NEW HYTHE SAT 12TH FEB 2011

HERON, LITTLE EGRET & KINGFISHER

The picture above is of three fishermen, taken at New Hythe on 7th January 2009. I've posted it because I didn't get any pictures today, except a very long distance Buzzard. I did see all of the above three species this morning so it kind of makes sense.

I was joined at the small wood by Martin Coath & Flossie the golden retriever who also bought Martin Warburton with her. We spotted the usual bits and pieces including Teal, Lapwing, Redshank, Gadwall and Cormorant and then the two Martins left to continue their monthly census on the site. Within five minutes they were replaced by Eddie Denson, who crept through the wood without a sound and nearly gave me a heart attack. While we chatted we were lucky to see a Little Egret flying in the distance, one of two I saw today and also a Grey Wagtail, New Hythe year tick number 74. I don't think i'll get much more now until the summer migrants arrive, although Water Rail would be a welcome 75. Other notables from the wood and sunken marsh area included a Sparrowhawk, a flock of c. 46 Lapwings among which were at least two more Redshanks, a largish flock of Fieldfares across the river and a couple of Shelduck.

After a bit of a chat with fellow birder John Davies, who had just seen a Goldeneye on Abbey Mead, we too added it to our list when we finally located it on the far side of the lake. On then to Streamside lake adding the traditional sighting of a couple of Bullfinches backsides en route. Sometimes I think Bumfinch would be a better name for this very shy species. No Bitterns to be found in the usual reedbed but we did manage to locate Goosander and Red-head Smew. It's been great having these long stayers this winter, but I expect they'll be off before too much longer. I parted company with Eddie and started making my way back to the river, pausing to try and get a shot of a pair of Goldcrests near the railway line but to no avail, it was still very overcast at the time so it was never going to be a good result. Back at the sunken marsh I disturbed a Sparrowhawk which must have been on the ground I think, then I turned the corner and bumped into Ken Browne of Focusing on Wildlife fame. Together we revisited the river via the small wood for a last look and i'm glad we did because we found, Green Sandpiper, four distant Buzzards spotted by Ken, two Gt Black-backed Gulls, a Kestrel, a Kingfisher, another Little Egret this one feeding on the river bank and four Shelducks.

As Ken and I parted company I glanced up and there was another Buzzard, closely followed by a second one circling over the river, pictured and heavily cropped below, making six in total and a day count of 52 species. The february NH list now stands at 66.

New Hythe Lakes Monday 13th Sept

First a bit of garden news; Saturday we were paid a visit by a flock of at least 40 Starlings on the back lawn, probably more. This is by far the biggest gathering in a long time. I've seen the flock swirling around the house a couple of times and i'm hoping it's going to get bigger as Autumn progresses. Also on Saturday morning I was lucky enough to see a Hobby from my kitchen window. It flew in low across the lake and continued along the fence line of the garden and over next doors house. I was very pleased with that and I was also very pleased to see two Goldcrests in the garden yesterday, twice in fact. How nice is that? I've only seen one other this year and I now need to find one down New Hythe for a year tick. I tried my hardest to do just that today with no luck, but I did find quite a lot of other goodies.......................



It was blue sky and sunny when I got up today but by the time I got to Brooklands car park it was overcast and breezy. I know what you're thinking, I should have got up earlier!


Apart from all the usual species I was happy to see four Linnets fly over the northern end of the sunken marsh and even happier when four Jackdaws appeared flying in the opposite direction heading over the river to Burham. This is only my third sighting of Jackdaws in this area in a couple of years, so far so good. Also of note were the Cetti's Warblers, there were four or five singing around the marsh area, one of which treated me to a rare and welcome glimpse as it skulked in the bushes. I noticed the river was quite low but the tide was still falling so I decided to check it out from the small wood on my return when it would be at it's lowest point.

Still large numbers of Tufted Ducks on Abbey Mead lake accompanied by an equal amount of Coots and at least six Great Crested Grebes. I decided to clamber up the steep eastern side of the mound to scan the Sunken Marsh and nearly trod on a Slow worm in the process. I was surprised to see it in the open like that on what was a fairly cool morning . I'm only used to finding them soaking up the warmth under the refugia on the East Scrub. While I stood at the top of the mound I noticed a flock of thirty or more corvids, Rooks I think, rising up out of the trees on the far side of the river. A scan around them revealed the reason, a Common Buzzard, which dropped down into the treetops a couple of times before drifting off in a southerly direction, unconcerned by it's noisy escort. This is only my sixth sighting of a Buzzard at NH this year, the last being on the 28th May so that was another good tick for the day.

Just before I joined the footpath alongside the railway I heard the unmistakeable rattling call of a Mistle Thrush and looked up in time to see two flying overhead, another surprise sighting and oddly enough the last one at NH was the same as the Buzzard, 28th May. The East scrub was quiet apart from a mixed flock of Great, Blue and Long tailed Tits, and more Chiffchaffs and Willow Warblers than I think i've ever seen together at NH, along with the yaffling of the ever present Green Woodpeckers, who seem to be thriving here. I did find a couple of dragonflies willing to brave the coolish overcast conditions and I managed to snap one that landed briefly. I know my last post featured pictures of Migrant Hawkers but they were Dungeness Migrant Hawkers and this one is a New Hythe Migrant Hawker and therefore gets it's picture in this post. Plus I like them, plus I couldn't find any other species willing to pose.




The walk back was pretty uneventful and I soon found myself battling through the tall reeds and nettles that have overwhelmed the muddy path to the small wood adjacent to the river.

A quick scan upstream revealed the island which is only exposed at low tide and today was a temporary home to four Grey Herons, a few Cormorants, some Black headed Gulls and a Little Egret which was a welcome addition to my list.

The downstream scan produced Common Gull, Great Black Backed Gull and a Common Sandpiper which was feeding on a small mudbank in the corner by the mill. I wonder if this is the 'Surfing bird' featured a couple of weeks ago?

I stood for a while watching the Sand Martins and Swallows trickle by in small groups, all following the river and heading north strangely, and then decided to call it a day. But before I did I had one more scan along the far bank and suddenly noticed two little Sapphire and Emerald gems sitting right on the waterline. Two Kingfishers which had been there all the time and I nearly missed them. As the distant shot below shows, this isn't where you would normally expect to see them and that led me to believe that maybe these were two juveniles. And if they were there might be an adult in the vicinity. I waited for about thirty five minutes, during which time a Kestrel and a Sparrowhawk flew right above them but all they seemed to do was crouch slightly lower until the danger had passed. The only action I saw from them otherwise was a small bob of the head and neck occasionally until suddenly I heard the urgent piping of another Kingfisher, this sparked a lot of excited calling from the other two until the third bird arrived with them and they all departed together upstream. I just wish i'd been able to get a shot of all three of them but it was all too distant and quick at the end of a fascinating half an hour or more.

The Kingfishers bought my total species for the day to 42, a pleasing total but it doesn't reflect the amount of pleasure that the four hours walk produced. And the final piece of good news is that the old Cafe in the Brooklands car park is reopening in about two weeks time and the new owners assured me that a quick phone call to them will have bacon rolls and steaming mugs of tea waiting for hungry walkers on their return, through the coming winter. Lovely................................