Of Godwits, Merlin and Smew

Sounds like a fantasy novel doesn't it? But it's accurate! I spent two full days birding at various locations in Kent, and it was a stunning couple of days at that! Let me recount the whole thing for you. And show you some pretty pictures I took through the scope as well.

I'll start you off with a lovely close-up Blackbird that was delightful and posed for ages for me.

Awoke at 5:30am on the 17th to make sure I got to my first destination by dawn (just after 7:00am). Google Maps was perfect and I arrived bang on time at Nor Marsh and Motney Hill. It was extremely foggy and cold, but smelled and sounded exactly like dawn by the sea should! I was greeted immediately with Song Thrushes singing, Dunnocks, Magpies, Blackbirds, and several Woodpigeon just from the car park. I got everything together and set off along the sea edge. The tide was out so there was very little to see at first, but I saw the odd Teal, Wigeon, Black-headed Gull, some Redshank, and several Curlew. It took a while, but I managed to identify some distant Golden Plover and Dunlin through the mist, with countless Shelduck swimming in the pools made along the sand. They were joined by a few Lapwing and a handful of Oystercatchers, which were staying close to an old, run-aground ship.

Further along the walk, I got taken inland a little further, and came across many Starlings, a Robin, and a pair of Long-tailed Tits twittering through the trees that ran alongside the road. Lots of 'pink'-ing Chaffinches and Carrion Crows until I got to the next viewpoint, and the end of the path. There I counted around 9-10 Avocets sifting through the water just by the bank, and they were joined by Godwits of some kind. Careful scrutinisation of the back pattern and tail, along with the overall shape of the birds (5 or 6 of them), led me to identify them as Bar-tailed Godwits, an exciting find as I'd only seen Black-tailed in the past. Flushed with success, I turned to walk back, catching a Pheasant, two Mallards and a Reed Bunting along the way.

I suddenly realised the tide was now coming in pretty quickly, and that this would be pushing those distant waders and waterfowl further inland. So I walked very quickly back to a decent viewpoint nearer the ship and counted dozens of Shoveler, around 15 Turnstones, a lovely bird I don't see enough, hundreds of Black-tailed Godwits (I checked many of them carefully but did not see any more Bar-tailed versions amongst them!) A Wren was calling from the gorse along the way, as were at least 2 Cetti's Warblers from the reeds across the road, but suffice to say I didn't see those. A Goldfinch flew over and some Blue Tits played where I relocated the Long-tailed Tits I had seen before. Back onto the rising tide, there were 4 Ringed Plover feeding by the ship, joined by 3 Brent Geese, and later a pair of Greylag Geese flew past. The gulls were mostly Black-headed but I identified a couple of Common Gulls amongst them, with a decent number of Pintail materialising from absolutely nowhere, and a Stock Dove came to land on top of the ship.

Here you can see one of the Pintail in the upper-right. Not a good photo I'm afraid.

A quick venture into the 'country park' non-RSPB area just across the road from the car park yielded Great Tits (calling very, very strangely), Collared Doves on the wires overhead, and a Moorhen on a small pond. Oh and mountains and mountains of dog shit... I hate country parks.

So on I went to Elmley Marshes, a mere 20 minutes away from my previous location. It's situated on Sheppey Isle, quite a few miles along a well-worn track into the middle of very flat, expansive marshland. It felt rather like a safari trail you might go on in your car at a zoo, with House Sparrows, Starlings, Lapwing, Curlew by the dozen, Wigeon, Coot, a Little Egret, Reed Buntings, Blackbirds, Robins, Moorhens, and Magpies all viewable from the car before even reaching the car park! Once there, overlooking a vast pool quickly bagged another huge number of species - namely Teal, Mallard, Black-tailed Godwit, Shoveler, Oystercatcher, Redshank, Gadwall and Little Grebe. A Wren popped out of the trees and into some gorse near the car park too.

I started my epic trek across the marshland. I was stunned at how silent it was, with all sound somewhat dampened so I could only hear the odd bird noise and my own boots stomping across the mud. Adding this to the relatively poor visibility, it felt like I was in another world, apart from civilisation and humanity, really quite a surreal feeling. Anyway, I saw more birds wot I wrote in my list of birds. There was a small pool containing solely Tufted Duck and Pochard in decent numbers, despite their absence from every other pool I looked in! A Skylark was being very obviously a Skylark, flying up and singing for what seemed like a lifetime, then bombing back down to the ground nearby to have a drink of water, where I got some good views. The Skylark song against the perfect silence of the rest of the vicinity was beautiful, and one of those moments you simply want to savour forever. Further round, I found a male Pheasant, surprisingly bold, and a large group of Shelduck amongst the Wigeon in the distance. Then I reached the first, and arguably best, hide.

I sat down and immediately a chap informed me that, once I had my scope set up, I should have a look at a particular distant post. Excellent way to do it - alerting me to a bird's presence but not telling me what it is so I can do the hard bit myself without missing it. I got the scope up and honed in on the post. There was a very small bird of prey, perching, looking about rather erratically. It was very much Kestrel-shaped, but with quite heavy streaking down its front. When it turned around, I saw it was very dark on the back, with a striking dark and light striping down its square tail. It was in fact a female Merlin, which I confirmed by checking the gentleman who pointed it out to me. The view wasn't amazing, I must be honest, but I saw enough of her features to identify it without doubt. Luckily, I got this (utterly terrible, in the failing light) photo later of possibly the same bird but a lot closer. Looking at it down the scope was a lot better quality than this photograph shows!

You can vaguely make out the heavy streaking down the front of the bird. If you can't, well, go away, it's definitely a Merlin.

The Merlin flew off, and left me to identify the rest of the birds (of which there were hundreds) on the landscape before me. There were four smallish islands that seemed to be entirely made up of birds. The majority of these were Dunlin, with one Turnstone, a handful of Knot, and a scattering of Grey Plover all interspersed amongst them. The Knot took a long time to identify as I'm very poor at wading birds and typically they were all asleep with several Dunlin standing in front of them, but it was fun to do so! The Grey Plover were easier to identify, although it took a little while to make sure they definitely weren't Golden Plover (I even waited for the definitive black patch to appear under one bird's wing as it stretched and fluttered, and there it was). Strangely, there was one that was in virtually full summer breeding plumage - a video of which I have below. The flock was joined by 3 or 4 Ringed Plover who were extremely boisterous and seemed to be bullying each other and the other birds.

Grey Plover in almost full breeding plumage - awesome to see on a winter visitor.



Spot the odd one out.

Having left the first hide, I strolled over to another overlooking virtually the same bit of land. There I saw a pair of Mute Swans, a small flock of Brent Geese that landed distantly, some Great Black-backed Gulls, Common Gulls, Black-headed Gulls, and Canada Geese. Not much new to see, apart from a good few more Ringed Plover. Back round I walked and along to the next hide, a very long walk in an arc and across a muddy field. Again, there wasn't a huge lot different here, although I had some good views of a Stonechat, a Buzzard, Pintail, a Linnet, Greylag Geese and Golden Plover. Time was getting on and I visited the final hide before the long trek back to the car park (a good 3-4 miles). I'm glad I did, as although there was virtually nothing to see from the hide, upon leaving, a beautiful female Marsh Harrier flew along the canal/river blissfully unaware of my presence, allowing me to get stunning views! What a superb sighting before turning back for the long slog back. On this return journey, I noted Woodpigeon flocking, and saw the Merlin for a second time (allowing me to take the photo as previously posted above). I stopped by the Barn Owl nestbox for 20 minutes but had no luck unfortunately! However, towards the end of the return safari trail, I saw a small group of 6 Red-legged Partridges feeding and scuttling about very close to the track. Excellent ending bird for the day!

You can't say I don't spoil myself rotten with accommodation.

One questionable night's sleep later, I was raring to head down to Dungeness, after reports of various exotic Grebes and Ducks on the RSPB website. The weather was overcast and very cold, but only around the reserve - just before reaching the Romney area, it had been lovely and sunny! Ah well. It was another semi-safari job to get to the visitor centre, this time with shingle and gorse rather than open marshland. I counted Magpies, Starlings, 2 more Red-legged Partridges, Tufted Ducks, Pochard, Rooks, Moorhens, Woodpigeons and a very persistent Green Woodpecker who followed me pretty much the whole road from start to finish! On the feeders outside the visitor centre there were Great Tits, Blue Tits, several Reed Buntings, Chaffinches and a Carrion Crow flying around.

It was a very short walk to the first hide, which overlooks the Burrowes Pit, a huge body of water with a few islands dotted here and there. There was not a huge variety of birds there, but not bad numbers of them. I noted Gadwall, Coot, millions upon millions of Cormorants, Shoveler, Herring Gulls, and Great Black-backed Gulls (some of them were enormous, especially the 1st-winter/juvenile birds). I stayed for a while, but having scanned each bird, couldn't see anything besides these. I really wanted an interesting gull!

Not a Glaucous Gull.

I continued to the next two hides that overlooked the same body of water, just at different points along it. The story was the same all the way along really with loads of Coots, and the addition of a female Marsh Harrier scaring things off every now and again. And a load of Coots. There were some Shelduck a bit further along, with a load of Coots. And a load of Coots. But then I spotted a pair (male and female) of Goldeneye, lovely ducks to watch at good range for quite a while before they drifted off into the sun (the hide was South-East facing so not the friendliest for that time of day). A long walk and two hides later, I had seen pretty much nothing but Coots and this was starting to get a little wearing.

I ended up in the Denge Marsh hide overlooking, well, Denge Marsh. Having seen no-one else in any other hide, this one was packed with at least ten people! Unfortunately, they weren't staring intently at an uncommon winter visitor that had just dropped in, rather LOADS OF COOTS. In fairness, there was more to see here than at the other hides, with Mallards, Teal, Black-headed Gulls, Wigeon, Oystercatchers, Mute Swans and Great Crested Grebes all making an appearance. A pair of female Marsh Harriers flew over a couple of times, at one point flushing a Snipe from the far bank. I returned to the visitor centre, saw a couple of Dunnocks which were at the feeder, and checked the first hide again for any changes. There were none! Just more Coots.

I hopped into the car to return along the track and across the main road to the other, much smaller part of the reserve. Along the track, I stopped to watch a male Kestrel perching on a bush at about head-height, and occasionally flying down to the ground and nearly catching things (we must assume) before returning to his perch. I never see male Kestrels as often as females, so to see this one in such good light for so long was a real treat! However, I left him to his devices and parked just across the road. A short walk to the only hide overlooking this pit of water was rewarded wiiiiith:

The drake was asleep most of the time. Maybe he'd just been to Dungeness to count Coots.

Smew! A drake and three females! This was what I had been waiting for all day - one of the beautiful and exotic species that made the reserve look so promising on the website. I watched for quite a while, and luckily they stayed there the entire time, perfectly contented! There were also some more Goldeneye, this time a male and two females, and they were more active, diving constantly a little closer to the hide. Whilst watching these waterfowl, I saw a Wren stand on the brambles just outside the hide, who then went on to sing at the top of its lungs! I left the hide for a quick walk round the "Willow Trail" before returning home. I saw a Robin, pair of Long-tailed Tits and a fleeting Goldcrest that I had heard singing previously. A Cetti's Warbler could be heard singing from the reeds nearby the hide on my way back to the car, which ended my day at Dungeness. A good all-round day, if not quite what I had been hoping for - such is the way of birding!

On the journey back, I came across a wonderful find after narrowly missing a pair of Pheasants. I had to turn around and come back to pull up on the side of a country road in order to double check! I leapt out of the car and set the scope up... lo and behold, there was an enormous flock of 91 Bewick's Swans (yes I counted them all) in a field, looking quite out of place. There were 6 Mute Swans dotted around the outside of the flock in pairs, but this stunning count was such a spectacle!

What a surprise to find these in a field just outside Old Romney!

That certainly ended the day for me on a very high note (along with a Fox scratching around in a park in South London on my way home). Overall, I saw a whopping 71 species of birds this particular trip! Actually that's 70 if you don't count my hearing a Cetti's Warbler. This takes my year total up to 88 for the year 2011 (an increase of 18) and my life list up to 168 (an increase of 4). I would definitely revisit all three places, as I felt that they all have a lot more to offer if given more time, especially during Spring, Summer or Autumn.

So until next time, happy birding!

A Nice Slice of Home

Popped back home for the weekend to see family as I was passing by and was lucky enough to spend Saturday morning with Dad at Wilstone and College Lake. Although there were no absolutely ripping birds, it was fantastic to go with someone else again - there's something about birding with another person that just beats solo birding hands down!

So we headed to Wilstone Reservoir first, where there had been talk of a female Goosander. Unfortunately she was nowhere to be seen, but we did have good views of a Little Egret, plenty of waterfowl such as Teal (no Green-winged!), Wigeon, Pochard, Tufted Ducks and Great Crested Grebes. There were many Cormorants and Grey Herons in the trees as usual, and due to the high water level, many Lapwing and Black-headed Gulls were very close to the hide. It was good fun looking at all the various stages of development of the gulls on show, with some in almost full summer plumage, and some very obviously young 1st-winter birds. The highlight was the group of (reportedly 8, although we counted 4-5) Snipe, one of which was very close in front of the hide.

We went to College Lake afterwards, where we spent about 10 minutes in the new hide just outside the visitors' centre - racked up a decent 14 species there, including a lovely, if distant, Red Kite, a new one for my year list taking me to 70! We also saw 3 Mute Swans and a Magpie that we hadn't seen at Wilstone.

Lovely day!

Singing

I headed with Linda to Regents Park on Tuesday to see if we could see the resident pair of Firecrests. We arrived on the wrong side of the park and had to walk across, but it was such a glorious day we didn't mind! And it gave me a chance to see some good birds as we went. There was a Song Thrush singing as one of the first birds I saw - a nice addition to the Mistle Thrush of Sunday. There was a Chaffinch singing (first time I've heard the song this year) and a female Great Spotted Woodpecker. Didn't spend much time going through all the Black-headed Gulls so shall assume none were anything rarer! Also saw a Jay and a small party of Ring-necked Parakeets in a tree above a cafe.

Finally we arrived at the desired area and it didn't take long to locate the male Firecrest up in a tree. It was flitting non-stop and seldom exited its cover but I saw it well enough to know it was a male and a Firecrest. Another onlooking birder who arrived just a little too late interrogated me as to whether it was a Goldcrest or Firecrest. I politely put him in his place. 'Nuff said. However, I'd love to return and get better views as it's such a superb little bird!

After my arrogant streak, I headed to Rainham in the afternoon as it was such a nice day and put the scope to excellent use. I recorded 37 species, which is a great list for such a quick walk round the reserve. Nothing was hugely outstanding, but Pheasant was new to the list this year, I heard a Cetti's Warbler or two around the North side of the reserve, had a couple of Skylarks, one performing its song and flight - reminding me hugely of summer! - and 4 Curlews were a lovely sight to behold in the sun.

The following evening, I heard my first Blackbird song of the year - such a beautiful sound, and I cannot wait to hear more as evenings draw in throughout the rest of the year.

Quick Thrush

I went for my (almost) daily jog this morning in Bethnal Green Park just round the corner from my flat, and having done two laps, I started out on the third. I saw a strange bird standing very upright and alert in the middle of a medium-sized bit of raised greenery. I didn't have my glasses on, so I slowed down and tried to creep closer for a better look. It let out a loud, dry rattle and flew up into a tree opposite.

So I ran home as fast as possible to get my glasses and binoculars, then proceeded to run back to the tree where I lost it. After a minute or two, it flew out, making the rattling call, and landed in a tree on the other side of the park. I jogged after it and ended up relocating the thing and getting good views. I originally thought it would be a Song Thrush, but upon my close identification of it and consultation of both my bird call CD and bird book, I've decided it could really only have been a Mistle Thrush!

Now, I know that it's very easy to claim Mistle Thrush when you've seen a Song Thrush, but here are my reasons. First and foremost - the call. The (alarm) call given by the ST is more of a squeaky noise, similar to that of a Blackbird, and it doesn't make a rattling noise. The MT on the other hand does. Also, it was a little too big to be a Song Thrush, more Blackbird-sized rather than Redwing-sized. I got a good view of it in the tree it was in, and although I can't comment too much on the paleness of the bird (due to lighting), there was definitely a light-coloured cheek, and, most importantly, the mottling on the breast was made up of rounded black spots rather than the pointy arrowhead spots one would find on a ST.

Therefore I'm confident in my identification, and thoroughly pleased that I found this bird in my local London park! And it also means I've seen a Mistle Thrush this year before I have seen a Song Thrush - how about that?

Have you ever been Bittern by a bitten?

I was visiting Linda's family over the weekend and took the opportunity to rush along to Marsworth/Wilstone area to see if I could strike lucky and see the Bitterns that are supposed to be wintering there.

However, I popped by College Lake on the way. It was spitting and enormously windy but I was ready to see some birds! College Lake was as large as ever, but nothing spectacular was floating around on the water.

So I headed to Wilstone Reservoir, walked up the steps, stood in the gale-force winds for about 30 seconds, then decided it wasn't for me and went straight to Startops Reservoir instead!

I walked down to the 'main channel' that I had read about and set up scope, then stood and waited. Within only about 20 minutes, I was rewarded with the hugest 'double take' ever, when a Bittern slowly crept out from the left hand side of the channel and stood in the middle, staring at me. It stayed for about 20 seconds, then crept along the right hand side of the channel and disappeared into the reeds. I picked myself up off the ground and continued to wait to see if it came back.

It was worth the wait. I looked away, and when I looked back, something Bittern-sized flew along the channel and I just caught it disappearing to the left into the reeds. I trained the scope on it quickly and then out it came into the open, with another one following it - chasing it, it seemed. The second Bittern had its neck feathers puffed out and was stretched up very tall - perhaps it was courting. The first Bittern ran off into the reeds on the right and the second Bittern skulked about for a minute or so, affording me superb views before it waded off after its mate (define that word as you will).

Finally, I had a third sighting a little while later where one of the two walked across the channel for about 10 seconds from right to left and was gone. That was the last I saw of them, despite waiting for another hour (I was there for three hours in total, getting rather cold, but it was completely worth it!) Of that final sighting, I managed to get the briefest bit of video evidence on my phone through the scope. Please note that it was windy and I was panicking madly, and the scope is not supposed to be used in such a manner. But it is evidence nonetheless!!

And that was my first ever sighting of (a) Bittern(s)! It was a superb experience, and I'm completely in awe of the beauty and mystery of these birds. Surprisingly, they were a lot smaller than I had previously imagined, despite reading descriptions and seeing photos etc. It didn't detract from their sheer amazingness though, and I spent the whole of yesterday evening watching the video to make sure I hadn't imagined the whole thing. It seemed rather dreamlike looking back on it! Here's to seeing another Bittern in the future!

Also, I saw two Buzzards, my first Great Crested Grebe of the year, and a Little Grebe in the channel where the Bitterns showed up. I also saw a dark bird of prey that was around Harrier sized, but a bit more slim-lined, and I didn't see any proper markings as it was quite distant. Never mind, the Bitterns were easily the main highlight!

EDIT: I have just read that there are apparently FOUR Bitterns at Marsworth at the moment. This means I may well have seen more than two individual birds, but at different times. What an incredible number for such a small reedbed! Here's hoping they breed there.

Not just a delicious chocolate bar

On the final day of January I decided to use a couple of hours I had spare in an afternoon to pay a visit to a small nature reserve called 'Ripple' just off the A13 by Creekmouth situated within the industrial estate. Despite being worried that I might end up at some underground night club in East London (the name mainly) I found the entrance and wandered in.

My main reason for going was the Dartford Warbler seen a couple of days previously that I wanted to find... unfortunately there was none.

However, it was a lovely little area with a good amount of birdlife in there. Although nothing as astounding as a 'Darty', I saw: Robin, Blackbird, Woodpigeon, Blue Tit, Long-tailed Tit, Magpie, Goldfinch, Great Spotted Woodpecker, Green Woodpecker (a very large individual), Carrion Crow, a single Redwing, Great Tit, and House Sparrow.

Could be worth a look closer to migration time in order to try and catch a migrant or two!

Oh and I saw a couple of Rabbits and a young, very bedraggled Fox!