Brian's birding blog

Monday, 10 June 2013

Black Kite at Selling near Faversham Kent

I was down at Pegwell Bay this morning at 6am looking more in hope than expectation for the Bee-Eater that spent the weekend there. I thought I heard the bird around 7am but couldn't find it despite a good search. A pair of Turtle Doves, a Cuckoo and several Ring Necked Parakeet kept me entertained but as I stood watching with the warden and another guy at around 8am they saw the Bee-Eater take flight and head off high to the west but I have to admit that I couldn't be sure I'd got it in my bins which disappointed me.

Black Kite

I searched the reserve again and walked through to the playing fields beyond searching wires etc as I went but only found a Peregrine Falcon for my trouble sitting on the old shell of the power station.
At 10am news came through that a Black Kite was still present at Selling so I decided to try for that and made the 25mile trip back toward home up the A2 exiting at the M2 junction and driving the narrow lanes toward Selling. I parked up on the triangle and walked back to the area where Lee Evans and a few other birders had gathered and just in time too as the Black Kite flew in across the valley and came really close before turning and heading back over the trees only to be re found sitting in a tree giving excellent scope views. The bird is very flat winged with obvious fingers and light shoulder lines with that obvious kite rudder of a tail but not the fork we are used to seeing with our Red Kites.
This is my first Black Kite and moves the year list to 250 too.

Black Kite

The images are from distant and heavily cropped but I hope capture some of the birds character.

Saturday, 8 June 2013

Good birding at Minsmere

We took a trip up the A12 today to the RSPB's top reserve that is Minsmere. It's 110 miles from home so we set off early and were walking down the North Wall before 7.30am before the visitor centre opened and had the reserve pretty much to ourselves.

Bittern in flight from Island Mere hide

We stopped at the Stone Curlew watch point where a pair have made the reserve home this year but we failed to find them and the Red Backed Shrike reported yesterday looked to have moved on too and you couldn't blame it as the temperature was around 5 degrees, the sky was grey and the wind was quite strong too which caught us be surprise after the recent warmer weather but must have caused the Shrike to rethink it's locale.

Bittern

A couple of Bearded Tit pinged briefly whilst Cetti's, Sedge and Reed Warbler were noisier and a little
more showy. We had the bonus of an Otter run across North Wall in front of us and it showed again fishing in front of East Hide a few minutes later where we also had a pair of Garganey and displaying Avocets.
From the public hide we picked up a pair of Little Terns along with a summer plumaged Knot.

Avocets

Marsh Harrier

Otter

I picked up a distant Skua on the sea which I'd like to say was Pomarine with it's soft flappy flight but in truth it was too distant to be sure. From South hide we picked up Little Gull and Jimmy found a summer plumaged Little Stint to give us all a year tick. Ringed Plovers were present in good numbers with a couple of Dunlin and a few Black Tailed Godwits. Lot's of Marsh Harriers showed even giving us a food pass before we enjoyed good views of no fewer than three Bitterns. In all the day delivered 82 seperate bird species which in the conditions was a reasonable count for June.

Friday, 7 June 2013

More of Oare and a bonus Bonaparte's Gull

I made a trip to Oare Marsh today with Suzanne, she likes this reserve because you can park up and see the birds from the car so while I walked Tia around she sat birdwatching (reading her book) in the car.

Bonaparte's Gull

Anyway dog walked I got down to some birding and quickly found the Bonaparte's gull amongst the Black Heads on one of the islands. This was a bonus being my second Bonnie of the year and a bird I hadn't gone looking for today. Lot's of Black Tailed Godwit had been pushed onto the reserve by the rising tide of the Swale and a couple of pairs of Avocet waded around with Redshank and Oystercatcher.The creeks held a few Little Egret and a Grey Heron. On the duck front I counted Pochard, Shelduck, Shoveler, Tufted, and Mallard along with Greylag Goose and Mute Swan. As for the smaller guys just Linnet Meadow Pipit, Skylark, Swift , Swallow and a Yellow Wagtail were noted. As for Raptors I only saw a Kestrel and a Marsh Harrier today. (Oh and a couple of Buzzard on the drive down so not a bad day out)

Little Egret and Redshank

Black Tailed Godwit

Little Grebe chick

Swift

Black Tailed Godwits

The Swift is the start of a mission to get a better Swift photograph this year.

Now...where to tomorrow?

Tuesday, 4 June 2013

Ring Necked Parakeet at Richmond Park

I had the pleasure of dropping my youngest and his girl at Heathrow this morning as they head out to San Francisco for a week with the family and then a week in Vegas (It's a hard life!). The M25 gave us a little drama but luckily I've worked west London over the years and managed to duck around the orbital car park and get them to the terminal in good time. Being in the area I decided on a stop at Richmond Park before making the drive home where I found both Red and Fallow deer in large numbers and eventually found a few Ring Necked Parakeet low enough for the camera to come out of the bag and snap a couple of shots.

Ring Necked Parakeet

Red Deer

Fallow Deer

Friday, 31 May 2013

Garden Starlings

I don't get many Starlings in the garden usually but today they have brought their young in to feed so I grabbed the camera and fired off a couple of shots.

Starling

Thursday, 30 May 2013

Savi's Warbler Lakenheath

I drove to Lakenheath this morning in an effort to connect with the reported Savi's Warbler.
Being only seventy miles from home I was parked up at 4.30am and made the long walk out to West Wood where the bird had been seen last. I heard three Grasshopper Warblers along the way but soon found an area where the grass had been trampled so guessed it would be worth a stop, look and LISTEN.
I wasn't disappointed as the Savi's Warbler obliged climbing the reeds giving good views and reeling away happily allowing a good comparison between it's deeper tone and the lighter call of the Groppers.

A Golden Oriole gave me two notes of it's call and a couple of Bitterns "boomed". A Tawny Owl calling was a surprise and a dog Fox was being very noisy in the farmers fields. Lot's of Marsh Harriers on the wing and a few Hobby were seen both sitting and in flight but I didn't manage to locate the Red Footed Falcon on this occasion. The Savi's gave me tick 248 for the year and moves me into fourth place on the Bubo listing site but I doubt I'll stay there as believe it or not there are people that do more birding than me and I'm sure they'll catch up during the rest of the year. I did bump into Lee Evans again today after seeing him Monday in Scotland. He is running a round Britain tour with a group of eager beaver birders grabbing daily ticks as he rushes around with them all over Britain.