NEW HYTHE WED 16TH FEB 2011

The Goldcrest pictured above and below was one of the first birds I saw this morning. It might have a quiet call but it's high pitch was enough to cut through the noise of the mill as it searched through the bushes alongside it at Brooklands Lake.

The tide was very high so I decided to go straight round the sunken marsh and come back to the river later. A good flock of 38 Lapwings flew over as I slithered and slipped my way round a deserted muddy marsh but apart from two Cetti's Warblers, one seen and one heard, there was virtually nothing to note. A noisy Gull drew my attention as I walked along the northern edge of Abbey Mead, it was obviously not happy to see the Bittern that it was mobbing over the lake but I was, and I watched it come down, lit nicely by the welcome sun, into the reeds on the eastern edge. I also found two Goldeneye's on Abbey Mead, along with some nice sleeping Pochards pictured below, although clearly one of the females was on guard duty!

I had a quick check on Streamside lake but was unable to locate the Red-head Smew or the Goosander, but there are lots of hiding places so they might have been there somewhere. A Green Woodpecker and a handful of Redwings was the best on offer in the east scrub but as I made my way back across the railway line I glanced up and saw the first of seven Buzzards to be seen this morning as it drifted over Abbey Mead. The path back took me along the eastern edge of Brooklands, where I saw a Kingfisher and a noisy flock of at least 40 Siskins which flew directly over my head, last seen heading west.
And so to the small wood where I was greeted by the Black Pheasant which trotted in front of me into the wood, i'm beginning to wonder if he can fly at all.

The river was absolutely deserted, not even a Gull to be seen, so I located my bucket, dried it off , turned it upside down and sat and waited. I didn't have to wait too long though before I was rewarded with a Kestrel across the river, also being mobbed by Gulls, it must really get on their nerves I should think. The picture above is the view across the river from the bucket. The church is I believe, Burham church and the hills in the background are the north downs, Buzzard country. And sure enough, just a couple of minutes after the picture was taken three Buzzards broke the skyline just to the right of the church, while another one drifted SW over my head. Some time later two more came into view but I can't be sure if they were a couple of the earlier ones. The last picture is the second piece of the panorama from the bucket and is directly to the right of the first shot.
Last birds noted were a pair of Mistle Thrushes which flew up from the raised path alongside the paper mill which gave me 44 species in just over three hours, and the Mistle Thrush brings my February New Hythe total to 68 species.

Dungeness RSPB Friday 29th October

With a forecast of 20 mph southerly winds, which would probably be more like 30 mph across Romney Marsh I thought it would be far too windy to visit Dungeness on friday and the best and most sensible thing to do would be to stay local.



So I arrived at the ARC Hanson hide at Dungie at about 10 o'clock in the morning because I never learn! And it was windy, very windy. The only surprise on this side of the reserve was two Swallows which flew past as I walked to the hide. From there I watched a Marsh Harrier terrorising the occupants of the reedbeds on the far side of the lake, and on the lake I saw Wigeon, Teal, Mallard, Gt Crested Grebe, Gadwall, Tufted Duck, Pochard and a male Goldeneye, all among the usual assortment of Gulls and Cormorants. The water level seemed higher to me than the last visit so no waders present that I could see.

Very few birds were able to make themselves heard above the strong winds on the main reserve, but as ever the Robins managed it giving full blast from the tops of the bushes like the one pictured above.

Surprisingly the Goldcrests, pictured below, managed to make their high pitched call heard from deep within the undergrowth. I saw six in all and heard quite a few more. Great to see but hard to photograph them as they search relentlessly for whatever tiny morsels they can find. I always think they must burn energy faster than they can replace it but they seem to manage, except in the very hardest conditions.





It was nice to see a hunting Kestrel and a single Stonechat along the path near Christmas hide. I managed to get this less than stunning shot of the Stonechat as it waved around in the wind. Is it me or does this bird have a seriously bad attitude?

CHATTITUDE

Other birds seen in the vicinity included a Sparrowhawk which glided across the path putting up a Common Snipe from the watery meadow, half a dozen Meadow Pipits, a couple of Little Egrets, two Lapwings, and a couple of Marsh Harriers which unlike me seemed to relish the blustery conditions, sometimes hanging like Kestrels above the reeds, head on to the wind as they searched for a meal.

I was pleased to seek shelter in the Denge Marsh hide and was surprised to find it completely empty. So I took the prime position and while there was nothing much to see I amused myself trying to get a few pictures despite the greyness and lack of light. First to oblige was the Little Grebe below. I was really pleased to get a couple of shots of this super little bird, something i've not managed to do before. They are so incredibly shy I can never get near enough.

Next up was this female Ruddy Duck, one of two which showed up and stayed long enough for me to capture a few poses. They are of course superb divers so I wound up the elastic band in the camera to full speed and spent a bit of time trying to capture the action. They are very quick and you get no real warning when they are about to dive but dozens of shots later I managed to get it nearly right hopefully.

The only other notable bird seen from the hide was a distant Kingfisher so I decided it was time to call it a day and head back to the visitor centre. On the way I added Chaffinch, Gt. Spotted Woodpecker and another Kestrel, or more likely the same one I saw earlier. Anyway this one had a tasty morsel in it's sights and hovered just long enough for a couple of quick shots before diving to the ground, unfortunately lifting back up empty handed a few seconds later.

When I reached the car park I sat in the car and had a late lunch while watching the feeders. This paid off when I saw a Reed Bunting, surprisingly scarce at the moment and two Tree Sparrows bringing the species list to 46. Excellent reward for a bit of an uncomfortable few hours
at Dungie.

New Hythe Gold 5th October

After a long weekend without being able to get out I was going stir crazy this morning. So despite the dull, grey, miserably damp conditions I set out for New Hythe, safe in the knowledge that according to the forecast just the odd spot of light rain would fall in the morning...................

.............surprise, surprise, it rained all the time I was there virtually! Unsurprisingly the birds, like me, were trying to keep out of the rain so it was hard going, especially as my binoculars kept misting over in the warm wet conditions. The picture below shows the creek with the small wood on the left. Obviously the tide was right in otherwise this would be just a small stream with muddy banks flowing into the river Medway. It was here that I picked up a small flock of Teal, a Common Gull and a Kingfisher which flew in low as I was taking the picture , it saw me just as it was about to land on a small branch and departed before I could get a shot. All three of these are new for the month and bought my total to 42 species.

I was really surprised at the number of Chiffchaffs still around at NH. I must have seen eight or nine at least during my walk, it has been a warm October so far, maybe this is encouraging some to stay. There are usually a few over wintering birds here, perhaps there'll be a few more this year. In and around the sunken marsh I found all the usual species including Grey Wagtail, Jays, Cormorants, Gt Spotted Woodpecker, Chaffinch, Wren, Blackcap and a single Dunnock, which together with a steady trickle of Swallows following the river south bought my total to 44 so far for the month.

Still no sign of Pochard, Gadwall or Shoveler on Brooklands or Abbey Mead lakes where the Coots, Tufties and Gt Crested Grebes still have the place almost to their self.

I made my way to the railway crossing picking up a few more bits on the way including Song Thrush, Blackbird and Goldfinch. It was raining quite hard now so I decided to turn back at the crossing. But before I did I noticed a lot of small birds flying across from one side to the other into thick bushes so I stopped for a while and watched Long Tailed, Blue and Great Tits, together with two or three Chiffchaffs move across. Then I heard a small high pitched song coming from the bushes which I thought I recognised. I stood for a full fifteen minutes at least trying to get a glimpse of the singer and then there it was, flitting restlessly through the rain soaked branches. A Goldcrest!!!!!!! At last. This is the first one i've seen at New Hythe since 16th September 2009. Unfortunately the only quick picture I could get was as it flew off, but never mind it's something at least. One Swallow doesn't make a Summer they say, and no doubt one Goldcrest doesn't make a Winter.......but it's a start.

At the end of the morning I had seen a hard earned 34 species. My New Hythe year list hit 96 species. And my October New Hythe total reached a dizzy 45.

The only other wildlife today was surprisingly a Red Admiral struggling past. And a nose to knee encounter with a fox along the river path on the way back. I don't know who was most surprised but he turned tail and trotted off so I guess it was him. If you believe the popular press you'll be surprised that I wasn't set upon by this ferocious beast. Percy Cuted was his name..........

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................................