in. To say that I was furious was an understatement. Remember the Incredible Hulk? Well it wasn't quite like that, more like the Incredible Sulk, but you get my drift. I eventually walked back to the lake and asked a fisherman if he would mind letting me out (they have their own club keys)and he very kindly obliged, i'm extremely grateful for his help. I will be speaking to the council who own the car park on monday. I think a cash payment for stress and hurt feelings wouldn't be unreasonable.

MINSMERE AND NEW HYTHE CATCH UP

2011-07-05T17:57:00.021+01:00

Carol had to be in Ipswich Suffolk at 9am on monday for a business meeting. Being the gentleman that I am, I offered to drive her up on sunday morning to avoid a crack of dawn gamble on the M25 on monday. By sheer chance, Minsmere RSPB reserve isn't too much further on, so not paying a visit would have been rude in the extreme.

We didn't have a great deal of time but we had long enough to realise that it was a great place, a more comprehensive visit is on the cards soon I hope. One of the highlights of the visit was the sighting of my first ever Norfolk Hawker, above and below which thankfully decided to rest, not too high up, on a nearby tree, enabling a positive ID.

Other highlights included no less than four Spoonbills on one of the scrapes on the reserve, we have seen this species before but not for some time. Pity they were a bit too distant for a photo. From the Bittern hide we saw not a Bittern but surprisingly a Red Deer complete with her fawn making their way through the vast reedbed in front of the hide. On the butterfly front, Purple Hairstreaks were in evidence as were Ringlets, Brown Argus, Skippers, Meadow Browns, Small Heath and most of all Red Admirals. The one pictured below took a shine to Carol, first landing on her tee shirt and then quite happily hopping on to her finger for some posing. I think you may have some competition Greenie!
We left Minsmere reluctantly, but our short visit had been enough to wet our appetites for a longer visit later.

While we were in Suffolk on sunday I received a text from Terry Laws to say he'd just found no less than three Lesser Emperor dragonflies at Abbey Mead lake, New Hythe. I believe at one stage the female was ovipositing in tandem with the male, as is common with this species and there was also another male nearby. What a great find, but what a bummer that I couldn't get down straight away. Needless to say, I went straight to Abbey Mead after dropping Carol off at home on monday afternoon. I didn't find them, neither did Adam Whitehouse from East Malling, Ditton and Barming blog, (see the side bar) who was also there, good to see you again Adam. I also had the good fortune to meet John and Gill Brook, who are the county recorders for dragonflies and damselflies in Kent and are themselves authors of an excellent book on the subject. They too drew a blank, but I'm sure they are still about and today (tuesday) I returned for another look.

The first thing I found was this juvenile Whitethroat, not long fledged I think and still losing his fluffy down by the look of it.

He was one of two or three in the vicinity, the others made themselves scarce, but this one didn't seem to know whether I was friend or foe, lucky for him it was the former.

I left him alone and hurried along to the corner of Abbey Mead, convinced that I would find a Lesser Emperor or two waiting for me in the sunshine. But of course it's never as easy as that, there were dragons about, mostly male Black-tailed Skimmers and one Emperor species who patrolled the margins relentlessly, trouble is it turned out to be Anax imperator instead of the hoped for Anax parthenope (Lesser). Never mind, I decided I would try again later after checking out the east and west scrub to see what else could be found. Which wasn't much i'm afraid, by now it was very hot and once again the birds were conspicuous by their apparent absence.

So it was back to dragons and what better than this stunning Black-tailed Skimmer. It could be a female or an immature but I think it's probably the latter as it's very bright.

Here's a head on view, left click any of the photos for a bigger view.

I returned later to Abbey Mead for another attempt at tracking down the Lesser Emperor but again without success. But I did find this almost pristine dragonfly exuviae on a reed stem by the water's edge. If you look closely or left click you can see three other damselfly cases on it as well, not to mention a live fly of some sort. I think this will be an Emperor exuviae judging by the size and when I showed it to Carol this evening she remarked that this would make it 'the Emperor's old clothes', get it? I think she's been around me too long, or the other way round.

As compensation for not finding the Lesser Emperor, this female Emperor gave me an up close and personal view of her egg laying process. She seemed to be laying them on the underside of the reed stems in the pictures.

Sometimes she received the unwanted attention of damselflies as in the picture above showing her being buzzed by a Red-eyed and a Common Blue damsel. At one point they actually landed on her and she flew off and then returned to exactly the same spot and carried on regardless.

Bear with me because i'm nearly finished, it's been a long one I know but I needed to catch up. I couldn't leave it without a couple of butterfly pictures could I?

I believe the Skipper above and below is a female and I also believe that she could be from Essex, well in name anyway. The underneath of the tips of her antennae look black to me and I think that makes her an Essex Skipper...................unless of course somebody tells me otherwise!

SOME NEW HYTHE CREATURES

2011-07-02T16:58:00.014+01:00

I thought i'd ended June with 62 species of birds seen at New Hythe but in actual fact it was 63, because I forgot to add on the pair of Green Sandpipers that I saw flying over Brooklands lake on thursday. I paid a brief visit this morning to get the July list off the ground, but it didn't get very far with just 27 species seen. Things can only get better.
With the avian world somewhat in the doldrums, i've once again turned to some of the other New Hythe inhabitants. I find them endlessly fascinating, here are just a few seen over the last couple of days.

Considering the amount of Cinnabar moth caterpillars i've seen on Yellow Ragwort recently, I haven't seen many of the actual moths. The one above eventually settled for a few seconds but insisted on remaining upside down.

The fearsome fly pictured above is a Scorpion fly, female I think. The male has an upwardly curled tail, hence the name. Unlike the real Scorpion, these are entirely harmless, their small teeth are located at the end of their strange elongated beak. During mating the males sometimes allow the females to feed on their saliva, whatever turns you on as they say.

There are a lot of moths about right now, they fly up from their hiding places in the undergrowth and sometimes settle back in partial view like the one above did. It's a Clouded Border I think and is usually a night flier, a nice looking moth who probably cursed me for interrupting it's rest.

I'm pretty sure that the creature above is one of the Ichneumons, but i'm blowed if I can find out which one. It's similar to Ichneumon suspiciosus but lacks the pale segments on the antennae.

These Slow worms were under a piece of refugia, I think there are seven of them. The picture shows just how diverse the colouring and markings can be. They don't mind a bit of company do they.

There still don't seem to be great numbers of dragons at New Hythe yet. This pair are Black-tailed Skimmers and probably are in the majority here at the moment along with Emperors, the odd Four Spotted Chaser and one or two Common Darter appearing. The last week or so has seen the emergence of Brown Hawkers to add further interest. I haven't managed to get a shot of one yet but i've no doubt I will sooner or later.

Where would we be without butterflies at this time of the year? Although there aren't a huge number of species some are quite tricky to identify. I'm going to call the one pictured above a Brown Argus, the first one i've seen for a while, second brood maybe?

Probably the most prolific species at New Hythe at the moment is the Ringlet, I don't remember seeing anything like the present numbers last year. They are single brooders so make the most of them, they'll probably disappear in August.

Here's another trap for the unwary, or like me uneducated. Small Skipper immediately and most obviously springs to mind. But it looks a bit straw coloured on it's underside, and is that a bit of black I can see under the tip of the antenna, could it be an Essex Skipper? I'll leave it to you, i've got a headache.

Finally, another Common Lizard. I think they give birth in July, could this be a pregnant female or is it just flattening it's body to expose as much as possible to the warm sun? Common Lizards are sometimes referred to as viviparous, bearing live young, this is because the egg sacs which contain the young Lizards break during birth or very soon afterwards.

There's no doubting this butterfly of course, it's a Small Tortoiseshell. The ones I saw today all looked pretty fresh so again I think this may be from a second brood.

NEW HYTHE WED 29TH JUNE 2011

2011-06-29T17:37:00.029+01:00

Last year I found some Purple Hairstreaks on a couple of Oak trees between Brooklands lake and the sunken marsh. Today, I went to look for them again and it wasn't too long before they showed themselves. First of all I saw a couple near to the top of the shorter tree, then one flew down lower giving me the chance of a picture or two.

The picture above shows the partly open wings, guess why they are called Purple Hairstreaks.

There wasn't a great deal to be seen on the bird front, no sign of the Common Tern today on Brooklands, just a lonely looking Gt Crested Grebe and the Swan family, who look as if they may have lost one of their Cygnets. A Kestrel flew across the river, where a high tide meant that not much would be on offer except the usual Herons and four Shelduck flying upstream. In the sunken marsh a single Reed Bunting sang his slightly boring song and a Lesser Whitethroat rattled, out of sight as ever, from thick scrub.

I made my way towards the railway path, passing through a tunnel of overhead branches, where a family of what I presume to be Chiffchaffs called to each other. I waited for a while and my patience was rewarded with a glimpse of one of the young birds through the foliage.

Other than the Purple Hairstreaks and an Essex Skipper, I didn't see too many other butterflies, but I did see a few Commas, pictured below, who all looked in absolute pristine condition, positively glowing in the morning sun. As usual, I couldn't resist posting too many shots but I didn't think anybody would mind too much.

The east scrub didn't inspire today, just a few Slow Worms basking under the refugia. So I headed for the finger lake alongside the Brook House track where I came across the Humming-bird Hawkmoth pictured below, which absolutely made my day, what a stunning creature. I rang Terry Laws who was also on site and he raced across from Brookland with Dennis and Doreen in tow, to try and get a glimpse, this being a first for all of us at New Hythe. Of course, by the time they arrived it had long gone, full marks for effort though folks!

Once again, sorry for the surfeit of pics but I don't see these every day, or every year come to that.

This end of the finger lake is also home to Emperor Dragonflies at the moment, they didn't settle but I did manage to get a long distance shot of the female ovipositing, below.

all eventually moved off towards the west scrub where we noticed this Silver Y moth, below. Like the Hummingbird Hawkmoth this is a migrant, Terry had one in his moth trap this morning and there have been others reported recently so there has probably been an influx over the last couple of days. This is also borne out by at least three others which we saw during our visit today. Maybe they, and the Hawkmoth were carried over by the hot southerlies which sparked off yesterday's storms.

The picture below is, I think, a newly emerged ladybird, presumably from the empty larvae casing on the same leaf just below it. Terry noticed it as we retraced our steps back to the Oak trees, where we also managed to relocate the PH's which were a NH year tick for Terry as they were for me earlier.

Lastly, as we peered into the margins of Abbey Mead lake looking for Water Stick Insects I noticed this dragonfly exuviae in the water. I fished it out and put it on a bramble leaf to photograph it. It was big, probably a couple of inches long but I don't know what species it belongs to. A fearsome creature if you happen to be prey size. Maybe that's why we didn't find the Stick Insect.
I added House Martin and a splendid Peregrine Falcon to the NH June list today bringing the total to 62 species. I also took some other pictures today which I just haven't had time to sort out, so I'll try and post them tomorrow after another much anticipated visit in the morning.

***I have had messages from Greenie and Terry Laws that this is probably the exuviae of an Emperor Dragonfly, that's good enough for me. Many thanks to both of them.***

NEW HYTHE SUNDAY 26TH JUNE 2011

2011-06-26T18:55:00.016+01:00

I feel like i've neglected poor old New Hythe lately. The weather hasn't helped, neither have forays to the Hampshire Avon, excursions over the border into East Sussex and adventures on the Greensand Ridge. So today, with forecasts of early sun and blue skies I made my return. I don't usually visit on a sunday, especially in decent weather, but I pulled up into an empty car park and apart from the fishermen it was pretty quiet everywhere, just how I like it.

Trouble was, the skies were grey not blue for the first hour and a half or so which didn't suit the butterflies or dragons too much. But I did manage to find my first New Hythe Large Skipper of the year, a male I think and a good start to the day.

Brooklands lake was still playing host to a Common Tern and surprisingly, on my return later I found three Pochard in residence. That was very unexpected and was also number 59 for the New Hythe June list.

I couldn't resist peering into the water to see what was going on. I've been fascinated by the world beneath the surface since I was about twelve years old. It doesn't wear off, neither does my affection for 'Old Stripey', the Perch, pictured above and still one of my favourite fish.

Without a doubt the butterfly of the day was the Ringlet, they were everywhere, their dainty, unhurried flight in complete contrast to the unidentified white species that hurtled past with no time to stop and settle. I also saw Commas, Red Admirals, Meadow Browns and just a couple of Skippers.
Around the sunken marsh there were Reed Warblers, Reed Buntings, a single male Linnet (60), Cetti's Warblers, a Lesser Whitethroat, a cuckoo calling from over the river and on the raptor front a Kestrel hunting overhead.

Along the edge of Abbey Mead, the sun finally managed to burn away the morning cloud and mist. And suddenly, at last, the dragons woke up. Black-tailed Skimmers fought their aerial skirmishes over the reed beds and Emperors, the largest of our dragonflies, relentlessly patrolled up and down along their own hard won territories. But the only individual to settle was the Four-spotted Chaser pictured above and a great looking dragon it is too.

There's some muddy standing water along the side of Abbey Mead and the local Tits were taking advantage of an early bath before the full heat of the day set in.

The young Blue Tit soon had enough and flew off, probably muckier than ever judging by the colour of the water, leaving the Great Tit to finish his ablutions in private, apart from me of course.

Damselflies also took advantage of the now steamy conditions and these two Blue-tailed individuals decided to create a steamy scene all of their own, in the wheel.

I don't think i've ever featured a slug before on my blog, but I have now. Love them or hate them, Carol definitely hates them, they too are all part of the big natural picture. So here it is, the Black Slug (Arion ater) I think.

Over in the east scrub, this little flower caught my eye, I believe it to be Common Centaury, either way it's a nice little thing which stood out well against the brown, parched undergrowth.

Birdwise, there wasn't a great deal here except for various recently fledged families of mainly Whitethroats (below) and Chiffchaffs. I also saw a single adult Nightingale and a juvenile Gt Spotted Woodpecker, a Green Woodpecker yaffled from the woods but wasn't seen, neither were the Willow Warblers which were heard in the east and west scrub. A single piece of refugia was lifted and revealed six Slow worms, one being perhaps the biggest i've seen.

Last picture of the day is this immature dragonfly which flew haphazardly from the reedbed along Streamside lake and into the west scrub area. I'm going to stick my neck out and say, without fear of contradiction, that it's my first Common Darter of the year........gulp!!

So 38 species of birds seen and heard today and my June NH list of 60 species so far, looks like staying there. Meanwhile the NH year list is becalmed in the doldrums and stuck at 102 species. Something tells me July might also be a bit difficult, we'll soon see.

DORMOUSE AND REPTILE SURVEY WED 22ND JUNE

2011-06-22T18:16:00.003+01:00

There's nothing like a walk in the woods and all my other walks in the woods were definitely nothing like today's.
No, it wasn't the teddy bears' picnic, it was a Dormouse and reptile survey on the Greensand Ridge, the chance to be there was courtesy of Greenie from 'Greenie in the Wild'. We were also joined by Terry Laws and Neil, who was quickly given the job of recording due to his neat hand writing and also because he was the youngest, so we pulled rank on him. Of course, it wasn't long before the rain came, lots of it and given that we were often wading through chest high bracken and brambles we soon became drenched, the rainwater reaching parts that are usually only reached by bathwater. But I wasn't going to let a bit of rain spoil things, i'd been looking forward to this for a few weeks, although I did wonder if it would put the mockers on finding any reptiles under the refugia.

It's illegal to handle or disturb Dormice in any way, but Greenie has a license, so we and the mice were in safe hands. However, it soon became clear that this wouldn't be a Dormouse fest, and after checking dozens of boxes before lunch, we hadn't found one, although we did find evidence in some of the boxes of temporary nests. It was also evident that the local Blue Tits had made good use of a lot of them, raising their broods and leaving the disused nests, which were removed to make way for the nesting activity of the Dormice in August. A couple of Wrens' nests were also found in the boxes, little works of art, one of which was a cosy, warm, feather lined home for some very new chicks, we speculated on the lateness but I think they do sometimes have a second brood.

Also of great interest during the morning was the surprise discovery of a Buzzard's nest, the first any of us had ever seen in Kent. As we watched the nest, we noticed what we thought could have been the head of a chick poking up above the edge of the nest, this was pretty much confirmed to be the case when the parents suddenly arrived and landed on a dead Oak tree nearby. Exciting stuff, what a great find and well worth every drop of soaking rain.

As I said before, we weren't hugely optimistic about finding reptiles today, but we were wrong. We soon started to find a few Slow Worms under the felt and corrugated iron refugia, including some very small ones not much bigger than worms and most likely born last year. A single Common Lizard and several Grass Snakes also put in an appearance, I think we found seven in total, including one very good sized specimen and again some smaller ones just a year old. But best of all was a female Adder who clearly wasn't bothered by the rain as she was spotted curled up close to one of the felts and only reluctantly slipped away a couple of feet and took shelter under a small tree stump but still remaining visible. It was only after watching her that I glanced down and spotted the little chap (or chapess) pictured below, how we hadn't stepped on it I don't know. We had time to take some quick photos and place one of Greenie's legendary 35mm film canisters along side it to give some perspective before it too, slowly departed into the wet undergrowth.

So what about the Dormice, well, I think I can safely say that with just a few more boxes to check towards the end of the afternoon session, we were resigned to the fact that it just wasn't going to happen. That is until we got to box number five. Inside was a very promising bundle of Hazel leaves, some old, and crucially some still green, mixed up with thin strips of Honeysuckle, all signs of possible Dormouse occupancy. The box was carefully lowered into a stout polythene bag, the lid was slipped off and out he popped, a fantastic, tiny bundle of ginger fur with a long furry tail and a pair of the most beguiling, big black eyes which winked and blinked in bewilderment, having been woken so suddenly from their slumber. He was quickly weighed and checked over by Greenie, before being gently returned to his box. This for me, was one of those wildlife moments that will never be forgotten and I feel priviliged to have been able to see one of these charming nocturnal tree dwellers. Thanks very much for a great day Greenie, i'm really looking forward to August!

THE NAMING OF THE SHREW TUESDAY 21ST JUNE 2011

2011-06-21T19:18:00.013+01:00

I got back from my weekend away with the lads on the Hampshire Avon on monday evening. True to form it had been a bit hectic, very tiring and extremely boozy, London Pride, don't you just love it!

Anyway, today was chores day (sounds like a very posh Tuesday), the grass needed cutting, I needed to go to the local tip, the car needed sorting out, blah, blah, blah. But at about 4pm I managed to get a quick visit to Brooklands lake, just what I needed to blow the cobwebs away and it was certainly windy enough to do that.

I didn't stay long, just an hour or so and any thoughts I'd had about getting some dragon or damsel fly pictures soon evaporated. But I did manage to say hello to one of the Common Lizards that live near the corner of the lake by the fishermen's hut. He thought I couldn't see him peeping out from the undergrowth but he was mistaken.

The only other bit of interest was this Shrew, it was risking death by digestion running about in the open like that, I guess the need to constantly feed sometimes means a compromise has to be made.

He was very tiny and very active. I found it difficult to get a shot where he wasn't tearing along at a rate of knots. Luckily, every now and again he'd find a tiny morsel and stop very briefly, allowing me to get a couple of pics.

In the picture below he has seen me and decided that the best thing to do was hide his head in the weeds, thus rendering himself invisible. I saw a mouse do this once when I was Trout fishing from the bank at Bewl Water, it made me laugh until a few seconds later when an unleashed dog ran up and ate it. I had this in mind when this one adopted the same pose so I found a small twig and gently poked it until it buried itself safely out of sight.

The trouble is, I can't decide which shrew it is, it was very small, but aren't they all. I believe the Pygmy Shrew has a longer tail than the Common Shrew, two thirds body length as opposed to half body length, but I hadn't got my tape measure handy. So i'll throw it open to you, can anybody help with the naming of the shrew!