Saturday 08/02/2020

A cold morning with a light SW wind and constant drizzle.
07.40-09.40 from the sea watch hide with RW& AJG who kindly collated the numbers:
Brent Goose: 32E
Teal: 4E
Scaup: 4W
Common Scoter: 1E
Red-throated Diver: 10W 16E
Great-crested Grebe: 3 o/s
Fulmar: 4W
Gannet: 231W
Cormorant: c1,000 moving between bays
Kittiwake: 170W
Black-headed Gull: 100s o/s
Common Gull: 100s o/s
Herring Gulls: present n/c
Great black-backed Gull: present n/c
Sandwich Tern: 1 o/s (first of the year)
Guillemot: 64W     3E
Razorbill: 317W
Auk sp: 310W 109E
Harbour porpoise: 1
On Walland the 41 Bewick Swans were still at Midley late morning, nearby at the model flying club c20 Yellowhammers and c40 Fieldfares. No sign of the 20 Tree Sparrows seen there earlier per L & PH.
A walk around Pigwell and Bretts produced a party of 82 Pied Wagtails by the sewage works, the usual Marsh Harrier, but little else of note.
A disappointing Egret roost count this evening when just 6 Great White Egrets and 11 Little Egrets came to roost.
There were still 4 Long-tailed Ducks on the western most back lake at Scotney per RW.

Thursday 06/02/2020

 Great White and Little Egrets at Tanners this morning

At a frosty Boulderwall Fields this morning much smaller numbers of Wigeon, Curlew, Lapwing and Golden Plover than of late, 3 each of Great White Egret(at least 6 around the reserve this morning) and little Egret, 2 Stonechat and a Marsh Harrier over.

At Hookers probably 2 Kingfishers, a sunbathing Common Buzzard, 30+ Reed Buntings along with the usual squealing Water Rails, Marsh Harriers, various wildfowl and Tits. The drake Smew was still present but had moved to Burrowes where it kept to the far side of the lake with a couple of Goldeneye.

 Kingfisher at Hookers

 Common Buzzard at Hookers

 Reed Bunting at Hookers

 Long-tailed Tit at Hookers

 Marsh Harrier at Hookers

This afternoon at the screen hide a distant Bearded Tit and a Firecrest by the track were the highlights.

Distant Barn Owl with the Bewick Swan flock behind this afternoon

Late afternoon Barn Owl at Midley with the 41 Bewick Swans and definitely only 2 juveniles. At 1 of the Harrier roosts at least 14 Marsh Harriers came into the roost, to the accompaniment of several squealing Water Rails, a few Fieldfares were noted as were a small party of Linnets.

Wednesday 05/02/2020

A brilliant day out on Sheppey with Owen and Richard

 Purple Sandpiper at Shellness

Our first stop was Shellness, it's many years since I was last there and good to see that the access track is much improved. On the walk down to the Pillbox Little Egrets were popping up out of the salt marsh and Marsh Harriers were everywhere we looked. From the Pill Box we scanned the Swale enjoying the many Oystercatchers, Brent Geese, Shelduck, Ringed Plovers and distant swirling wader and Wigeon flocks, a drake Eider was spotted on the distant spit and lone Purple Sandpiper was on the foreshore.

A distant drake Eider

Owen & Richard looking at the distant Eider

When you go to Shellness you have to photograph this wonderful artwork

After walking back to the car and cup of coffee we made our wall along the sea wall to the hides on the Swale Nature Reserve, on the way seeing more Marsh Harriers, a Ring-tail Hen Harrier, and lots of Skylark, Reed and Corn Buntings, Meadow Pipits, a couple of Rock Pipits, many more Brent Geese and Curlews.

 Hide at the Nature Reserve

 Greater White-fronted Geese

 Greater White-fronted Geese

From the hide excellent views of the Greater White-fronted Geese were had, as well as many Curlews, Brent and Greylag Geese and of course more Marsh Harriers as well as Common Buzzards. 

 Curlews

We made a brief visit to Harty and Capel where we saw many more of the same species adding Merlin and Red-legged Partridge to the day list.

 Long-eared Owl Elmley

  Our next stop was at Elmley, where on arrival a Long-eared Owl was showing very nicely in the sunshine at the car park, a couple of Short-eared Owls were also fitting out in the open viewed from the car park. We walked down the track to scrapes seeing 1,000s more Wigeon and Lapwings, smaller numbers of Curlew, some Pintail a Cetti's Warbler and of course more Marsh Harriers. The water level at the scrapes was unsurprisingly for this winter very high so few waders seen. By the time we got back to the car park we had seen at least 6 Short-eared Owls, the Long-eared Owl was still showing nicely and we saw 2 Barn Owls from the car park. 

 Short-eared Owls at Elmley

Kestrel at Elmley

 Little Grebe, Elmley

 1 of 2 Barn Owls seen at Elmley

Rough-legged Buzzard coming to roost at Funton Creek. Honestly it is!

Our last stop of the day was at Funton Creek to hopefully see the Rough-legged Buzzard come into its favoured roost, it did not disappoint us when it flew in just after a sunset against a pink dusk sky. While we were waiting for its arrival, we saw more Marsh Harriers, 1-2 Short-eared Owls, 2 more Barn Owls, many more Brent Geese, Shelduck and Curlews, as well as Avocets and Godwits. Many thanks to Owen for organising, driving and making it a superb day out birding.

Monday 03/02/2020

With a stiff WSW wind blowing I joined AJG who kindly collated the numbers in the sea watch hide, I was pleasantly surprised by the numbers of birds moving West, all too soon the passage dropped away.
07:35-09:15 from the sea watch hide:
Common Scoter: 17W
Red-throated Diver: 104W      2E
Fulmar: 16W
Gannet: 149W
Cormorant: c500 o/s
Knot: 40W
Kittiwake: 348W
Black-headed Gull: many present n/c
Common Gull: c400W
Herring Gull: many present n/c
Great Black-backed Gull: small numbers present n/c
Guillemot: 11W
Razorbill: 43W
Auk sp: 991W    37E

 1 of 2 Firecrests seen by the track to the pines

Mid morning along the track to the pines at the ARC produced 2 Firecrests, a Chiffchaff, a small Tit flock, several calling Cetti's Warblers, 3 Marsh Harriers over. On the lake the usual wildfowl and 2 Goldeneye of note.

Late morning at Boulderwall Fields and Tanners Pool produced the drake Smew and the now usual large numbers of Golden Plover, Lapwing and Wigeon, just a handful of Curlew and a single Great White Egret.

I had a look at Lade, Greatstone and Littlestone hoping to find some for Waders and Gulls but didn't linger due to the overwhelming numbers of dog walkers, probably if I had persevered I would have seen a few, but seeing the dogs running around the the sands flushing the birds, their owners bellowing at them to come here was too much for me put up with.

Golden Plover coming in to Scotney

Another walk at Scotney this afternoon where huge numbers of Golden Plovers, with only slightly fewer Lapwings and Wigeon in the 100s put on some superb aerial displays.

This image does not convey the huge numbers of birds that were present this afternoon

 Some of the Golden Plover flushed by a tractor

 I managed to find a single Ruff on the Sward

Barnacle Geese at Scotney

There seems to be 2 distinct flocks of Barnacle Geese at Scotney. The largest flock c180 contains the 4 Emperor  hybrids and are fairly skittish, where as the smaller flock c40 birds are quite tame. By the time I got back to the car the rain had set in.

Sunday 02/02/2020

At 06.30 this morning the rain and wind was battering my bedroom window so I  went back to sleep. AJG & RW are made of sterner stuff and made it to the sea watch hide and kindly sent me there records, I'm glad I stayed in bed.
07.45-09.15 from the sea watch hide:
Red-throated Diver: 57W
Fulmar:4W
Gannet: 218W
Cormorant: 2,000+ o/s
Kittiwake: 56W
Guillemot: 52W
Razorbill: 123W
Auk sp: 324W
Despite the gloomy weather and strong wind I took a long walk out to the back of Scotney, there are still 1,000s of Golden Plover and Lapwing there, as well as100s of Wigeon and Shoveler, but just a few Skylark, Linnets and Reed Buntings and no Tree Sparrows. Eventually I located 2 Long-tailed Duck on the most western back lake. The walk back produced a single Green Sandpiper, 2 Stonechats, 2 Common Buzzards and a Marsh Harrier of note.

1of 3 Great White Egrets at Tanners Pool this afternoon

This afternoon on the reserve most of the interest was in the Boulderwall fields and Pools, the drake Smew was hauled out at the top end of Tanners, joined by 3 Great White Egrets and a Little Egret. A very mobile Water Pipit was moving between Cooks pool, Tanners Pool then lost over Hookers.

At the back of Hookers a party of 20 Reed Buntings were the highlight.

 Some of the 1,000s of Golden Plovers flushed from the Boulderwall fields

 A Peregrine flushed the 1,000s of Golden Plovers and Lapwing, as well as 100s of Wigeon and 50+ Curlew from Boulderwall Fields. 

Curlew at Cooks Pool

Friday 31/01/2020

Again this morning despite visibility being down to just a few 100 mts Razorbills dominated the watch, though the Cormorants were quite spectacular when they were flushed from the beach.
07.50-10.20 from the sea watch hide joined by Peter S:
Brent Goose: 27E
Wigeon: 23W
Common Scoter: 1W
Red-throated Diver: 13W 3E
Great-crested Grebe: 6 o/s
Fulmar: 13W
Gannet: 162W  17E
Cormorant: c1,000 around
Kittiwake: 108W
Common Gull: c300W
Guillemot: 346W
Razorbill: 1,347W
Auk sp: 604W
Rather stupidly I decided to walk from home to Scotney, I spent 3 hours peering through the drizzle and seeing very little but got a soaking. All the usual feral Geese were present , along with 100s of Lapwing, Golden Plover, Wigeon and a single Ruff, but no sign of the Long-tailed Ducks, though it was quite difficult to see the far side of the lake in the murky conditions.
15:00-16:00 from the fishing boats with CT & LW,
Red-throated Diver: 4W     1E
Gannet: 19W
Cormorant: c400 o/s
Turnstone: 10 on beach
Kittiwake: 36W
Black-headed Gull: c2,500 in a single flock feeding close inshore.
Guillemot: 23W
Razorbill: 28W
Auk sp: 61W
Grey Seal: 2
Harbour Porpoise: 2

Thursday 30/01/2020

The re-appearance of Razorbills moving West off shore was cut short as the drizzle and mist came in cutting visibility dramatically, also making watching from the hide uncomfortable as the brisk southerly wind blew the drizzle straight in through the flaps.
07.40-09.10 from the sea watch hide with CP & AJG who kindly collated the numbers:
Common Scoter: 4W
Red throated Diver: 17E    4W
Great-crested Grebe: 2E    3o/s
Fulmar: 5W
Gannet: 84W
Cormorant: c250 o/s
Oystercatcher: 1E
Kittiwake: 106W
Guillemot: 32W       7E
Razorbill: 334W   
Auk sp: 238W       18E

Wednesday 29/01/2020

A cold morning with a raw NW wind was not going to make a great sea watch, but if you are not looking you wont see.
08:00-09:00 from the sea watch hide with RW:
Wigeon: 3E
Red-throated Diver: 5E     9W
Great-crested Grebe: 2 o/s
Fulmar: 2W
Gannet: 71W
Cormorant: C200 o/s
Kittiwake: 145W
Mediterranean Gull: 1W
Common Gull: 66W
Guillemot: 32W   9E
Razorbill: 6W
Auk sp: 112W       19E
Common Seal: 1
After Breakfast I decided to walk from home across the fields to the reserve, then around Dengemarsh and back via Dengemarsh Road. I managed to see 66 species not a bad total without really trying, these included Smew, Bittern, Great White Egrets, Bearded Tits, Marsh Harriers, 100s of Golden Plover, Lapwing, 54 Curlew, 2 Ruff, Raven, a flock of 76 Pied Wagtails in the field opposite Brick Wall Farm but no Linnets.
At the fishing boats it was good to catch up West Sussex stalwarts Bernie Forbes and Owen Mitchell, pity that there was very little bird wise there this afternoon.

Sheep or Calf?

About the only sighting of interest at the fishing boats was this gory sight, brought in by the hide tide.

The herd of Bewick Swans were still at Midley this afternoon and the 2 Whooper swans were still near the Woolpack per PT.

Monday 27/01/2020

07.55-10.05 from the sea watch hide:
Shelduck: 3W
Common Scoter: 4W
Red-throated Diver: 103W
Great-crested Grebe: 2 o/s
Fulmar: 7W
Gannet: 371W
Cormorant: c250 o/s
Kittiwake: 165W
Guillemot: 51W     3E      14 o/s
Razorbill: 11W
Auk Sp: 151W    9E
Grey Seal: 1
The weather and domestic stuff precluded any more birding.

Sunday 26/01/2020

Another very gloomy morning, but with a stiff SSW wind blowing I was hoping for a rather more interesting sea watch than of late, unfortunately I was to be disappointed.
08:00-09:00 from the sea watch hide with SO & RW,
Red-throated Diver: 24E   1W
Fulmar: 2E   1W
Gannet: 67E     29W
Cormorant: present n/c
Oystercatcher: 7E
Kittiwake: 55 feeding o/s
Mediterranean Gull:  1E
Guillemot: 51E      1W
Razorbill: 4E
Auk sp: 214E    9W
Grey Seal: 1

Female Bearded Tit at the screen hide

At the ARC from the Screen hide 2 Bearded Tits were joined briefly by a Cetti's Warbler, 2 Ravens flew over as did 8 Black-tailed Godwits and 4 Curlew, 2 Common Snipe were also seen along with the usual Marsh Harriers.

The male Bearded Tit was uncooperative

A walk from Springfield Bridge to Tanners Pool and back saw of note the male Smew, the usual flocks of Lapwing, Golden Plover and Wigeon, a few Curlews 3 Marsh Harriers and 2 Common Buzzards., the male Hen Harrier had moved on by the time I arrived. As the wind was picking up most birds were in hiding.

At Scotney I could only find a single Long-tailed Duck hauled out on the tree island, lots more Golden Plover and Lapwing, with at least 14 Redshanks.

On Walland 40 Bewick Swans with 2 juveniles and the return of the 2 Whooper Swans from Hook wall.