DUNGENESS RSPB & RED-BACKED SHRIKE

Alan Roman and I went to one of my favourite places today, Dungeness. We decided to have a quick sea watch first and parked in the car park between the old lighthouse and the Romney. Hythe and Dymchurch railway cafe. It was here that Alan discovered that he had left his binoculars on the kitchen table. Never mind he said, i'll use my scope today, except that he then found that he'd left the fixing plate for his tripod at home. Memory span of a, um, .......what do you call it?

Anyway, the sea watch was a bit quiet, just a couple of GC Grebes, some Common Terns, a small flock of about ten Common Scoters and the usual gull species, so quick march to the RSPB reserve, where we found news of a Red-Backed Shrike over on the ARC site. We gambled that this would stay a while and headed off to see what was on offer.

It was a good day for lizards, with quite a few found basking in the sunny verges, i've chosen this one to show because I like it's slightly green markings. There was little to see from the first couple of hides, just the Shelducks at the top of the post and the usual residents.


But we were accompanied by the constant chatter of Reed Warblers along the lakeside margins, as ever, difficult to see,with just fleeting glimpses like the one above. On the other side of the track we were barracked by a couple of Oystercatchers, below, who had claimed the top of the raised shingle as their own and were intent on repelling trespassers.

There were Common Whitethroats singing and parachuting from just about every bush around the site, so the discovery of a lesser Whitethroat near Christmas Dell hide made a nice change. From the hide we managed to spot a Peregrine, which headed towards the power station, a couple of Pochards and some Common Terns.

Also in this area we found the Four Spotted Chaser below, one of only a couple of dragons seen all day surprisingly.

I was hoping for a Sedge Warbler fest, but I think we were a couple of weeks late for that. Last year, in April, the place was full of them, all singing from the top of the brambles and I got some very nice pictures. Today, all I could manage was the one below, but at least there were some to look at, unlike New Hythe this year.

Considering the weather, butterflies were also hard to come by. We did find a couple on a small patch of Thrift though and i'm going to stick my neck out and say that based on the clear white wing margins, the specimen below is a male Common Blue.........

And of course the next couple are Small Coppers.

There was a female Stonechat on the fence post as we approached the Denge Marsh hide, the only one seen today. It was again quiet inside the hide, apart from the rustle of mine and Alan's crisp packets and sandwich wrappers. In fact it was so loud we nearly didn't hear the Bittern Boom a couple of times. We finally got to see a Marsh Harrier here, a spectacular male, and also the first of three or four Hobby's. No sign of the Purple Heron, which hasn't been seen since friday I believe.

We called in at the lodge on our return to check out the status of the Red-Backed Shrike, but the person we spoke to didn't even know one had been seen, don't they read their own sightings board? While we made some purchases, Alan some seed and me a very nice book entitled British Birds of Prey, a man came in and said he'd just seen a Killdeer, yes, a Killdeer! The lady in the lodge was very upset because she thought he meant road kill, 'and they're such lovely creatures' . We of course went zooming off but feeling understandably pessimistic as all we found was a Little Ringed Plover and a very nice Sandwich Tern, but who knows.

We had more luck though with the Shrike and were lucky enough to see a couple of short sightings of it, albeit through shared binoculars. I think a court martial is in order Mr Roman!

Purple Patch

I'm not really much of a football fan but I do like watching England play so I feel I should make some reference to England's World Cup adventure in South Africa. I've given it a lot of thought and considered every angle but I always seem to come back to the same conclusion: IT'S ONLY A GAME!



So, i'm eating my cornflakes this morning, sleep still in my eyes and as always, wondering what day it was, when all of a sudden my mobile gently announced the arrival of a text message. It was Alan Roman asking if I'm going down to find the Purple Heron at Dungeness RSPB today. I was going to go to New Hythe originally but being weak willed and at my most vulnerable I agreed to go.

We arrived at the Denge Marsh road viewpoint at about 10 o'clock to find the RSPB volunteer warden on lookout duty by the side of the road. He pointed out where the nest site was located and within ten minutes we had our sighting and a couple of long distance record shots of what I believe to be the female. It was as easy as that!

PURPLE HERON

PURPLE HERON

The Kestrel chicks were there to greet us at the reserve entrance, looking as if their maiden flights were imminent and a single Tree Sparrow sat on the roof above the nest box on the barn wall at Boulderwell farm.

The Blue Viper's Bugloss that covers the site has now been joined by Yellow Horned Poppies, this together with the emerging Foxgloves and many other wildflower species painted a lovely, colourful picture in the glorious sunshine.

YELLOW HORNED POPPY

This same glorious sunshine kept bird activity quite low although most of the usual species could be found including Little Egret, Lapwings, Oystercatchers and Green Woodpecker. The LBJ's were well represented by Reed and Sedge Warblers, Dunnocks and Common Whitethroats.

I found the little bee species below on a lakeside gravel bank and I think it's probably a Sharp Tailed Bee. I can find very little info about it but hopefully i've ID'd it correctly.

SHARP TAILED BEE

A little further along I noticed this Pike in exactly the same spot as I found one some weeks ago. I wouldn't be surprised if it's the same one. If it is it's grown a bit since last time. These fish are not the sharpest tools in the box but when they get bigger their teeth certainly are, I've seen first hand what their teeth can do to a persons fingers. Mind you he shouldn't have put them there in the first place!

JACK PIKE

Not too many birds to report on the water. Pochard, Tufties, GC Grebe, Greylag and Canada Geese, Moorhens, Mallards, Cormorants and of course the humble Coot. Mute Swans are particularly well represented at the moment and the one below had found a way to keep it's head cool.

BOTTOMS UP!

The five (or six) spot Burnets were in abundance, especially in areas where the thistles are emerging. I know I posted a picture very recently but this was the first time i'd photographed fifteen spots (or eighteen)! Or should I say thirty spots...........you do the maths.

BURNETS

Lunch should have been taken at the viewing mound bench but the RSPB have turned it into a temporary, well, viewing mound really, for the Purple Herons. There were tables laid out with RSPB wares for sale, scopes bristling along the trackside like radar dishes waiting to pick up and broadcast their every move and volunteers available to answer all the questions you might ask. The most common one being: " is that a Purple Heron or a Grey Heron over there? " It's not that easy to tell from a distance. So we had our lunch sitting on the gravel further down. During which the highlights were Swifts, all heading south strangely, Swallows, Linnets and a booming Bittern which at first I put down to Alan blowing into his bottle of juice but he assured me he didn't.

SMALL TORTOISESHELL

Most of the butterflies seen today were Small Tortoiseshells, as was the case in Dorset last week, must be good news. Feast your eyes while you can.

AND AGAIN

Finally, yet another picture of a Sedge Warbler. Sorry, but you have to take what you can get when the sun is high and the birds aren't obliging.

SEDGE WARBLER

Christchurch, New Hythe and a poke in the eye with a sharp stick!

After a great weekend in Dorset I got home monday evening suitably exhausted and slightly sunburnt after three long days by the River Avon and three long evenings in the Fisherman's Haunt Inn. Well somebody's got to do it!
Today Carol and I had a nice walk around New Hythe lakes in the sunshine and then in the afternoon I was up a tree in the back garden doing my lumberjack impression when I managed to poke myself in the eye with a sharp stick, not recommended! The reason i'm telling you that is to explain the lack of text in this post it's a bit of a struggle using one eye, so apologies and I hope you like some of the pics. Up to the Banded Demoiselle are from Dorset and the rest are from New Hythe.

SMALL TORTOISESHELL



COMMON TERN


AND AGAIN

AND AGAIN

SEDGE WARBLER

BANDED DEMOISELLE

MEADOW BROWN

CINNABAR MOTH

COOT AND MUM

BLACK TAILED SKIMMER

AND AGAIN

BRIMSTONE

Dungeness 21st April

SEDGE WARBLER

I arrived at the Dungeness ARC site at 0915 this morning, it was gloriously sunny but quite cool. A welcoming party of Sedge Warblers greeted me with their chattering jumble of a song and their parachuting display flight above the brambles. This was to be the format for the rest of the day as Dungeness RSPB is currently home to dozens of these garrulous little summer migrants.

SEDGE WARBLER DISPLAYING

Along the path to the Hanson hide was this Coot busily attending to her very young and strange looking brood.

COOT

Marsh Harrier, Blackcap and a single Snipe were also seen here. Over the road in the Reserve I found a single Whimbrel which was too far away to be photographed, this is a first for me so I made a point of getting someone to confirm the ID although I was pretty sure of it. I also found two Ringed Plover in the flooded meadows but again distance was against me. My next find was a Wheatear which thankfully was in range. I think these are great birds and so photogenic, they have big eyes which I think makes it easier to to capture some character and they stand so upright which to me makes them look a bit inquisitive.

WHEATEAR

While scanning the field behind the flooded meadow I caught a glimpse of these two Brown Hares, always nice to see, shame they weren't a bit closer.

BROWN HARE

I apologise for indulging in more shots of Sedge Warblers but they really were the stars of the show today and I think they deserve an extra bit of coverage. I haven't entirely ruled out the possibility of a few more yet so be warned!

SEDGE WARBLER

AND AGAIN!

AND AGAIN!!

In the field alongside the return path I saw this lamb which had literally just been born. It's mum cleaned him up and then I watched him take the first few teetering, wobbly steps of his new life.

WELCOME TO THE WORLD

This little chap has obviously never seen a Carrion Crow before, it must be quite frightening as it's nearly as big as him.

On the way out of the reserve I stopped to see if I could find an elusive Tree Sparrow, just to make a change from Sedges and Sheep. I was lucky enough to find this male helping out with the nest building down at the farm, trouble is they're nesting alongside a pair of Kestrels, could be dodgy I fear.

TREE SPARROW

One last visit to the ARC site revealed two more species, the first was this very handsome Great Crested Grebe.............................................................................

GT CRESTED GREBE

GT CRESTED GREBE

And the second was none other than Ken Browne of Halling fame, who had also decided to pay a visit to good old Dungie today. Nice to see you Ken!