HAT TRICK UNDER THE TWIN TOWERS

Wednesday afternoon, sat indoors twiddling thumbs,sun emerged from the murk snap decision
"Reculver" lets go.
What a good move it was,first up Black Redstart in the ruins,Wheatear and Stonechat on the sea wall,no sign of the winter trio though,assured by Steve Reynart that he had seen them I pressed on to Coldharbour no luck,but on the way back found all three in quick succession first the Lapland Bunting gave really good close views,then a Snow Bunting you could almost touch,and last but not least the Shore Lark came to the party but was a bit more mobile than the other two.Chiddy and Marc Heath were also there enjoying the watery sunlight.
A Brambling was seen in the reeds with a flock of linnets and chaffinches on the way back to the car.

LAPLAND BUNTING

Looking at Collins I think this is an adult female LAPLAND BUNTING.

SNOW BUNTING

SNOW BUNTING,this bird was so unafraid you could almost touch it.

LAPLAND BUNTING

The light was fading now and the Shore Lark was constantly feeding on the run so proved a little more tricky.

In the last two shots above you can just make out the remains of the head tufts that give it its American name of Horned Lark.

With the sun fast sinking and crumpets for tea it was time to say farewell to the Reculver Towers and head for home.

OUZELS STILL IN HOLE

Had a quick scout round the" Hole"this morning before the rain set in,lots of chaffinches,goldfinches starlings and swallows on the move,blackbirds song thrushes a couple of redwings,goldcrests, chiffs and blackcaps,linnets, corn buntings, yellowhammers and skylarks were all there and the ring ouzels were still in residence,assuming they are the same half dozen birds.

A sparrowhawk arrived out of nowhere and sparked a chaotic dispersal and all went quiet, the rain set in to bring an end to proceedings.

I found this post card in my local pub last weekend

and if you prefer.......

this,to this

then visit www.rspb.org.uk/noestuaryairport to have your say.

WILD GOOSE CHASE

With reports of a RED BREASTED GOOSE amongst the hundreds of Brent Geese at South Swale,I was tempted to leave Samphire Hoe early and head off,I gave in to that temptation at about half two and arrived at The Sportsman Pub about 45 mins later.The walk along the sea wall was in to the wind and fairly hard work ,I checked the first flock of Brents near the pub with no luck,so moved on, joined by Marc Heath on the way,we eventually found the bird near Castle Coote,Martin Wilson was already there to guide us in.
First sighting was quite distant,but eventually it came a bit closer

FIRST IMPRESSIONS

CLOSER

The red breated goose breeds in small colonies on arctic tundra and migrates to eastern europe in winter notably the Danube delta,and small numbers join in with migrant brents each year and end up in western europe.

 

It was well worth the effort to see this unusual visitor and looking at todays weather glad I did it yesterday,I hope the other half dozen birders walking out that I met got there before the light went.
On monday there were still half a dozen Ring Ouzels at Langdon Hole

RING OUZEL at LANGDON HOLE.

A HOLE FULL OF OUZELS

Saturday in the drizzle of mid morning found a superb male Ring Ouzel in the pony paddock near the Coastguard HQ,he took flight towards the Hole and I followed on to find another 15/20 birds in the  hawthorns at the bottom of the valleys..

RING OUZEL

RING OUZEL

Went back today in sunnier conditions and there were still quite a few birds in situ-

 

they appeared to be feeding on worms rather than berries this morning perhaps yesterdays rain had brought more to the surface.
A Redstart was also in the hole along with a good mix of birds including coal tit,yellowhammer,corn bunting,redpoll,linnet ,greenfinch,chaffinch,blackcap,chiffchaff,goldfinch,grey partridge and green woodpecker.Towards Fan Bay a Short Eared Owl was flushed from the grass and was immediately set upon by the local peregrine but not seriously.

REDSTART

GREEN WOODPECKER

.SMALL COPPER still on the wing

HERCULES TRANSPORT PLANE two of them provided a very noisy fly past on Friday afternoon

This one came very low and very close to the cliffs.

CUMULO NIMBUS OVER FRANCE.

KEARSNEY SUNSET

START WITH A CHAT

Tuesday is my day of hard labour volunteering at Samphire Hoe,arrived at 7am just about light,but the barking mad doggers were there before me so did my beating of the bounds in reverse as it were,starting at the eatern end.Stonechat and Black Redstarts were on the wall there and goldfinches were flying through eastwards,Brent Geese too were heading east in small flocks of 10 or12,Gannets were flying around offshore.A Wheatear on the fence and about 15meadow pipits flitting along the fence line and then, thats not a mippit on the wire its a Whinchat,good morning so far.

BLACK REDSTART

 

 

WHINCHAT
Another wheatear at the western end was willing to sit on the sea wall and pose.

Probably this young bird had never seen a human before,I know some will think it still hasn`t.

WHEATEAR
Along the railway line there were a few chiffs and blackcaps but last sundays feast was long gone.3 more stonechats showed and later in the day a Buzzard put in an appearance and the local peregrines had a noisy spat.

STONECHAT
All in all a good day with 39 species recorded.