HIGH AS A KITE AT NEW HYTHE

New Hythe was absolutely bursting with bird song this morning. Nightingales, Cetti's Warblers, Wrens, Robins, Dunnocks, Chiffchaffs and Common Whitethroats (pictured above), all filled the unseasonally warm, Mayflower scented air with their own individual songs. Spring is well and truly underway, confirmation, as if needed, being my first Hairy Dragonfly of the year. These are the smallest of the Hawkers and this male was the only one I saw today who actually came down to rest, all the others were far too busy patrolling their territories and seeing off intruders.

As I climbed up to the newly christened raptor viewpoint between the sunken marsh and Brooklands lake I heard a Lesser Whitethroat rattling from the undergrowth and after a short wait I was rewarded with a short view of this, the more secretive of the two Whitethroats. I was pleased because this was my 93rd New Hythe species this year. But I was far more pleased with my 94th!

After crossing the railway line I started to turn into the east scrub when I noticed a fairly big bird heading towards me, I thought it was a Marsh Harrier but as it drew nearer I realised that at last, I'd found my first Kent Red Kite, fanatastic! I knew it had to arrive soon and of course getting it at New Hythe is the icing on the cake. To say I was chuffed is an understatement. I fired off a few shots as it headed north over the Railway lake where it was ambushed by a Carrion Crow, there was a brief tussle and the Kite turned and eventually disappeared to the south towards Warren at Pittswood most probably. The shots aren't great, all the usual reasons apply, but as ever a left click on them will help a bit.

After all the excitement I decided that something calming was needed, and what better than a spot of Water Vole watching. Three Water Voles to be precise, all along the same stretch of ditch. The one pictured below was the only one I managed to get a picture of though, he probably thought he couldn't be seen hidden in the reeds having his lunch, but he was wrong.

I checked the east scrub for Grizzled and Dingy Skippers on the way back but couldn't find any, just a few unidentified day flying moths. Four Slow worms were under the refugia and various butterflies including Red Admiral, Peacock, Holly Blue and Orange Tip flew across the scrub without stopping.
There seems to be an abundance of Ladybirds this year, I found these two having a bit of fun but i'm not sure that one of them is a Lady, or the other one come to that!

Some garden news now and we've had a constant stream of Holly Blue butterflies visiting the Pyracantha bush and yesterday I discovered why. They were egg laying, as you can see from the picture below. Apparently Pyracantha is quite commonly used by this species as well as the more usual Ivy, you live and learn. I found the eggs that were laid by this one but they were much too small for me to get a picture of with my camera.

Now for the bad news. I noticed that activity seemed to have stopped in our nest box down the bottom of the garden and when I was mowing the grass down there over the weekend I found out why. One of the pair of Blue Tits had been predated, either by a cat or a Sparrowhawk, just a small pile of feathers on the grass were all that remained. So no fledglings from that box this year unfortunately. What a waste!

As for the camera box, well, the nest was all completed by the pair of Blue Tits who then disappeared for a few days. On friday they were back and the male spent all day displaying to his lady, with flickering wings and fanned tail, how could she resist him. Quite easily it seems, for the last four days he has chased her, sung to her, called to her from the highest tree and wooed her from dawn to dusk. He flies to the nest box and clings to the front looking around anxiously until she finally appears close by and then he dives in the box as if inviting her in to his boudoir. But is she interested? Is she fiddle! She just sits there, ignoring him, while he peers out looking forlorn. It's heartbreaking, I don't know how much longer he can keep it up. There may be trouble ahead!

NEW HYTHE THURSDAY 7TH APRIL 2011

Another glorious Spring day and after a day in the garden yesterday, during which I snapped the above male Orangetip, where better to spend it than New Hythe lakes. One of the highlights was seeing the Water Vole pictured below, one of two found today along the same stretch of water. I really hope that others will be found around the site after just about disappearing last year.

I was pleased to see that the Swans are once again nesting on Brooklands lake, I hope they have better luck than last year when they lost their cygnets. Just the usual species on this lake at the moment, no sign today of the Common Tern which was there yesterday. Although I didn't get out properly yesterday I did call in for ten minutes following a text from Alan Roman telling me the Tern was there, so that was a good year tick taking me to 86 species so far at New Hythe.

Around the sunken marsh the Cetti's Warblers made their presence felt alongside that other mega vocalist, the Wren, such small birds, such big lungs! I lost count of how many Blackcaps I saw and heard, both male and female. Nightingales were heard singing across the river from the marsh, in the SW corner of Abbey Mead, in the east scrub, by the pylon and in the west scrub.

The nettles are growing fast now and i'm not overly pleased to say I got my first stings of the year today while trying to get the above picture of our old friend the marmalade hoverfly, Episyrphus balteatus, (hopefully)

I called in at the small wood for a sit down on the bucket and witnessed a right old punch up between four Shelducks. The two males clashed first of all and then the two females had their own scrap. No one was seriously hurt but it was quite spectacular to watch.

A Wren was patrolling the reed margins by the river and was in full vocal form, they are such little characters and I thought he deserved his ten minutes of fame, so here he is.

Kestrel, Kingfisher, GBB Gull and a single Gadwall were all seen from the bucket, but the hoped for Hirundines were nowhere to be seen today.

I was pleased to be joined by Jerry Warne a bit later who was hoping to catch up with the two Oystercatchers who have been hanging around at low tide recently. Unfortunately they didn't show today but he did find a Green Sandpiper on the opposite bank, a good tick for the month for me. We also spotted at least five Buzzards and a Sparrowhawk over the downs and a distant Lapwing was a first for a while.

A total of 44 species logged today as well as Small Tortoiseshell, Orange Tip, Peacock and a superb Brimstone on the butterfly front. I don't usually publish the complete list, but i'm going to today so that anyone thinking of visiting the site over the weekend will get an idea of just some of the birds they might see. There will of course be plenty of others.

Collared Dove, Blue Tit, Herring Gull, Wood Pigeon, Great Tit, Wren, Coot, Tuftie, Mute Swan, BH Gull, Moorhen, Cetti's Warbler, Nightingale, GC Grebe, Mallard, Goldfinch, Pied Wagtail, Shelduck, LT Tit, Kingfisher, Dunnock, Cormorant, Grey Heron, Carrion Crow, Chaffinch, Chiffchaff, Blackbird, Greylag Goose, Canada Goose, Magpie, Bullfinch, Blackcap, GBB Gull, Robin, Jay, Gadwall, Kestrel, Buzzard, Lapwing, Reed Bunting, Sparrowhawk, Green Sandpiper, Linnet, LBB Gull.

HAPPY NEW HYTHE 2011!

I paid my last visit of the year to New Hythe this morning. The weather was so misty and gloomy that taking pictures was a waste of time. The shot of the Water Vole above was taken at New Hythe last year, before I started my blog. These creatures were a common sight down there then and I can remember seeing as many as five in one short stretch of water filled ditch. This year I have seen just one and that was some time back. My New Year's wish is for them to make a recovery there next year.

Anyway, despite the gloomy conditions I managed to record a total of 46 species today, I was well pleased with that. I was also pleased with the amount of Blue Tits, Wrens and Dunnocks around, hopefully they have weathered the storm reasonably well so far. Cetti's Warblers were totally absent though, with none seen or heard during my three and a half hour visit.

Although the thaw is well under way, the lakes are still frozen, meaning hard times still for the Herons and also the Bitterns of which I saw just one today. It saw me first though and lifted up from the south west corner of Abbey Mead lake, disappearing into the fog on the other side, no doubt cursing my interruption. I spent the next half an hour searching for the Firecrest along the southern edge of the lake but without success, although a Goldcrest was a good second best.

There were a couple of Green Woodpeckers on the east scrub which has gone from ice rink to mud bath now and a flock of at least twenty Siskins were along the Brook House track, but no Waxwings there today, or anywhere else for that matter. On the way back, the river path was home to the usual elusive Bullfinches and although I heard a lot of calling only one was spotted, as was a fine male Sparrowhawk which I later saw chasing, and failing to catch a Song Thrush.

With time running out I decided to spend the last half hour watching from the small wood by the river. I was glad I did actually because I saw a Little Egret fly over the river upstream, the first i've seen in a while and an addition to the December list making 67. I also saw a single Redshank downstream opposite the mill and a flock of between twenty and twenty five Lapwings further down. A flotilla of twenty two Gadwall at the mouth of the creek were the stars of the wildfowl show with a supporting cast of Teal, Little Grebes, Moorhens and Mallards. Finally, while taking my boots off back at the car park a lone Jackdaw circled low above me and added itself to the December list, bringing it to a probable close at 68 which is one shy of Warren's prediction for me!

As I said earlier it's unlikely that i'll get out tomorrow, which means that my year list for New Hythe will stay at 102. I'm quite pleased with that, especially as at one point I doubted whether I could reach 100. On the other hand, in 2009 I reached 107 species and it would have been nice to beat that. There were nine species recorded in 2009 that I didn't manage to find this year, they are;

Common Crane

Stonechat

Whinchat

Spotted Flycatcher

Firecrest

Med Gull

Red-crested Pochard

Wheatear

Marsh Harrier

Conversely, there were four species recorded in 2010 which were not seen in 2009 and they are;

Slavonian Grebe

Waxwing

Skylark

Smew (Redhead)

Of course this is just one part of the story. The bigger picture is the endless mass of amazing Insects, Butterflies, Dragonflies, Damselflies, Reptiles, Amphibians, Mammals, Flowers and wildlife dramas that were seen and sometimes recorded on every visit that I made during the whole year.................roll on 2011 and a happy new year to you!

New Hythe Lakes 26th & 27th April

I caught this Canada Goose having a gander over my garden fence yesterday morning, you just can't get any privacy any more.

It was a bit grey and quite cool when I went for a quick stroll down to the lakes yesterday morning. The odd little glimpse of the sun first thing bought out one or two butterflies like the Speckled Wood below but they were few and far between, as were the birds. Apart from a brief glimpse of a Stoat the only notable sighting was a small flock of Swifts which was a New Hythe year tick for me giving me a total so far of 84 species. There have been sightings here of Turtle Dove, Common Tern, Lesser Whitethroat and Mediterranean Gull recently, all of which have so far eluded me. Last years total of 107 species seems like a long way off at the moment.

SPECKLED WOOD

Today was a much brighter day so despite having swollen chops and stitches after minor surgery to my bottom jaw yesterday afternoon I hit the lakes once again. There seemed to be much more activity in the Sunken Marsh on my way through, there was a pair of Reed Warblers chasing each other around in the reeds to the right just as you enter the marsh but as usual fleeting glimpses were the order of the day despite waiting for about 10 minutes. Also still here are the pair of Linnets which are nesting in the vicinity but again pictures were hard to come by. Some days it just won't happen as was the case of the Cuckoo which suddenly flew right over my head as I walked along the river, I fired off a few shots of this one but they turned out to be no more than silhouettes really.

I stood in the East Scrub listening to the Nightingales singing all around and scanning for a possible Redstart, which i've found here before in April, when the Grey Heron below flew slowly and gracefully overhead, thankfully this turned out a bit better than the Cuckoo effort.

GREY HERON

Soon after this I met Eddie and his mate just coming out of the West Scrub area, after a brief chat I went on my way, only to be called back by Eddie as he'd found a Water Vole in the polluted stream (picture below). I think this is good news, it seemed healthy enough and was feeding on the reeds quite happily.

WATER VOLE

Quite close by I inadvertantly disturbed the Moorhen from this nest, I took a quick picture and retreated discreetly.

MOORHEN'S NEST

Earlier on I had lifted some pieces of refugia and found a couple of Newt Efts and a Slow Worm so we went back to check them out again and with a bit of help from Eddie managed to get this shot of the Slow Worm although I was a bit disappointed that he wasn't flicking his tongue out in it. I'm never satisfied.

SLOW WORM

We scanned the Heronry on the way back looking for a possible nesting Little Egret but to no avail. The cuckoo was still calling from the other side of the river though and was skillfully spotted by Eddie high up in a tree. The Cuckoo that is, not Eddie! A few Common Whitethroat sang and showed off their display flights to us around Brookland and a very showy Cetti's Warbler flew into and out of a small tree giving nice views. A Sparrowhawk circled high on the far side of the lake and the Mistle Thrush was, as ever, on duty on the grass beside the old cafe rounding off a very pleasant visit.

New Hythe 1st March

Frustratingly I only had a couple of hours this morning but I managed to make the most of them though. The first thing I noticed after parking the car was that there was a new "lake" adjacent to Brooklands car park. This has been caused by the Millstream bursting it's bank and overflowing into the sunken area next to the railway line. I've never seen this happen before so that's a measure of the amount of rain that's fallen recently.


I caught up with Alan Roman alongside the mound and as we turned left along the Northern edge of Abbey Mead lake I noticed a dark shape among the reeds at the waters edge, a quick look through my bins confirmed it as a Bittern, as you can see in the pictures below it was grasping a clump of reeds about halfway up the stems and pointing it's beak skywards in classic Bittern pose.

The river was the colour of strong tea and was running downstream fast although the tide should have been coming in, I think maybe this had something to do with the amount of floodwater the river was carrying. Not much to see here but as we stood in the warm sunshine this Swan paid us a visit, so naturally I had to take it's photograph, they are just so photogenic.

There were actually a pair of Mallards swimming on the East Scrub (flood) today, it's looking more like a wader scrape every day now. There was at least one, possibly two Kingfishers calling loudly in the corner of Streamside as we passed by but I was unable to see them, no sign of the Bittern there either but I suppose two in one day is a lot to ask for at New Hythe, although by no means out of the question.

FEMALE TUFTED DUCK

I had to get back for an appointment so I left Alan and walked down the flooded Millstream to get back to the car park but just before I did I found a Chiffchaff in a small tree by the lakeside, not great views but that was the third Chiffchaff sighting I had heard about around the site that morning which was good to hear.

MALE TUFTED DUCK

Just before the end of the Millstream there's an overhanging tree and the lower branches touch the water and catch all the twigs and rubbish that gets washed downstream, this has formed a sort of raft and on it was this little chap. First one i've seen for a long time! I couldn't decide which picture to use so I used them both. You can't have too many Water Voles can you?