FRENCH LEAVE

At 0530 yesterday messrs Smith ,Holt ,Wells and McVail left for a days birding in northern France,the morning at St Frieux and Oye Plage in the afternoon.Seawatching on the way produced common scoter,red throated divers,guillemots ,razorbills,gannets,sandwich terns, and the usual gulls.
At St Frieux which is mixed woodland on a sandy heath there were lots of nuthatch and treecreeper,crested tits,goldcrests great spot and green woodpeckers,once again failed to find the legendary PIC NOIR.Out on the sandy heath we found hen harrier and sparrowhawk,redpoll,yellowhammer and a pair of woodlark or allouette lulu as they are called here.As the morning warmed up a speckled wood was found and a few small whites and several brimstones were seen.

NUTHATCH Singing out loudly.

SPECKLED WOOD

WOODLARK

 WOODLARK

This little crittur was seen scrambling in the undergrowth,not sure if its a vole or a mouse.
After lunch it was off to OYE, ok you don`t have to shout,here swallows were gathering before crossing the channel,all the usual ducks avocets and curlew were present.
Back to the ferry and a very pleasant day drew to a close with a few more gannets and gulls.

GADWALL TO GARGANEY

Bushy ruff is now in full flow once more and one pair of gadwall seem to be making it a permanent home.

GADWALL AT BUSHY RUFF The happy couple.

COOT How often do we overlook this common bird?

SAM HO SKYLARK

SAM HO STONECHAT

REED BUNTING STODMARSH

TUFTED DUCK

GARGANEY, had to go back to the Marsh hide to see this pair as they were in  hiding during my first call

GARGANEY male and female as with most ducks the female is much less prominent to allow her to sit safely on the nest.

PEACOCK Sunning itself on the path.Also saw red admiral and small white.

START OF BST

Losing an hour of Sunday morning left me with only time for a quick walk around Langdon Hole,there was a light passage of chaffinches,a few blackbirds,a song thrush,two pairs of long tailed tits,a single female wheatear,a couple of peregrines overhead and four black redstarts,a superb male was the star,although he was very wary I managed a few shots from a respectful distance,

BLACK REDSTART Showing his red start or tail. Back near the car park a dunnock was singing from a hawthorn and posed nicely.

DUNNOCK aka HEDGE SPARROW or HEDGE ACCENTOR

CHIFFS CHATS & FLUTTERBYS

The rest of the week in brief photo form

CHIFF CHAFF One of six at the Hoe on tuesday

STONECHAT One of four males at Samphire Hoe in typical pose on sea buckthorn.

This CHINOOK woke everyone up with a low level fly past.

MISTLE THRUSH or STORM COCK at Kearsney,these early breeders probably have young in the nest already.

The warm weather has brought the BRIMSTONE Butterfly out in good numbers.

COMMA

PEACOCK
These two will have overwintered as adults and look in remarkably good condition

Just what makes that little old ant think he`ll move that bumble bee?
sorry no rubber tree plants here.

TREE CREEPER probing for insects

Its needle sharp bill is ideal for purpose

TREECREEPERS seem to have wintered pretty well as I have seen them in a variety of places.

GREY PARTRIDGE are now paired for breeding and they too can be seen in various locations.   All winter we have been going to Sandwich Bay on a Thursday for the talks and always keep an eye out for owls on the way home,last evenings talk was the last and ironically we saw our first owl a superb barn owl on a fence post near Sutton on the way home...

Pete Wells picked me up to go to Stodmarsh this morning,we arrived  in thick fog at 0702 did the circuit to Grove and back,fog cleared nicely as we got to the river but no sign of our target bird the Garganey at the ox-bow or water meadows.

LITTLE GREBE ,MUTE SWAN AND GREYLAG in the mist from the FEAST HIDE.

FEMALE MARSH HARRIER soaring overhead.

This TWIN SPOT QUAKER was in the moth trap at home,think it was a first for me.
Thats all for now folks.

ACROSS THE SWALE

Hadn`t been to Elmley for a while so on Monday I stretched my legs andwalked down to the Spitend Hide, its a long walk and is not always worth the effort and this was no exception,but  from the hide I witnessed a strange event....I had been watching a red necked grebe swimming out in mid channel it was not diving just floating about on the ebb tide,then it went under and didn`t resurface,this in itself is not so unusual but a minute or so later a little further up tide a big seal surfaced on the same line.I have no proof that the seal took the grebe but it never showed again.
The approach road to Elmley reserve is great for photography,using the car as a hide the resident birds take little notice and Lapwings in particular are very confiding.

GREEN PLOVER

PEEWIT

LAPWING

TAKE YOUR PICK

SKYLARK

REED BUNTING

BRENT GEESE About a 1000 flew right over me ,luckily they missed.

They will soon be thinking of returning to their Arctic breeding grounds.

DRAKE SHELDUCK,The large red knob above the bill is found only on the male.

SHELDRAKE OR DRAKE SHELDUCK?
As the mud exposed, Redshank ,Oystercatcher,and Curlew came to feed but were too distant for the camera.
Leaving the hide for the long trek back I noted a single brent goose on the dyke,why was it alone I wonder when a 1000 of its mates were on the field just half a mile away?

"There once was an ugly duckling "sprang to mind not that this bird is aesthetically challenged  just all alone, abandoned by his mates, an outcast,goosed you might say,shut up Phil you`re rambling.
By this time I was de-hydrated and becoming delerious under the hot Elmley sun,by the way the old Swale hide the one on stilts has gone, either blown away, torched or removed for safety reasons,I digress,almost back to the farm I turned just in time to see a Short Eared Owl hunting near the sea wall,then a second bird joined it and a few minutes later a third,three in the air together,brilliant.

SHORT EARED  OWL,on the ground you can just make out the short ear tufts.
So that was that a good day out,a long walk and in a month to six weeks it will be worth another trip.