Merry Christmas

 Taken (without the snow) from the viewing ramp at Grove Ferry on December 30th 2008.

Merry Christmas.

A Dusky Warbler at Westbrook

 For a notoriously skulking little visitor from Siberia, the Dusky Warbler found at Westbrook near to Margate on the 8th of November, staying until the 12th, proved to be the most confiding Dusky Warbler I have seen. It had taken a liking to the scrub found below the cliff under the Sunken Gardens at Westbrook and could often be seen foraging for insects on the floor and in and around the coastal vegetation. As is usually the norm with these visiting Warbler types from the far east, they normally only offer fleeting glimpses as they work through bushes and vegetation in search of food but this one afforded superb views on several occasions and was often out in the open allowing the visiting paps to get some reasonable images. Indeed, it made a welcome change to actually get the head and tail of  of a Dusky Warbler together in the same frame.

Being so close to home I visited on a few occasions.

The local Male resident Kestrel often put on a show whilst watching the Dusky Warbler.

Pallid Swifts

 A couple of Pallid Swifts had been reported on Thanet, favouring the area between the Captain Digby at Joss Bay and the pumping station at Foreness (07/11/25). Although conditions were not favourable for photographing Swifts, i.e overcast grey skies with a small amount of drizzle throughout my stay, the one bird I saw, spent most of the day along the cliff top and was very close at times, allowing for a few reasonable record shots to mark the occasion.

It was actually quite a good session with a Drake and Duck Eider and a Yellow-legged Gull seen along the shore line below us, two Short-eared Owls and a female Hen Harrier in off the sea and three Black Redstarts along the cliff top fence line between Botany Bay and The Captain Digby.

Drake Eider

The next day (08/11/25) the weather was the complete opposite. Clear blue skies with just a gentle breeze. I retraced my footsteps and although this time there were two Pallid Swift's on show, unfortunately, they both remained distant over the housing estate behind the Botany hotel and were very high up. No images in spite of the better weather conditions but that is sometimes typical with this scenario. Poor weather and the bird dances about in front of your lens, much better conditions and the bird remains distant. I did take advantage of the sunshine and captured a few photos of the seemingly plentiful Stonechats in the area. Only one Black Redstart on the frontage of a house but thought better of pointing the lens in it's direction.

Stonechat (Male)

Stonechat (Female)

A Wren on the Rocks

 A Wren on the rocks at Reculver.

Spot the Crake

At the beginning of October, a very confiding Spotted Crake turned up on one of the small dragonfly pools between the Sandwich Bay bird observatory and the Restharrow scrape. it took a little while of waiting but eventually the bird came out into the open, foraging for food in amongst the pool vegetation. It was nice to see these normally shy birds at such close quarters, out in the open and under some warm  Autumnal sunshine.

I returned a few days later to find the Crake still on the pool and was able to get a few more images, this time without the overhead sunshine.

I called into the hide on the Restharrow scrape before returning to the obs car park and a Little Stint was feeding on one of the nearer islands. 

A very worthwhile couple of trips to the Bay.

Reculver to Minnis Bay

In typical mid Autumn skulky warbler weather, I went over to the caravan bushes at Reculver on the morning of Monday the 13th, in hope of seeing the reported Radde's Warbler. In a fine drizzle I stood with a few other birders but alas, the Radde's was either skulking deeper in the bushes than normal or the bird had moved on which is the more likely scenario. All was not lost as Matt Hindle unearthed a Yellow-browed Warbler which was my first of the Autumn. No photos that were good enough to show but one of many Goldcrest's was a lot more obliging than any of the visiting migrants. 

I returned to Reculver, this time Chambers Wall, on Wednesday the 15th as a bird was reported there yesterday (14th). I found it, or one, in the bushes around the fisherman's car park and although the weather was just the same as previously, dull and overcast, I did manage a few record shots of the bird.

Along the eastern end of the area towards Minnis Bay, I had some success with a small Sanderling flock. Waiting behind one of the groynes, the dog walkers would continually flush the birds and they would fly past my vantage point.

Sanderling

Turnstone

Three Dotterel's

I managed to see the three Dotterel's back on the 1st of September, an adult male with two juvenile birds that spent a few days feeding on stubble in a harvested field on the side of the Dover Road by the St Margaret's junction near to the top of the Jubilee Way into Dover. It was quite hard to locate them but once found, they were a lot easier to keep tabs on as they fed amongst the cut stubble remains. They were very confiding and we found ourselves having to back off as they continually walked towards us as they searched for food.

Dotterel (Adult Male)

Dotterel (Juvenile)

I moved on to New Downs on the Sandwich Bay estate after, where looking directly into the sun I managed very distant views of a visiting Spotted Crake The light and distance mean't that no images were obtained but little did I know that a month later I would see a Spotted Crake out in the open and just four to five metres metres in front of me. 

More about that later.