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 Wednesday 15th September

I only had a couple of hours today so I got to Brooklands car park almost at the crack of dawn, which is 08.00 in British Summer Time...............


It was a great morning, a bit cool to start with but then the September sun began to work it's magic and it warmed up nicely and turned into a proper hop picking morning, I could almost smell the aroma of the hops wafting up from memory lane. Only trouble is hop picking mornings were notoriously damp underfoot and today was no exception, so it was on with the gaiters, it only seems like five minutes ago I was packing them away for the Summer.


A pair of Mistle Thrushes, a Great Spotted Woodpecker and a flock of House Martins all made the notebook before I left the car park so that was a good start. I noticed that the river was fairly high although the tide was ebbing so I didn't go down to the small wood where i'd seen the two Kingfishers from on monday. As I walked along the Sunken Marsh path I looked back to the wood and saw three Grey Herons perched in the trees facing the river, basking in the early sun so i'm glad I didn't disturb them. I haven't seen them there before. A dunnock, a pair of Linnets, and a small flock of Greenfinches were in the marsh as was a Chiffchaff which was singing it's Chiff-chaff song and this, coupled with the sun and the now warmish breeze, made it feel positively Spring like.


There were maybe 150 Hirundines spread over Brookland and Abbey Mead lakes, mostly House Martins but with a good sprinkling of Sand Martins and the odd Swallow. As I watched them a Sparrowhawk flew over creating panic and a Kingfisher called from Brookland lake, I went to investigate and saw two bolts of blue flying characteristically low over the flat calm surface, at least it was calm before the Swan pictured below came in for a high speed crash landing.

I checked out the railway path because it was here that I found a Spotted Flycatcher at about this time last year. No luck today though, just a few dragons one of which allowed me a picture, I think it might be a Common Darter? And a Magpie which I snapped while waiting for a Jay to reappear after flying into an Oak tree. I didn't get the Jay picture, I never do!

The East Scrub was quiet, only brightened by the familiar Green Woodpeckers and a small charm of Goldfinches. The mixed flock that I saw there on Monday had moved on but luckily I managed to find a similar (or the same) flock, this time in the West Scrub. Blue Tits, Great Tits, Long tailed Tits, as pictured below, Chiffchaffs, Blackcaps and other LBJ's which were too quick to ID all busied themselves roaming from tree to tree continually calling and feeding in earnest.

With time running out I cut through the small copse alongside the Bittern viewing area on Streamside lake. As I emerged I once again nearly stepped on a Slow Worm. This one was right on the edge of the path in the shade of the trees in the copse. I took a couple of quick pictures and was about to move on, but it was in such a vulnerable position and it hadn't moved an inch while I was there, so I thought I would move it somewhere a bit safer. It offered no resistance to me picking it up and made no effort to escape so I guessed it was too cold. I moved it to a warm sunny spot about six feet away, where it seemed to revive very quickly and soon slid off into the undergrowth.

Also in this area I found this nice little flower which I think is Common Toadflax and below that is a Shaggy Inkcap, one of many that have sprung up across the site almost overnight.

Now, as if there weren't enough reasons to visit New Hythe there's now a new one. It's a nice little bench that's been provided by the Country Park Management I think. It's a welcome place to rest weary legs along the Millstream path before returning back to the car park. You might want to eat your lunch before you get there though, as it also offers great views and aromas of the sewage plant just 40 or 50 feet away across the stream. How thoughtful is that? I haven't seen anybody use it yet.....................I wonder why?

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

Lake District and New Hythe

I took the photograph above from about three quarters of the way up a small mountain called Haystacks. It shows Buttermere in the foreground and Crummock Water just visible in the distance. This is one of our favourite places in the Lake District and we make this tiring ascent and leg wobbling descent whenever we are in the Lakes and the weather allows it. The view in the other direction takes in one of the best known and loved mountains in the Lakes, Great Gable, towering over three thousand feet up from the shores of Wastwater, England's deepest lake.

This area is not always blessed with fine weather but this time we were very lucky and out of twelve full days we were able to get our boots and rucksacks on and haul ourselves up hill and down dale for ten of them, racking up a total of 71 aching miles of fells, lakes and mountain tarns in all four corners of this spectacular National Park.

The bad news is that the wildlife was a bit thin on the ground and in the air. The lower slopes and valleys offered a fairly good range of birds but the higher fells as you would expect were the domain of Crows and Ravens and Meadow Pipits and the usual Buzzards riding high on the thermals, their presence often announced by their evocative calls.

I soon realised that carrying a camera with a long and fairly heavy lens was a no no, especially on the high climbs. So I didn't take many pictures of the other species seen which included a juvenile Osprey at Bassenthwaite, Stonechats, Tree creepers, Nuthatch, Wheatears, Chaffinches in abundance, pictured below, a couple of Dippers, one also pictured below, Coal Tits, Bullfinches, Siskins and hundreds of Jackdaws. And If you wondered where all the Swallows and House Martins are, they are in Cumbria, thousands of them.

Dragonflies were also hard to find although I did see quite a few of the specimen pictured below which I think is a Common Hawker which are fairly widespread in moorland areas in the north and west. Damselflies were even scarcer with just a few seen and not identified.

After arriving home on saturday and resting the poor old legs on sunday I was keen to stretch them again today over the much flatter and less demanding terrain of our very own 'lake district' at New Hythe.

In warm conditions and a strong wind I strode out of Brooklands car park full of optimism that a Whinchat, Wheatear, Redstart or one of Warren Baker's Ospreys would make an appearance for me. Alas it wasn't to be. The usual species turned up around Brookland and Abbeymead lakes in the shape of Canada Geese, a small flock of House Martins and Swallows, a couple of Jays and two very large flocks of mixed Tits calling continuously to each other as they fed excitedly and leapfrogged their way across the open spaces between the trees. Surprisingly I didn't find any other species with them but I bet there were some there among the crowd.

On Abbey mead there was at least sixty Tufted Duck, probably more, which weren't there when I last visited.

Around the sunken marsh I found a couple of Blackcaps feeding on the Elder berries and a single Reed Warbler made a brief appearance as did a couple of Greenfinches. A Kestrel hovered across the river which was flooding in at a rapid pace covering all but one small muddy area where a Common Sandpiper bobbed and fed alongside a couple of Herons.

I searched the East Scrub for a while but failed to turn up anything more than a couple of Green Woodpeckers and a few Common Whitethroat before moving on to the Divers' footbridge area. While I was there I heard what I thought was a Kingfisher whistling in the corner of the Millstream lake. The call was coming from an overhanging tree and after a lot of peering and squinting I managed to get a glimpse of a juvenile Kingfisher being fed a small fish which was caught by a parent bird as I crouched not ten feet away from them. I've often seen Kingfishers dive from a distance but that was the closest I've ever seen it happen, absolutely brilliant! I spent a good twenty minutes trying to get a clear shot at the youngster but the leaves were so dense that all I could get was what you can see below, a bit embarrassing really but it was hard won so worth posting I thought.
Also here I saw a family of Great Crested Grebes with three young, still with stripey heads and being fed by the adult, must be quite a late brood.

Sunshine on a cloudy day

I haven't had much time to get out this week what with the weather and a few gardening jobs to see to. Today was my chance to remedy this, so when I saw the rain this morning I was not a happy chappie. That is until I looked out of the kitchen window at about 9 o'clock and saw this ray of sunshine sitting by my pond. The pictures were taken through rain streaked patio doors and the light was rubbish but what a great way to brighten up a dismal morning.

KINGFISHER

There has been quite a bit of Kingfisher activity around the lake this week with two birds calling excitedly and on occasions flying over the garden and once even over the top of the house. I wondered if these might be newly fledged birds although this does fit the adult courtship behaviour, maybe a prelude to a second brood hopefully.

The picture above leads me to think that it's a young bird; the chest looks slightly mottled, the feet are not bright red as in adults and the bill looks slightly short to me. If it is it will soon be on it's way, as they become independent a few days after fledging and then face the most dangerous time of their lives learning to dive and feed, young birds can become waterlogged and drown or die of starvation if they don't get it right. If it helps, this one can practice in my pond anytime it likes!

Other garden news today is the fledging, at last, of the Blue Tit family from our nest box down the garden. What a day to choose, they were probably just fed up of waiting for a decent day to arrive. Just like me in fact!

New Hythe Wednesday 24th March

I was going to get a few jobs done around the house today but the weather was so good this morning that I decided to have a short trip around the lakes. There was a falling tide on the river but it hadn't dropped enough to expose the islands and there wasn't much to see except for this Kingfisher which darted across from the far bank and landed, half hidden in the reedbed. The picture below was the best I could do in the circumstances!

KINGFISHER

The recently quiet Sunken Marsh had woken up somewhat and was home to several calling Cetti's Warblers at least three singing Chiffchaffs and a couple of Dunnock warbling from the low bushes. It was so good I nearly joined in myself! Further upstream I noticed a single Reed Bunting calling while perched on the top of a reed stem, swaying gently in the warm breeze. This in contrast to the dozens seen the day before at Dungeness.

I turned right from the Sunken Marsh and made my way along to the bottom of the mound where another couple of Chiffchaffs chased each other at high speed through the tangle of bushes, one stopped to sing the familiar Chiffchaff serenade but the other resorted to the "huiyt"

call more associated with Autumn I thought. The scene here was completed by the antics of a pair of Blue Tits (below) who were also playing hard to get but stopping the chase occasionally to feed in the Spring sunshine.

BLUE TITS.............

I climbed to the top of the mound and scanned for a while in the hope of spotting a Hirundine but it didn't happen, much better chance with a low cloud base or a bit of drizzle to pull them down lower I think. While there I got a call from Martin Warburton who had just arrived in the car park, I met him along the Eastern side of Brookland lake and we did another circuit of the Marsh spotting a distant Buzzard drifting Eastward, as ever being escorted off the premises by a local Crow. Further along Martin spotted a Green Sandpiper arriving on the now exposed mud of the riverbank giving good views as it took off and flew upstream for a bit of peace and quiet.

I was back at the car one and a half hours after arriving but i'd seen some good birds in that short time...................time to get those jobs done at home now!

AND ANOTHER