THE SPICE OF LIFE

WHINCHAT with grasshopperWHINCHATIts been a varied and busy week, with an early start at the Hoe on tuesday rewarded with a confiding whinchat,a butterfly transect,some sheep herding and a dragonfly count with Mr Holt.Wednesday morning at Langdon Cliffs produced quite good warbler counts but nothing unusual.News of the phalarope came through but as I had promised myself an afternoons gardening Ididn`t go but went to Elmley next day ,obviously everything of interest had gone, no phalarope curlew sands or stints but it was an enjoyable day in pleasant autumn sunshine regardless.It is amazing how easily we come to accept birds like avocets and little egrets as commonplace when not so long ago we`d have been jumping forjoy at seeing either,what next spoonbill, purple herons, common as muck?The mist nets were up at St Margarets at the weekend and saturday in particular produced a real mixed bag with grasshopper warbler the pick of the bunch.Sunday morning tried for wryneck at Sandwich no joy but did find a pied flycatcher in the Elms.The Spitfire Express from the Faversham Hop Fair came trough Kearsney in the afternoon,and it really had a shift on and was gone in seconds.Just got home the mobile went ,WRYNECK  AT HOE SHOWING WELL,got ther in record time only to learn that it had probably ended its days as a mascot on the front of the 1545 to charing cross,ho hum.GET DOWN SHEPIT HAD TO BE EWEMATING MIGRANT HAWKERSELMLEY HOUSE SPARROWELEPHANT HAWK MOTH CATERPILLARGARDEN WARBLERGRASSHOPPER WARBLER showing streaked rumpLESSER WHITETHROATCENTRE BARRED SALLOWFEATHERED GOTHICSPITFIRE EXPRESSJUVENILE STONECHAT

TALL SHIPS AND SOGGY SHOES

Last weekend was spent in Bremerhaven in the north of Germany visiting old friends and taking in the tall ships gathering there.It was an amazing spectacle,but the weather was wet wet wet from friday morning until  monday afternoon when we left for home..Friday afternoon was spent walking around the docks in the rain looking at the ships and dodging umbrellas,saturday afternoon did provide a small window of opportunity in between showers to take some photos but it was back to steady rain on sunday when a walk was taken around the headland at Cuxhaven.There were a couple of hundred eclipsed eiders in the bay atCuxhaven along with lots of swallows and martins,but the highlight of the birding was a flock of around 150 tree sparrows found at Spaden near to our base.On monday evening we came back to earth with a bump ,literally, when RYAN AIR dumped us on the runway at Stansted but at least it was dry.LOTH LORIENU BOAT WILHELM BAUERGOTHENBORG (SWEDEN)FIGUREHEAD GOTHENBORGGERMAN EAGLEAMERIGO VESPUCCI (ITALY)BOWSPRIT AMERIGO VESPUCCIMAINMAST A.V.ANOTHER STORM BREWINGRUSSIAN TRAINING SHIPTALL SHIPSBREMERHAVENS LEANING LIGHTDESERTED BEACH CUXHAVENCUXHAVEN BAY (in the rain)

AUGUST FLY SHE MUST

BLACK REDSTARTSCORPION FLYVIOLET HELLEBORINEV H FLOWERFLOWER with POLLINIAand fruit flyUnfortunately there was no repeat of last years hoopoe but a few warblers and wheatears were about along with at least  6 black redstarts and 2 common sandpiper.The day became increasingly windy but I managed a butterfly transect before the clouds bubbled up,wall brown, common blue,small heath,wall brown and a few each of small tortoishell,peacock and painted lady made up most of the count but a single hummingbird hawkmoth was most surprising given the current weather patterns.On the way home acting on a tip off from a botany snout a visit was made to Reinden wood where some helleborines had been found,after a little searching the quarry was found and after some deliberation named, rightly or wrongly as violet helleborine,Kingsdowner please confirm or not.Also seen were the nettle flowered bellflower and the nasty looking scorpion fly.In the evening made the trip to Gravesend to see the mighty Dover Athletic beat the home side with two really good goals either side of half time.Up and out fairly early this morning and headed for Langdon cliffs to see what goodies had arrived overnight,again a few willow warblers and whitethroats,a wheatear, some passage of martins,sand and house with swallows and a single juvenile cuckoo right on the cliff edge and a few blackcaps made up the notebook.On the return from the lighthouse a fresh adonis blue was seen and a pair of ravens were giving a free air show over the cliffs between Fan Bay and Langdon Bay.ADONIS BLUEJUV CUCKOO

BACK TO BACKSAND

COMMON SANDPIPERGREENSHANKGREENSHANKSGREENSHANKGREENSHANK

When the weather brightened up today (monday) I felt the need to stretch my legs and as my SBBO draw tickets were due back, Sandwich was an obvious choice.The scrape was not very well populated today just a single common sandpiper,15 greenshank, half a dozen redshank,30 greylags .8 teal one little egret one mallard and the usual coots and moorhens.It is a fair step to Backsand as many have alluded to but the photographic opportunities there make the trip more than worthwhile even when there are few birds.This time last year the Hoopoe turned up at Samphire Hoe so expect a call tomorrow morning.

SUMMER`S LEASE

BLACK T GODWITS,AVOCETS.RUFF at OARERUFFWILLOW WARBLER Chambers wallGREENSHANK Restharrow scrape

GREAT WHITE EGRET

Can it really be the end of another summer?lets hope September brings an indian one  or it will be a long winter indeed.Had a run up to Oare with messrs Mcvail and Woolhouse last wednesday then to Chambers wall in search of the red backed shrike and then to Sandwich where we found a whinchat on the ancient highway otherwise it was a little short of migrants but a very pleasant days birding all the same.On Friday I noticed the Cattle egret was at Dunge again so off I went determined that it would not evade me again but it did of course.However the great egret did show quite well on Dengemarsh and I had superb fish and chips from The Rod and Line chippie in New Romney on the way home.

WHEATEARS AND WHINCHATS

WHEATEARWHEATEAR(male)WHEATEARWHINCHAT

On a day more suited to october than august the birds decided to go back to africa and who can blame them. Swifts and house martins were in the air,wheatears whinchats and willow warblers were grounded,while gannets, terns and arctic skuas were all at sea.The sea had been quiet all morning then about lunchtime Icaught site of a gannet through the murk of the office window,venturing forth it was soon evident that 30 to 40 gannets were moving down channel in company with several terns and three arctic skuas.The skuas were giving the terns a hard time pirating their prescious catch,but not always being successful.