Heather's Nature Notes: BIRDING IN RECULVER

With a morning set aside for some birding while I was staying in Kent, I decided to focus on seeing species that I don't normally see in the area where I live. In particular I was keen to see some brent geese which spend their winters in large numbers on the Kent coast. After doing a bit of research on the internet I decided to visit a place called Reculver on the north Kent coast not far from Herne Bay where walking along the sea wall might provide some interesting sightings.

I had purposefully chosen a day with very little wind as it can get pretty cold on the coast so the sea was very calm although the weather was overcast.

I parked next to Reculver Towers, the remains of an old church and fort which serves as a landmark on the cliff top. Below the grassy cliff rocks were surrounded by water, but I took a path westwards where I could see a patch of sand and shingle .As I got nearer I could see a flock of brent geese, some in the sea and others feeding on the shingle beach.

The route I wanted to take, however, was east along the sea wall which forms part of the Saxon Shore Way, so I turned back towards the towers. I spoke to someone who was obviously a birder who told me that a black redstart ( which has been around for a while)) was around the tower ruins with a pair of stonechats, whilst about 40 minutes along the seawall path he'd found some snow buntings on the shingle.

As I reached the tower, I soon found the black redstart, initially I only saw it for a few seconds but decided to explore the ruins a bit more to see if I could see it again. I soon did, and watched it for a while, flitting from rocks to fence posts and sometimes on the ground.

I then took the path along the seawall where I saw several flocks of brent geese flying around, and sometimes right overhead , landing either on the shore or in one of the fields. They must have numbered several hundred.

I continued walking, and found a number of bird species on some pools on the right hand side, including wigeon, a green sandpiper, more stonechats, linnets and an oyster catcher.

I stopped to look at the brent geese feeding in the field, and then looked towards the sea where I thought I could make out some birds at the edge of the water. These turned out to be 4 sleeping ringed plovers and a turnstone. As I was about to leave them a group of small birds flew in front of me and settled on the shingle, I quickly realised that they were snow buntings! I've only ever seen one before which was an individual which somehow had found its way to the top of a hill close to Cheltenham! I know these birds can be quite confiding so I wasn't really surprised when they came within a few metres of where I was standing and even hopped on to the wall. It was a delight to watch them feeding, quite camouflaged on the shingle and I stayed until they eventually flew off further east.

I carried on walking in case I caught up with the snow buntings but couldn't find them so returned to where I had seen the ringed plovers. Only one was still there, silhoutted against the water, whilst I could now see two turnstone on the shingle a bit nearer than they had been earlier, I'm not sure whether the incoming tide had forced them to move or if they had been so camouflaged I just hadn't spotted them there before.

Returning to the towers, I found the black redstart again, in the place where I'd last seen it so spent a little longer watching it after which I returned to the car. I'd had a great morning, in a habitat that I don't usually visit but one that I'd like to return to and I'd added 7 new species to my 2023 year list.