EYES LIKE A HAWK

When I made my first cup of tea this morning,a dark bird hurtled across the garden,I thought sparrowhawk,but probably blackbird,went back to bed and thought no more about it,when I eventually decided to face the day, as miserable as it was,I spied with my little eyes something beginning with S sitting on the fence,a superb male sparrowhawk.It was still pretty dark,raining and my bathroom window provided my only vantage point,my first efforts were poor but eventually got some reasonable shots of this wonderful creature.

Assuming this will be my last post of the year,but you never know,hope you all enjoyed christmas and have a very happy new year

THE LAST POST ???

If the world ends tomorrow,I thought it would be fitting to say farewell to all my friends and readers,and see you on the other side,if it doesn`t then happy christmas to one and all and see you in the White Horse tomorrow evening.
There has not been a lot of action on my birding front of late,just a few more Dover Diver photos

Here the white patch at the rear is clearly visible,an ID feature of the Black throated diver.

Note also the straight,not upturned bill

I don`t know if the bird is still in the docks at Dover,but I think the DHB are getting a bit fed up of some irresponsible people trespassing onto the pontoons trying to get even closer images,so please stay up top before they restrict access to the area all together.
Stodmarsh harrier roost on monday :-11 marsh harriers,no hen harriers,thousands of fieldfares

FEMALE MARSH HARRIER going to roost in the reedbed.

the evening sky filled with the chatter of 1000s of fieldfares going to roost.

FAILED MOONSHOT

Whilst doing a litter sweep of the Samphire Hoe beach on Tuesday we came across this large mermaids purse,which we think is a BLONDE RAY egg case,unless you know different!

HAPPY CHRISTMAS REGARDLESS,KEEP CALM AND DRINK BEER.

DOVER DIVER

Another visitor has floated into Dover docks,this year its a juvenile Black Throated Diver delighting the crowds in the Granville Dock near the lifeboat mooring.

BLACK THROATED DIVER

DIVE DIVE DIVE.

Meanwhile on the river near Crabble yesterday afternoon this grey wagtail posed nicely and a water rail didn`t.

GREY WAGTAIL.

STONE LES WAXWINGS

At Stonelees yesterday there were at least 368 waxwings, Phil Milton counted them from his photograph of them in the tree tops.
Here are some of them that came down to feed in the shadowy guelder rose bush.

THESE ARE MY BERRIES,KEEP OFF

WHO`S A PRETTY BOY THEN

WELL I AM

WHICH ONE TO CHOOSE?

YES I`LL TAKE THIS ONE

WE MIGHT HAVE TO GO TO DOVER FOR CHRISTMAS.

LET IT SNOW,LET IT SNOW,LET IT SNOW

Had to go to Hythe on Friday last so caught up with the Purple Sandpipers at the Imperial,

There were four roosting on the rock groyne along with 85 Turnstones.

on guard

 

its only another snapper,back to sleep.
A shag was feeding off Sandgate Esplanade and I amused myself by trying to see if the bird actually left the water when diving:-

Head out ,tail in

Tail up,head in so I don `t think there is a point when they become completely airborne,unless you know different?
Saturday morning went waxwing hunting at Pegwell,found a flock of about 100 at Stonelees,but they stayed in tree tops until departing en masse towards Sandwich

WAXWINGS
Eventually they will have to come to my garden,but the hoardes of blackbirds are stripping the berries
very quickly,so hurry up you Bohemians,all must go.
It was good to meet up with Phil Milton again ,we all miss his colourful entries on the Planet Thanet blog,come on Gadget get it up and running again please.
I`ve had a few goldfinches munching away at the nijer seeds in the garden, a pair of blackcaps are also regular visitors.

GOLDFINCH

BLUE TIT
Yesterday at the Hoe,was pretty quiet birdwise but we did attract a pair of Stonechats while we were making hay in the wintry sunshine

STONECHATS almost always in pairs.

FEMALE

MALE ON HAYSTACK

MALE

GREEN WOODPECKER on the cliffs.

sun dogs

DUNGENESS GOLDEN MOMENTS.

This morning the first snow of the winter arrived in Kent bringing the usual chaos,I stayed indoors

catching up with jobs that have been waiting awhile.

TICKING THE VELVET

After seeing Steves post about scoters off Deal Pier,went over to see them this morning there must be 200 at least with at least 5 velvet scoters among them.I first saw them from the beach and then from the end of the pier,they were drifting on the incoming tide and then flying back to the start of the mussel bed I assume and repeating the process over and over,it is possible to pick out the velvets on the water with a bit of luck,they appear to be darker and slightly larger than their common cousins,and may show a bit of white on the wing,but in flight they are easily picked out as the white secondaries stand out.

VELVET SCOTER with 2 COMMON

VELVET SCOTER

Some of the 200 strong flock of scoters approximately 400 m off the end of Deal Pier

Apart from the scoters there were several Red Throated Divers,a few GCGrebes and Brent Geese,15 Lapwings,a couple of Guillemots and a pair of Shelduck flying by.