Sunday 31 March 2013
BLACK HOLE
Highlight of this mornings walk around Langdon Cliffs was 5 black redstarts in the" Hole",also the first easterly movement of chaffinches was evident and a steady trickle eastward of lesser black backs all flying individually.A couple of white wagtails,a corn bunting and a stonechat also made the notebook.Also seen were messrs Ashton &Gutsell,amongst other unknown birders no doubt drawn to Dover by the Bluethroat.
BLACK REDSTART
BLUETHROAT TWITCHERS
Wednesday 27 March 2013
ITS A CHILL WIND
The unrelenting easterly winds continue to chill us all,at least we can put extra layers on or stay indoors,spare a thought for our early summer migrants such as wheatears,sandwich terns and sand martins how do they survive?
Tuesday morning at Samphire Hoe gave me my first wheatear of the year,seemingly finding tasty morsels around the main car park.
The sea provided most interest with a steady stream of birds moving east into the teeth of the wind.
Gannets,sandwich terns,red throated divers,kittiwakes, great crested grebes the usual gulls and cormorants and a single black throated diver.
A WINDSWEPT RED THROATED DIVER
A male black redstart was uncooperative and was not popular with the local stonechats.
BLACK REDSTART IN ACTION
SANDWICH TERN
SAMPHIRE HOE and Paul Holt also turned up the goods today when he found a BLUETHROAT in scrub around the back car park.
BLUETHROAT
The bluethroat is a rare passage migrant in Britain in spring on its journey to northern europe where it breeds among willows and birch forests.Expert opinion was that this was a first year bird,it was also a first for me in UK.
Tuesday morning at Samphire Hoe gave me my first wheatear of the year,seemingly finding tasty morsels around the main car park.
Gannets,sandwich terns,red throated divers,kittiwakes, great crested grebes the usual gulls and cormorants and a single black throated diver.
A male black redstart was uncooperative and was not popular with the local stonechats.
SAMPHIRE HOE and Paul Holt also turned up the goods today when he found a BLUETHROAT in scrub around the back car park.
Friday 22 March 2013
AROUND THE VERNAL EQUINOX
I have just watched a film called The Big Year,a salutary tale of obsessive twitching and where it can lead,be warned all of you boys doing the big year yourselves.
NEW MOON
In the mean time have had a few trips out despite the springlike weather.
GREY PLOVER
OYSTERCATCHER
RINGED PLOVER
The above were seen on a brief walk along the sea wall at Reculver
SHAG,still a few hanging around Dover Harbour last weekend.
TUFTED DUCK Stodmarsh
50 BRENT GEESE flying east past Samphire Hoe
HARBOUR PORPOISE were very much in evidence in the calm waters off the Hoe on Tuesday
MEDITERRANEAN GULL this superb bird took a fancy to Franks left overs
F231 HMS ARGYLL going down channel
The reports of Black necked &Slavonian grebes at Seaton led to a brief afternoon trip there in a chill damp easterly breeze on Wednsday afternoon,of course they were on the far side of the lake,but at least they were together.
Today,Friday I braved the biting easterly wind and walked along the PoW pier and was rewarded with about ten Sandwich Terns feeding in the inner harbour.
SANDWICH TERNS
JUVENILE KITTIWAKE
NEW MOON
OYSTERCATCHER
The above were seen on a brief walk along the sea wall at Reculver
The reports of Black necked &Slavonian grebes at Seaton led to a brief afternoon trip there in a chill damp easterly breeze on Wednsday afternoon,of course they were on the far side of the lake,but at least they were together.
DISTANT FUZZY GREBES
Had to go to Deal on Thursday to buy tickets for a gig at the Astor theatre,so popped in to Rest Harrow,hoping for a garganey,the teal of spring but had to make do with the usual teal,shoveller and tufties,one of which did a swim by the hide.
Today,Friday I braved the biting easterly wind and walked along the PoW pier and was rewarded with about ten Sandwich Terns feeding in the inner harbour.
Friday 15 March 2013
THE SNOWS OF SAMPHIRE HOE
Following mondays snow,Samphire Hoe was a bleak but picturesque place on Tuesday,
PACK ICE BUT NO POLAR BEARS
IS THAT A YETI?
MINI MOGULS
Friday 8 March 2013
TAKING THE HIGH ROAD
Last week 36 members of SBBO spent a very enjoyable birding trip to bonny Scotland.
Travelling by coach rather than the usual convoy of private cars the first venue was Martin Mere in Lancashire,winter home to lots of whooper swans,many other wild fowl and waders can be found here including pink footed geese,pintail,wigeon and ruff.
WHOOPER SWAN
WIGEON
PINTAIL
The first night was spent in Kendal at the Premier Inn,a few of us ventured in to town to sample the local hostelries..
LENTICULAR CLOUDS KENDAL
Next morning we headed north and were crossing the Forth Road Bridge in good time,stopping for lunch at Loch Leven/Vane Farm reserve where there were raven,curlew, goldeneye,more pink feet,goosander,siskin and tree sparrows and a wallcreeper!
RAVENS
PINK FEET
SISKINS
WALLCREEPER.
Grantown on Spey was our base for the next five days,staying in relative luxury at the Grant Arms hotel.
GRANT ARMS HOTEL
The party was split into three groups of 12 for the trips into the Cairngorms,and to the coast and evening visits to the pine marten centre.
Group A went first to the Cairngorms where we were led to the summit by Martin and John,it was a superb day weatherwise,sunny warm and calm,which made for an exhillerating experience,with views across to Ben Nevis 60 miles away.
SPOT THE BIRDIE
PTARMIGAN you may just about make out the feathered feet and red eyebrow,ok imagine it then.
Distant views of Ptarmigan had to suffice,the other groups had much closer encounters with this extra-ordinary bird.
ICE BOUND WEATHER STATION
THE "A"TEAM WITH MARTIN &JOHN AT CAIRNGORM SUMMIT
PTARMIGAN POO
Loch Garten was visited on the way back where we had our first sightings of Crested Tit.
CRESTED TIT
Thursday was our turn for the coast at Burghead and Port Knockie on the Moray Firth,where Long Tailed Duck was the star followed by Eider,Shag,divers,scoters,Bottle nosed Dolpins,and a Black Guillemot made a very late entrance just before we had to leave.
EIDER
LONG TAILED DUCK
LONG TAILED DUCK COURTSHIP
SHAG
BOW FIDDLE ROCK
Friday morning was spent at Loch Garten,where the ladies took great delight in having coal tits eating out of their hands,crested tits,great and blue tits and chaffinches fed voraciously on a diet of peanut butter,the Red Squirrels also were a delight to watch.Strangely not a single crossbill was seen all week.
A BIRD IN THE HAND.
CRESTED TIT
CRESTED TIT
COAL TIT
RED SQUIRREL
The Spey was flowing swiftly south of the town ,15 whooper swans were on the river as we arrived but took flight over our heads soon after,a pair of Dippers were on territory between the two bridges,treecreeper and more crested tits were seen in the Anagach Forest and red squirrels were at the feeders.
WHOOPER SWANS
DIPPER ON THE SPEY
Friday evening was group As turn to visit the Pine Marten centre near Aviemore,the others had not had much luck so I was not holding my breath,however within minutes of arriving in the hide 4 red deer came in to feed on the peanuts followed by 3 badgers and a wood mouse.The CCTV monitors then picked up two bright eyes bounding towards us the Pine Marten cometh.It fed at first in the front of the hide until spooked by a badger,it then went round the back to the feeding table,where it stayed for about five minutes,then it was off as quickly as it arrived,another successful outing for the A TEAM.
PINE MARTEN
At first light on Saturday morning 8 of us were taken to Tulloch Moor to see Black Grouse.Dave Slater our guide soon spotted a male bird lurking in the undergrowth some distance off,difficult to view,luckily this bird and another male took to the air and landed in tree tops where although still distant provided good scope views.
BLACK GROUSE
BLACK GROUSE TULLOCH MOOR
After breakfast our tour moved on to the Findhorn valley where we hoped to see golden eagle,but had no luck although they were seen after we had left,however mountain hares were spotted on the scree slopes at the head of the valley.
MOUNTAIN HARE FINDHORN VALLEY
Back to the Spey in the afternoon where the dippers were still patrolling back and forth,one seen carrying nest material to a small hole in the old bridge arch,and a grey wagtail was added to the trip list.Martin Shepherd even found time to help an angler land a salmon after his line became entangled in a tree,what a hero.
DIPPER
One last early walk down by the golf course failed to find the capercaille,so it was back to breakfast and then the journey home via Vane Farm,Kendal and a quick visit to Leighton Moss,a thankfully uneventful journey home many thanks to Dave Gillie,a very good driver, and a huge thankyou to Mike Briggs once again for a great piece of logistics and for including me in the A Team.
Travelling by coach rather than the usual convoy of private cars the first venue was Martin Mere in Lancashire,winter home to lots of whooper swans,many other wild fowl and waders can be found here including pink footed geese,pintail,wigeon and ruff.
WIGEON
The first night was spent in Kendal at the Premier Inn,a few of us ventured in to town to sample the local hostelries..
Next morning we headed north and were crossing the Forth Road Bridge in good time,stopping for lunch at Loch Leven/Vane Farm reserve where there were raven,curlew, goldeneye,more pink feet,goosander,siskin and tree sparrows and a wallcreeper!
Grantown on Spey was our base for the next five days,staying in relative luxury at the Grant Arms hotel.
The party was split into three groups of 12 for the trips into the Cairngorms,and to the coast and evening visits to the pine marten centre.
Group A went first to the Cairngorms where we were led to the summit by Martin and John,it was a superb day weatherwise,sunny warm and calm,which made for an exhillerating experience,with views across to Ben Nevis 60 miles away.
PTARMIGAN you may just about make out the feathered feet and red eyebrow,ok imagine it then.
ICE BOUND WEATHER STATION
Loch Garten was visited on the way back where we had our first sightings of Crested Tit.
Thursday was our turn for the coast at Burghead and Port Knockie on the Moray Firth,where Long Tailed Duck was the star followed by Eider,Shag,divers,scoters,Bottle nosed Dolpins,and a Black Guillemot made a very late entrance just before we had to leave.
LONG TAILED DUCK COURTSHIP
SHAG
BOTTLE NOSED DOLPHINS
Friday morning was spent at Loch Garten,where the ladies took great delight in having coal tits eating out of their hands,crested tits,great and blue tits and chaffinches fed voraciously on a diet of peanut butter,the Red Squirrels also were a delight to watch.Strangely not a single crossbill was seen all week.
CRESTED TIT
CRESTED TIT AT LOCH GARTEN
The Spey was flowing swiftly south of the town ,15 whooper swans were on the river as we arrived but took flight over our heads soon after,a pair of Dippers were on territory between the two bridges,treecreeper and more crested tits were seen in the Anagach Forest and red squirrels were at the feeders.
Friday evening was group As turn to visit the Pine Marten centre near Aviemore,the others had not had much luck so I was not holding my breath,however within minutes of arriving in the hide 4 red deer came in to feed on the peanuts followed by 3 badgers and a wood mouse.The CCTV monitors then picked up two bright eyes bounding towards us the Pine Marten cometh.It fed at first in the front of the hide until spooked by a badger,it then went round the back to the feeding table,where it stayed for about five minutes,then it was off as quickly as it arrived,another successful outing for the A TEAM.
At first light on Saturday morning 8 of us were taken to Tulloch Moor to see Black Grouse.Dave Slater our guide soon spotted a male bird lurking in the undergrowth some distance off,difficult to view,luckily this bird and another male took to the air and landed in tree tops where although still distant provided good scope views.
After breakfast our tour moved on to the Findhorn valley where we hoped to see golden eagle,but had no luck although they were seen after we had left,however mountain hares were spotted on the scree slopes at the head of the valley.
Back to the Spey in the afternoon where the dippers were still patrolling back and forth,one seen carrying nest material to a small hole in the old bridge arch,and a grey wagtail was added to the trip list.Martin Shepherd even found time to help an angler land a salmon after his line became entangled in a tree,what a hero.
One last early walk down by the golf course failed to find the capercaille,so it was back to breakfast and then the journey home via Vane Farm,Kendal and a quick visit to Leighton Moss,a thankfully uneventful journey home many thanks to Dave Gillie,a very good driver, and a huge thankyou to Mike Briggs once again for a great piece of logistics and for including me in the A Team.
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