Dungeness RSPB Friday 17th September

Dungeness lived up to it's windy reputation today but thankfully it was bright and as ever there was plenty going on, but you had to look for it.

Bird highlights included a quartet of raptors including the ever present Marsh Harriers, supported by at least five hovering Kestrels, possibly a couple more, three dashing Hobbies and a low flying Sparrowhawk.

On the Hirundine front Sand Martins were by far the most numerous with just a smattering of Swallows and a few House Martins. In the singing department Cetti's Warblers came 'Top of the Pops' singing from every corner of the reserve. For sheer good looks it was a close call between a Kingfisher and a Great White Egret both seen near the Denge Marsh hide.

Over on the ARC site the entertainment included three stunning Black Terns, two Dunlin, two Black tailed Godwits, two Med Gulls and three Pintails. You can't complain about that line up can you? In all I found 43 species of birds today. But that wasn't all, I also found Frogs, a Grass Snake, a very handsome caterpillar, a few butterflies, loads of Dragonflies, a cricket and more Common Lizards than you can shake a stick at, which I think is what the Kestrels were after.

Not everything came under the gaze of my lens, but below are some of the super creatures that did.

MARSH FROGS...JUST HANGING OUT

CATERPILLAR OF THE KNOTGRASS MOTH

SMALL HEATH BUTTERFLY

HOBBY

MIGRANT HAWKER'S LUNCH (YUK!)

MIGRANT HAWKER'S DESSERT

SMALL COPPER

ROESEL'S BUSH CRICKET

CORMORANT

COMMON DARTER? ON A BROWN TAIL MOTH TENT I THINK

COMMON LIZARD

AND AGAIN SHOWING COLOUR VARIATION

THERE WERE ACTUALLY FIVE HERE, ONE GOT AWAY!

Stodmarsh NNR 28th April

CUCKOOFLOWER OR LADIES SMOCK

I was torn between a visit to Dungeness or a visit to Stodmarsh today. I chose Stodmarsh in the end for two reasons, the first was to try and see my first Hobby of the year and the second was to try and see my first Grasshopper Warbler ever, there have been two there recently.

The walk from the car park down to the river was alive with birdsong, Common Whitethroat, Chaffinch, Chiffchaffs, Great Tit, Dunnocks, Reed Bunting, Wren and Cetti's Warbler, who were again quite showy today, all laid claim to their own piece of air space in the warm sunshine. I also heard at least three Garden Warblers along here, one of which I managed to see deep in the tangled undergrowth. my first of the year. The big lake was home to about a dozen Common Terns, their rasping calls filling the air as they circled daintily overhead. Gt Crested Grebes and a few Shelduck shared the rest of the lake with a few Mallard and Coots.

CHAFFINCH

Just before the path turns away from the river at the Grove Ferry end I was pleased to hear a sound not heard since last summer, the screeching calls of about half a dozen Swifts flying past overhead. For me this is one of the most evocative sounds of the year which along with the Skylark song, which I heard a few minutes later, conjures up instant pictures in my mind of warm, halcyon summer days. Their visit unfortunately is all too short and they will depart as 'swiftly' as they arrived by the end of August or very early September, and who can blame them. Here also I noticed the plant below growing beneath the hedgerow. I think it's Lesser Periwinkle, please let me know if i'm wrong.

LESSER PERIWINKLE

Butterflies were few and far between today surprisingly, a few Peacocks on the wing as ever, still looking a bit ragged as below and I did see a few Green Veined Whites but they weren't inclined to let me take their picture, always dashing past as if late for some very important meeting somewhere.

PEACOCK

From the viewing mound I could see that the adjacent paddocks were host to Crows, Jackdaws a few Rooks and a Green Woodpecker but not much else. The pools also were virtually uninhabited, only the reedbeds showed signs of avian presence, from where the incessant chatter of Reed Warblers and Sedge Warblers emanated but only one solitary Sedge was brazen enough to show himself on the top of a small Hawthorn bush.

The David Feast hide aka the Green hide was equally disappointing with just two Common Terns (below) a sleeping Greylag Goose and a Moorhen to entertain me. Although I was pleased to see the first of many Hobbys fly over the hide and also one of about five Marsh Harriers also float by.

COMMON TERNS

As I made my way to the Marsh hide I noticed lots of small shiny beetles along the side of the ditches (below). Since getting home I think I have identified them as Mint Leaf Beetles but again i'm happy to be corrected if necessary!

MINT LEAF BEETLES

I was also very pleased to see five more Hobbys all in the air together close to the Marsh hide. I managed to get a couple of action shots, not brilliant but they'll do. The second one I believe shows the bird feeding on the wing having caught an insect in flight.

HOBBY

HOBBY

It was standing room only in the Marsh hide. I had a quick scan from the back to locate a single Greenshank and a couple of Lapwings and an elderly lady asked me if I could see the bulge in a Heron's neck caused by it just swallowing a Marsh Frog? I replied that I could and suggested that maybe it just had a Frog in it's throat. I then left while the going was good. I was glad that I did actually because once back outside I heard a Bittern booming close by, another first for me. Also this Marsh Harrier soared quite high overhead while I listened.

MARSH HARRIER

Have you noticed what a spectacular year it is for Dandelions? They are everywhere, presumably something has caused this but I don't know what. All I know is they look much better in the wild than they do in my back lawn.

The sound that greets you at Stodmarsh above almost everything else is the 'singing' of the Marsh Frogs, it's spectacular, it's incessant, it's loud, it's raucous and it eventually gets on your nerves. This is one of the thousands of culprits!

MARSH FROG

Final bird of the day was this magnificent male Marsh Harrier below, one of about five seen, all males. Presumably the females are now sitting on nests somewhere.

So, no Grasshopper Warbler seen or heard today but the Hobbys were spectacular. A pretty interesting day all round with over 40 species seen.

MALE MARSH HARRIER

Dungeness 13th April

The brisk North Easterly wind blew Ken Browne and myself no good today. It was an ill wind.

We arrived at Dungeness RSPB reserve at about 10am and our interest was immediately captured by a male Kestrel flying across the track with a small vole in it's grasp. He flew over to the large nest box on the front of the farm building and handed his prize to a female Kestrel who then flew away, presumably to feast on her gift, unless they have chicks somewhere but I thought it was a bit early for that?

We drove down to the third hide, Makepeace I think it's called where a scan of the gravel pit revealed just a few species including Oystercatcher, Cormorant, Shoveler, Marsh Harrier and assorted Gulls. Pretty quiet really and not helped by the strong cold breeze which also didn't lend itself to camera opportunities throughout the day. The walk along the track down to Christmas Dell gave us a Little Egret which flew low to the West allowing the early sun to show off it's yellow feet which always look a bit bizarre to me stuck on the end of black legs.

There were a few Curlew feeding in the flooded fields and the ever present Reed Buntings sang their simple song alongside the chatter of Sedge Warblers hidden deep in the trackside brambles. A pair of flyover Wigeon caught our attention here as did displaying Lapwing whose tumbling flight seemed all the more dramatic in the squally wind. The almost resident pair of Shelduck were still in the flooded meadow where they have been for some weeks now and there were also three Black-Tailed Godwit in the same area one male looking resplendent in chestnut red spring plumage.

We decided to return to the car and drive back to the visitor centre and round the track to Denge Marsh hide and while walking back we passed the New Excavations and found our first of four Slavonian Grebes of the day superbly decked out in their summer plumage of black and chestnut with yellow/orange 'horns' , very impressive, I just wish we could have got a picture! Also impressive were the two male Yellow Wagtails bouncing around by the car park fence who also denied Ken the chance of a photograph, never mind.

Lunch in Denge Marsh hide was a busy affair, not with birds but with people, everybody seemed to have the same idea I think. Another Salavonian Grebe here, along with a couple of Little Grebe and Gt Crested Grebe, a single Swallow spotted by Ken and a Stock Dove all added to the list. While Ken remained on hide duty I took a quick stroll down the track to see what else I could find and was soon rewarded with a Weasel scurrying across the track, head held high and a small vole species held firmly in it's jaws (bad day for Voles today!). I usually try and call these and Stoats back when I see them and it usually works well but since this one already had his lunch sorted I left him alone to enjoy it. Among the calls of Sedge Warbler, Cetti's Warbler and Dunnock I then heard the scratchy song of a Whitethroat, I waited for quite a few minutes for it to make a brief appearance and when it did I shot it (below), not a great job but very welcome.

WHITETHROAT

I went to get Ken to share the find but unfortunately there was no sign when we got back. Ken however soon spotted a Stoat running across the track, this time I did try to call it back and we did indeed get a further short view of what seemed to be a very large Stoat, I don't recall seeing one as big as that before. A quick scan of the small lake here revealed our third and best view of a Slav Grebe but again no pics were possible. There was just time to spot a Linnet on the gorse before returning to the car and heading for the ARC site.

Quite a few Hirundines here, mostly Swallows but a good number of House Martins and one or two Sand Martins to complete the trio. We walked round the Willow trail where we were amazed by the number of Frogs basking in the slightly sheltered sunny edges of the flooded interior. I assume these were Marsh Frogs, although not sure. They were all the same size 2-3 inches long and they were plopping into the water with almost every step we took. Ken also spotted a small lizard making it's way across the very wet ground, it didn't seem too lively so I picked it up gently and returned it to the drier side of the track. Final sightings from the Hanson hide included a couple of distant female Goldeneye, three more species of Gull, Great Black Backed, Black Headed and Common and finally the fourth of our Salvonian Grebes.

Nice one Ken. Nice one Dungeness.

COMMON LIZARD

MARSH FROG?

Stodmarsh 18th March

Carol had a free day today so I took her to Stodmarsh National Nature Reserve, I know how to treat a lady. The reserve lies just outside Canterbury and is home to large reedbeds and open marshland.

We parked in the car park at the Stodmarsh village end of the reserve and began our walk alongside the river, this is the tidal section of the Great Stour which is why I was surprised to hear the "plop" of frogs jumping into the river as we walked down as I didn't think they would be found in brackish water. The one pictured below was on the path and I think it's a Marsh Frog, these are an alien species that were first introduced in the Walland Marsh area of Kent in the 1930's and have thrived ever since, they are also tolerant of brackish water which explains why they were in the river.

MARSH FROG

The first notable bird sighting was of a very vocal and very showy Cetti's Warbler, one of many heard on the way round the 5km route. I believe Stodmarsh was the first recorded breeding site in the UK for Cetti's Warblers so starting with one is nicely appropriate. Marsh Harriers were also in abundance in this area with at least six being counted in the air at one time including a couple of superb males whose plumage was shown at it's best in the short lived morning sun. A female Bullfinch graced us with her presence next but her partner, although calling nearby kept his good looks to himself.

Lunch was taken at the viewing ramp in what was now a fairly cool south westerly breeze but it was worth the slight discomfort to sit and listen to a Skylark pouring out it's liquid, warbling song above the paddock next door. This instantly and will always transport me back to sunny childhood days on the North Downs chasing rabbits and searching for Slowworms and Grass Snakes.

The David Feast hide was a disappointment all that was in attendance were two Tufties a Gt Crested Grebe, a couple of Coots and a Swan with a dirty neck who had obviously been having a good feed in the shallow muddy water. You'll hopefully forgive my indulgence, I just can't resist a few more pictures of this most photogenic bird.

GREAT CRESTED GREBE

On the way to the Marsh Hide we passed the resident Konic ponies which are a semi wild breed originating from Poland and are used to help keep down areas of scrubland and to improve habitat for some of the wader species. I just couldn't resist giving this youngster his very own name..........................

HARRY KONIC JNR

From the Marsh hide we saw Little Egret pictured below, Lapwings and Meadow Pipits as well as another couple of Marsh Harriers, unfortunately we missed the Bittern which some people had seen from here earlier

The last part of the walk was pretty quiet and by now the overcast skies and strong wind were making conditions slightly uncomfortable, we heard some Bearded Tits pinging in the distance and a couple of times we saw what we thought were these birds disappearing into the reeds but we couldn't be sure. What we were sure of was the three or four Wrens chasing each other around and singing fit to burst their tiny lungs in the nature reserve area approaching the car park. They finished the walk off nicely for us and this one can finish the post off nicely as well.

WREN