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