S.O.S. SAMPHIRE O STODMARSH.

Managed at last to get a half decent shot of one of the black redstarts at the Hoe yesterday,it was one of the youngsters but its quite an achievement to get close to these wary critters.It was a superb day yesterday just like high summer weatherwise and good numbers of birds too,nothing out of the ordinary but a good mix of species.

SPARROWHAWK

DUNNOCK

CHIFF CHAFF

BLACK REDSTART

BLACK REDSTART one of half a dozen youngsters successfully readred at the Hoe this year.

STONECHAT a few more in evidence as autumn approaches.

HARBOUR PORPOISE DECEASED ON ABBOTSCLIFF BEACH,THE GREAT BLACK BACK GULLS WERE THE WOULD BE BRAIN SURGEONS On that happy note we leave Samphire Hoe and head for Stodmarsh on a warm misty Wednesday morning

BEARDED REEDLING or to give it its popular name BEARDED TIT, there were good numbers roaming the reed beds today and the largest flock of some twenty odd birds came to me while I was photographing a spiders web,I became aware of a clamour behind me and they posed nicely for a few minutes.

This must be a young female as it has no beard but it certainly appears to have the second half of the equation!!!!!

THE WEB OF THE LACE CURTAIN SPIDER.???

ROSE COLOURED SPECTACLE

Dungeness Friday a quiet but nonetheless interesting day,quite superb weatherwise,started at the point with an hours seawatch,a few skuas lots of terns a little gull at the patch and a lot of swallows heading out to sea.
There was not a lot to be seen at the obs so it was off to the ARC pits and the RSPB Reserve,again it was fairly quiet until Dengemarsh where there were 8 bearded tits,,3 snipe ,2 greenshank,a hobby,lots of swallows and sand martins,and the great white egret showed well.It was at this point when an incoming text alerted us to a juvenile ROSE COLOURED STARLING back at the Obs.It was an opportunity not to be missed so back to the car and back to the point,the bird had obviously moved to near the new lighthouse by the time we arrived,as three or four birders had it in view there.It continued to give good views intermitently,but not close enough for anything but record shots.

ROSE COLOURED STARLING with normal starling on left.

JUVENILE ROSE COLOURED STARLING DUNGENESS 23.09.2011

REED WARBLER ARC PITS

LITTLE EGRET ARC PITS

JUV BEARDED TIT

MALE BEARDED TIT DENGEMARSH. Although the young starling is not the most impressive bird most will never see it is a fairly rare occurence for one to turn up in Kent,and it was a first ever for me ,so it made the day a memorable one.

BRIMSTONE & BLERIOT

Last Wednesday I had decided to tidy up the garden clean out the nest boxes shed and pond  ,no sooner had I started an incoming text  about the long tailed skua at Dunge gave me doubts but with a will of iron resisted the temptation and carried on with the chores.My reward for staying at home was a superb Brimstone butterfly turning up in the afternoon to feed on my michaelmas daisies and having achieved all of my goals a feeling of satisfaction.

BRIMSTONE AT KEARSNEY WED 14.9.11.
Another beautiful morning on thursday found a big fall of chiff chaffs at Langdon Hole as well as blackcaps lesser and common whitethroats,wheatears,ravens,a marsh harrier and good numbers of swallows and martins heading south.

THE MOON IN THE MORNING.
Having had such a good morning went down to the Hoe to see what had turned up there,more of the same and a free airshow to boot with a spitfire and hurricane zooming up and down the coast it being Battle of Britain day.There was also the sight of a channel swim starting from the west beach,I am told being a pilot or an observer on a cross channel swim is one of the most boring jobs in the world,but swimming the channel is a great feat of endurance,and evidently more humans have climbed Everest than done this crossing!!

HURRICANE

SPITFIRE

UNKNOWN CHANNEL SWIMMER(the hard bit)

PILOT BOAT AND OBSERVERS(the boring bit)

SPITFIRE MAKING ANOTHER PASS

Friday morning did an early sea watch at St Margarets Bay with Malcom McVail  a few bits and pieces

gannets ,terns ,a bonxie an avocet,distant unidentified ducks,a juv kittiwake and a couple of med gulls made  the notebookand a kestrel chasing a bat around the car park was an unusual sight,the kestrel had no chance of catching the bat by the way.

After breakfast headed for Oare,filling up with diesel at Wincheap on the way,why is fuel 5p a litre cheaper in Canterbury???

Oare provided the usual fare with large flocks of black tailed godwit, avocet, and golden plover,with bar tailed godwit, ruff ,dunlin ,a curlew sandpiper and a pair of hobbies making up the numbers.Teal and wigeon numbers appear to be increasing and a large goldfinch / linnet flock was good to see.

CURLEW SANDPIPER

GOLDEN PLOVER

SHEPHERD &NEAME THAMES BARGE ENTERING THE SWALE

JUVENILE COMMON TERN DOVER HARBOUR SAT17.9.11

COMMON SEAL P.O.W.PIER DOVER.It was being fed herrings by a fisherman.
On Sunday the highlight of the morning was a replica of Louis Bleriots plane appearing over the clifftop

It must have been heading for an airshow somewhere as the original flight took place on July 25th 1909,so there is no special anniversary.
The afternoon was perfect for raptor activity but only one buzzard came close to the garden

ANOTHER TATTY BUZZARD, OVER THE GARDEN.

A BIT OF A BLOW AT THE HOE

Although the wind was not as strong as yesterday it was still blowin a hoolie, but had swung round to the west so the waves were not overtopping the wall,which was open today.
Four grey wagtails were a bit of a surprise on the seawall,but four wheatears weren`t,nothing much on the sea considering the blustery conditions just three Med gulls of any note.

WHEATEARS ON THE WALL.

As promised a couple of weeks ago some better wasp spider photos were obtained today when the sun shone.

FEMALE WASP SPIDER
Like many spiders she likes a snack after mating,unluckily for the male he`s usually on the menu.
On the subject of sex,the Adonis Blue was caught in the act,not far from the wasp spider,it all happens at the Hoe you know.

ADONIS BLUE MALE

ADONIS BLUE FEMALE.

MENAGE A TROIS.
.

Although two are coupled the second male does not give up.

This colony of mining bees is at the west end of the Hoe and according to my insect book there are about 60  different species in britain,so if anybody can identify this one or would like to come and see for themselves be my guest.