Waxwings

I finally lined up a Waxwing in my camera viewfinder, one of six seen at Pegwell Bay recently. It's fair to say, they were not the easiest Waxwings I have tried to photograph, the birds favouring berry laden bushes in a fenced off area used for grazing the resident Konic Ponies, meaning they were at all times whilst I was there, a little too distant for decent images. I did manage a few shots to record the occasion. My first Waxwings for a while.

 

Twite's

 It has been a little while since I have seen Twite but a pair currently residing by the old hoverport at Cliffsend near to Ramsgate gave lovely views as they preened and fed in the Sea Buckthorn along the coastal path. Lovely looking Finches in my opinion.

Merry Christmas

 

Another new bird for me.

 Another new bird for me in the shape of an American Cliff Swallow seen at Joss Bay in late September but has taken me this long to document the fact. I never fared very well with images, (probably why its taken me so long to get around to looking at them) with a fifty mile an hour wind sending the Swallow over my various vantage points at break neck speeds and also this American visitor was always in amongst several hundred migrating House Martins and Barn Swallows, making it extremely difficult to pick out and get in the camera's view finder. A few poor record shots below of  a bird I never thought would see locally, never mind in the county of Kent. Congrats to the finder, one of the local sea watchers at North Foreland I believe, an easy bird to overlook in amongst hundreds of migrating Swallows, Sand and House Martins.

Beardies in Numbers.

At this time of the year, for some reason, Bearded Tits seem to flock together in the reed beds at Stodmarsh and Grove Ferry, so with this in mind, last Sunday (1st October), I met up with Tim Gutsell and we wandered the back path down to the Marsh hide from the Stodmarsh end of the reserve. Just short of the Marsh hide we heard the familiar "pinging" of several Bearded Tits in the reed bed and it was not long before we had a sizeable flock in front of us. They were very obliging at times with sometimes three to four birds perched on the same Bull Rush head. It was not long before we were joined by other photographers and we were busy for the best part of an hour before the birds seemed to disappear lower down in the reeds as the wind strengthened. General consensus of opinion estimated probably 100 plus birds present and extremely vocal, even I could hear them.

An annual event on the Stodmarsh/Grove Ferry NNR during the Autumn.

Catching up (Slowly)

There never seems enough hours in the day lately, especially for messing about on my computer. Below are a few images of an obliging Cetti's Warbler whilst waiting for a Barn Owl to put in an appearance back in July. It's nice to get these posing out in the open instead of a loud burst of song and a fleeting glance of a chestnut red disappearing into the foliage of the reed beds as you pass them by.

A Juvenile Red-backed Shrike

A trip out to Abbots Cliff overlooking the southern edge of Samphire Hoe with Tim Gutsell paid dividends with the reported juvenile Red-backed Shrike, but we had no luck with the Wryneck that had been seen earlier, accompanying the Shrike around the various bushes along the cliff top. The Shrike always remained fairly distant, fair to say that I have had easier Shrikes, especially juveniles, but a Shrike seen is always a good encounter.

We done fairly well with a sprinkling of migrant birds seen, a Whinchat dived out of a bush that I thought was the Shrike for a moment, a Pied Fly-catcher was seen catching flies from a distant bush, several Lesser and Common Whitethroats, Willow Warblers looking distinctively yellowish, a garden Warbler dropped into a bush right in front of us, soon lost to view in the foliage and a pair of Blackcaps that were picked out by Tim. A great day out on the cliff top and as already mentioned, it's always good to see a Shrike.

Not so dapper looking Garganey

 A foggy start to the morning yesterday (7th Sept) and a pre work hour in the feast hide at Grove Ferry revealed a pair of Garganey on their return journey south, looking a lot different to when they arrived back in the spring. Visibility was not great on my arrival.

Conditions improved as the sun soon burnt off the early morning mist.

There was not a lot else going on but the Little Grebe family are still present on the pool and not at all camera shy.

Turtle Doves

 Although sadly still in decline, 2023 has been good to me for Turtle Doves with several encounters around the east of the county, this individual seen at Grove Ferry back in June.

Let the plug out.

Not too sure why the water levels are so unacceptably high on the Stodmarsh/Grove Ferry reserve at the moment but a Wood Sandpiper arrived on the pool in front of the Reed bed hide at the Stodmarsh end on Saturday morning (2nd) but thought better of it as it could not find any muddy fringes to land and feed on. At one stage it tried to land on the Algae on the water surface but was unsuccessful and passed on to pastures muddier. 

With the Algae and the high water levels there not much to keep me interested and the same could be said for the Marsh hide. Two late (ish) Hobbies were seen over the reed bed and a few Bearded Tits were "pinging" on the way down to the Marsh hide. 

I was under the impression that the water levels were manageable on the reserve and although I realise you cannot turn the water on and off like a tap, I would have thought that the levels could have been managed a bit better with the passage waders passing through at this time of the year in mind. Still, what do I know, I'me just an aging lorry driver. Looking on the bright side, we do have nice shiny blobs of yellow paint on the ends of the catches on the metal kissing gates at each end of the reserve ?????

Whinge Over.

Restharrow, Sandwich Bay

With the reserve at Stodmarsh/Grove Ferry being in the poorest condition that I can remember for a long time, Algae covering the pool in front of the Reed bed hide and a large part of the main lake at Stodmarsh, unacceptably high water levels across the whole of the reserve and a distinct dishevelled look about the place with viewing from most hides severely restricted due to overgrown vegetation, my visits have been few and far between of late. If there is anything of note on the reserve it will be difficult to see and with the water levels being so high, passage waders will not think twice about passing overhead towards the beckoning mud of Worth, Pegwell or Oare. Hence a couple of hours was spent (25th August) in the hides at Restharrow on the Sandwich Bay estate. A Wood Sandpiper and a Greenshank was about the best of the Avian fare on show but both remaining distant and out of range of my camera. A Common Sandpiper was more obliging, feeding on the muddy fringe in front of the top (new) hide.

There were plenty of Common Snipe dotted around the scrape and a few ventured in front of the hide, enabling me to get a few images as they flew in.

Several Little Grebe youngsters were seen on the scrape, mostly chasing each other about and giving a comical look as they ran across the water escaping the unwanted attention of adult birds that were not prepared to tolerate their presence too close to them.

Finally for the camera, a pair of juvenile Yellow Wagtails dropped in to feed on the abundance of flies in the vegetation around the pools edge. Scruffy looking individuals at the moment but not too long until they are looking dapper in their bright yellow overcoats. A pleasant couple of hours giving a bit of relief from the monotony of Grove/Stodmarsh.