At last ! Finally added Sanderling to the Year List with this charming individual lured by crisps - captured on film by Barry Wright
SUNDAY 14 FEBRUARY (VALENTINE'S DAY)
Another very cold day, with frequent snow flurries and temperatures hovering at about 3 degrees C. In fact, weather identical to yesterdays. Having had to do an 18th birthday party bash until late in the night, failed to surface before 10 o'clock. As a result, little daylight left for birding, so Alan Stewart and I headed for east Kent, where we searched in vain for the female Penduline Tit present most of the week at Grove Ferry.
CHAFFINCH HOUSE, LITTLE CHALFONT (BUCKS)
A single FIELDFARE and SONG THRUSH visited the garden.
HIGHFIELD AREA, NEAR HERNE BAT (NORTH KENT)
There was still a fair amount of lying drifting snow left over from Thursday's fall, with large numbers of Fieldfares feeding in roadside fields where the snow had melted.
GROVE FERRY NNR (KENT)
(1145-1500 hours)
There was no sign of the female Penduline Tit seen and photographed during the past three days in and around the David Feast Hide. In fact, some people had been there since dawn!
The highlight for me was my first MARSH HARRIER of the year - flying high over Stodmarsh NNR
Also noted were 1 full breeding plumaged Continental Cormorant (roosting on a raft in front of the hide), 225 Common Teal, 8 Gadwall, 5 Northern Pochard, 2 WATER RAILS (including 1 showing well to the left of the hide), 1 Common Redshank, 1 Common Snipe, a single WATER PIPIT and 2 CETTI'S WARBLERS.
THE ISLE OF SHEPPEY (NORTH KENT)
Staggering numbers of COMMON BLACKBIRDS were present on Sheppey, including 31 in just one small area of grass verge along the B2237 on the Eastchurch Bypass. There were also at least 150 Fieldfares in a field just west of Eastchurch.
HARTY FERRY ROAD, CAPEL FLEET MARSHES (NORTH KENT)
Mute Swans (50+)
Greylag Geese (250+)
EURASIAN WHITE-FRONTED GEESE (231)
Common Shelducks (38)
Wigeon, Teal, Gadwall and Shoveler
MARSH HARRIERS (9 noted)
HEN HARRIER (1 ringtail seen perched and in flight - my first of the year and one of four birds present)
Common Buzzard (1)
Red-legged Partridge (6)
Lapwing (5,000+)
European Golden Plovers (200+)
BARN OWLS (4 individuals hunting over fields late afternoon, including a very pale individual)
COMMON STONECHAT (1 male)
Fieldfares (500+)
Common Starlings (flock of 400)
MUSWELL MANOR, LEYSDOWN=ON-SEA, SHEPPEY
A flock of over 2,000 Dark-bellied Brent Geese harboured a single adult BLACK BRANT and 3 PALE-BELLIED BRENT GEESE, with 13 RUFF on an adjacent pool and 2 further BARN OWLS hunting..
Nearby, the ebbing tide at Leysdown Beach yielded my first 16 SANDERLING of the year, including an exceptionally confiding first-winter by the car park (see Barry Wright's images), as well as just under 1,000 Red Knot, 18 Grey Plovers and large numbers of Common Redshank, Dunlin, Oystercatcher and a few Turnstone.
Another very cold day, with frequent snow flurries and temperatures hovering at about 3 degrees C. In fact, weather identical to yesterdays. Having had to do an 18th birthday party bash until late in the night, failed to surface before 10 o'clock. As a result, little daylight left for birding, so Alan Stewart and I headed for east Kent, where we searched in vain for the female Penduline Tit present most of the week at Grove Ferry.
CHAFFINCH HOUSE, LITTLE CHALFONT (BUCKS)
A single FIELDFARE and SONG THRUSH visited the garden.
HIGHFIELD AREA, NEAR HERNE BAT (NORTH KENT)
There was still a fair amount of lying drifting snow left over from Thursday's fall, with large numbers of Fieldfares feeding in roadside fields where the snow had melted.
GROVE FERRY NNR (KENT)
(1145-1500 hours)
There was no sign of the female Penduline Tit seen and photographed during the past three days in and around the David Feast Hide. In fact, some people had been there since dawn!
The highlight for me was my first MARSH HARRIER of the year - flying high over Stodmarsh NNR
Also noted were 1 full breeding plumaged Continental Cormorant (roosting on a raft in front of the hide), 225 Common Teal, 8 Gadwall, 5 Northern Pochard, 2 WATER RAILS (including 1 showing well to the left of the hide), 1 Common Redshank, 1 Common Snipe, a single WATER PIPIT and 2 CETTI'S WARBLERS.
THE ISLE OF SHEPPEY (NORTH KENT)
Staggering numbers of COMMON BLACKBIRDS were present on Sheppey, including 31 in just one small area of grass verge along the B2237 on the Eastchurch Bypass. There were also at least 150 Fieldfares in a field just west of Eastchurch.
HARTY FERRY ROAD, CAPEL FLEET MARSHES (NORTH KENT)
Mute Swans (50+)
Greylag Geese (250+)
EURASIAN WHITE-FRONTED GEESE (231)
Common Shelducks (38)
Wigeon, Teal, Gadwall and Shoveler
MARSH HARRIERS (9 noted)
HEN HARRIER (1 ringtail seen perched and in flight - my first of the year and one of four birds present)
Common Buzzard (1)
Red-legged Partridge (6)
Lapwing (5,000+)
European Golden Plovers (200+)
BARN OWLS (4 individuals hunting over fields late afternoon, including a very pale individual)
COMMON STONECHAT (1 male)
Fieldfares (500+)
Common Starlings (flock of 400)
MUSWELL MANOR, LEYSDOWN=ON-SEA, SHEPPEY
A flock of over 2,000 Dark-bellied Brent Geese harboured a single adult BLACK BRANT and 3 PALE-BELLIED BRENT GEESE, with 13 RUFF on an adjacent pool and 2 further BARN OWLS hunting..
Nearby, the ebbing tide at Leysdown Beach yielded my first 16 SANDERLING of the year, including an exceptionally confiding first-winter by the car park (see Barry Wright's images), as well as just under 1,000 Red Knot, 18 Grey Plovers and large numbers of Common Redshank, Dunlin, Oystercatcher and a few Turnstone.
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