FIRST BUTTERFLY OF THE YEAR

 An unusually mild and sunny day brought out the first butterflies of the year. In my garden I spotted three male brimstones flying along the ivy hedge, and around the garden. One even settled on an ivy leaf for about 15 minutes.

TURNSTONES AT OARE MARSHES

 

It was a pleasant sunny day for my visit to Oare Marshes on the north coast of Kent. The reserve lies on the edge of the Swale estuary and is owned by the Kent Ornithological Trust and is a nice sized reserve for a morning's walk. There are a three hides, and  as usual, I hoped to be able to use the opportunity to add a few more species to my year list. 

Driving up the access road, I soon realised that the main lake, where there are usually plenty of  birds to be seen especially at high tide, had been taken over by a work party, obviously preparing the site for the nesting season. About a dozen people, armed with noisy strimmers and such like,  were spread across the area, and were obviously burning the waste in two bonfires! No wonder the area was almost bereft of birds!!

However, there still seemed quite a few 'birders' about, and I  found a  space  to park on the edge of the road between two cars. I walked up to the seawall and climbed the steps to see over to the estuary. The tide was coming in and it would only be about an hour until the mud was covered in sea water. A few curlew and oyster catchers were feeding on the mud and further along, I could make out a group of smaller birds on some seaweed covered rocks.  Walking towards them I could see a group of about 14 turnstones, busily poking amongst the seaweed looking for food. They were well disguised, their bright orange legs making a splash of contrast amongst the rocks.

I  watched them for a while, as the tide came nearer, a group of avocets flew in  , before taking off again shortly after. I walked on a bit but the sea was already covering much of the mud, and the path along the seawall was muddy too. I decided against  following it as it just led round to the area being worked on. 

Re-tracing my steps, I noticed the flock of turnstones had been pushed  closer up onto the rocks below the seawall, remaining active as they jumped from rock to rock. I left them to it, and continued  walking beyond the slipway, following the  path up the estuary. There were a few tufted ducks and    greylag geese   and a little egret, but I saw nothing else of note  in this area. 

Meanwhile the  turnstones had relocated to the end of the slipway and as I walked back toward them, they took off and landed on some rocks just below were I was standing, allowing me some close views. Finally they flew back  to an old boat moored in the river, as if they meant to wait there until the tide receded. 

Having done justice to the turnstones, I walked back down the road to view the lake which was now quiet again. A couple of mute swans were preening, and on an island I  spotted a spoonbill. Apart from a few gulls in the distance, they appeared to be the only birds there. though doubtless many more would return to roost in the evening. 

tide edging closer

well disguised- how many can you spot?

DARTFORD WARBLER AT GREENHAM

With gorse bushes now starting to flower and a sunny afternoon, I decided at the last minute to make a trip over to Greenham Common. My target bird was the dartford warbler, a resident species there, although not easy to spot. On previous visits I've managed to spot the odd one or two, but never managed any decent photos. 

Dartford warblers are secretive birds but in spring they may be seen at the tops of gorse bushes. I knew from past visits some likely places where I might find one, so headed for the main disused runway and started to walk westwards listening out for any bird song  as I went. It was pretty quiet, not even a stonechat which can often give a clue to the dartford warbler's presence. 

I spotted a lady with a camera standing amongst an area of gorse so approached her to ask if she'd managed to find any birds. She told me she'd just seen a couple of dartford warblers fly down in to the gorse, but they had not reappeared. We waited and listened but they seemed to have disappeared so the lady went on her way. I decided to hang around, and walked twenty or so metres further along the path. Then I heard something and looking up  and could see a small bird silhouetted against the sky at the top of a small bare tree. I thought it must be a dunnock or robin, but through binoculars I could see the pink and grey colouring which told me that it was, in fact, a dartford warbler. I wasn't particularly close but it soon flew down into the gorse nearby. I decided to wait. 

Sure enough I heard its song again  and before long the dartford warbler flew out and perched firstly in a tree then into a gorse bush where it could be seen clearly. I quickly grabbed my camera and managed a few photos before once again, the bird disappeared. This time it stayed in the undergrowth although I did spot it flit about between bushes from time to time. 

I could have waited but with time passing, I decided to return home, satisfied with one more species for the year and a few fairly respectable images on my camera. 

GREAT NORTHERN DIVER AT FARMOOR

A juvenile great northern diver has been at Farmoor reservoir for several weeks now, but I have been unsuccessful in finding it - until today. It was rather overcast and a bit chilly but the wind had died down so I drove over to the reservoir with the aim of walking round the larger of the two reservoirs where it has usually been seen.  On arrival I spoke to someone who said they had not seen it despite being at the reservoir for the past two hours or so and had already walked around F2. Nevertheless I felt sure it must be there somewhere, as it had been recorded most days. It has a tendency to dive for  quite a while so it is possible to overlook it as you walk past. It takes about an hour to get round the reservoir but the visibility is quite good across the water especially if fairly calm which it was today.  About two thirds of the way round, having scanned for anything that might be interesting,   I noticed a lone shape right out in the centre of the reservoir and on checking through  my binoculars realised that it was in fact the Great Northern diver.  Occasionally it dived and I realised how easy it would be to miss if you were not constantly scanning the water. 

Other birds seen were cormorants, shelduck ( an unusual sighting on the reservoir) tufted ducks and mallard. There were no waders apart from a single oyster catcher which again is quite unusual. I also saw several great crested and little grebes. 

BIG GARDEN BIRDWATCH 2024

Just for the record these are the results of my Garden Birdwatch. Time 8.15 - 9.15. a.m. which is earlier than I would normally do ( I was going out for the day)  so the light wasn't that good. I recorded the usual  species of birds for my garden, though most were just perched in bushes and trees, and only a few came down to the feeders. Obviously too early for breakfast! 

Blue tit   2

Great tit 1

Blackbird 2

Wood pigeon 6

Goldfinch 3

House sparrow 6

Dunnock 1

Robin 1

Chaffinch 1

Greenfinch 3

Starling 2

FINALLY A WAXWING AT RODBOROUGH COMMON

 After dipping the  Rodborough Common waxwings yesterday, I decided to return that way home after my visit to Slimbridge, and call in at the common for another attempt. I found a space amongst the densely packed carparks then made my way to an area where they had previously been seen.  There were a good number of birders there, waiting hopefully but to no avail. Then word got round that there was a single waxwing showing well in a  tree a few hundred yards away so most people decided to head in that direction, including me.  The sole waxwing turned out to be perched in the centre of a tree which had ivy growing in the centre. It was only just possible to see it between the many twigs. After watching it for a while the bird suddenly took off and flew toward another tree and here it perched in full view, right up at the top. where it remained for about ten minutes.  Then just as suddenly it took off again, flew over our heads and dropped down into a puddle for a few seconds before returning to the original  tree where again it was partly hidden by branches. 

I decided I would have to make do with the one sighting, and walked back to the car. Driving past the three car parks  you can imagine my frustration when a group of waxwings dropped down in the road ahead to get a drink, before flying off into some bushes on the opposite side of the road watched by a number of birders.  Oh well! 

initial view of waxwing

slightly better!

SLIMBRIDGE

A sunny day for my Friday day off, gave me another chance to go to Slimbridge WWT. The view of waders on the Tack Piece was spectacular - over 2000 golden plovers plus many lapwing, bewick swans, some ruff, redshanks, curlews and a variety of ducks and geese. Every so often, they would be spooked and rise at once into the air circling and whirling until they felt it safe to return to the ground. It always amazes me, that  although they rise in a mass, somehow they recombine into groups of the same species, flying at different altitudes. 

I had hoped to add water rail to my year list today, but it didn't show this morning. I did however, see goldfinches redpolls and siskin in the alders. A new for the year bird was an oyster catcher on the South Lake,