One Good Tern Deserves Another!

What a day it turned out to be today. I took over 400 photographs and will take forever to look through them knowing me. The day started off wandering around Reculver in the car listening for Orioles and Nightingales. I did not hear either of them singing at May Street but a little later I had one singing Nightingale near the paddock at Brook. Maybe one of the birds wandering. Not long after I had a text from Martyn Wilson who had just found 2 White winged Black Terns at Grove Ferry, very scarce birds, I have only ever seen a single bird there in 12 years of watching. I drove over to Grove but they had already flown off high east. I stayed in the area for c20 minutes before returning back to Chambers Wall. A mistake as Martyn text again to say they had returned. I hoped they would stay and after completing the Chambers Wall loop I returned back to Stodmarsh where the birds were present on the main lake. Reaching the Lampern Wall I soon saw the 2 White winged Black Tern flying around the main lake and after joining the locals we all had excellent views of these very attractive Terns and most people had a good chance to photograph these Mega valley birds. I soon had taken 300 shots of these birds, madness, but it could be a few years until we get them again.

White winged Black Tern

Whilst watching the Terns I heard a familiar call and after scanning the lake picked up a Sandwich Tern, another Mega for the valley and probably less records of these than the White winged Black Terns. A few shots later and it soon vanished. 

Sandwich Tern

There were a few Hobby rising into the warming air to feed and c10 Common Tern on the main lake. I left very a happy man knowing 2 very good birds were in the bag. Earlier in the morning I had been at Reculver where I noted 2 Lesser Whitethroat, 4 Blackcap, 2 Chiffchaff, 6 Whitethroat, 1 Grey Partridge, 2 Red legged Partridge, 4 Tufted Duck, 1 Ring necked Parakeet, 5 Cuckoo, 2 Grey Heron, 4 Swallow, c70 Swift east, 3 Reed Warbler, 3 Sedge Warbler, 3 Yellow Wagtail, 1 Lapwing and 2 Little Egret. As I scanned the field I noticed a distant ringtail Harrier. I rattled off a few distant efforts hoping it would be a Monty's but looking at the photos it would seem it is a very late Hen Harrier (155), still a good bird. Other bits seen were 6 Oystercatcher, 5 Shelduck, 5 Common Sandpiper, 13 Redshank, 2 Common Tern, 3 Gannet, 4 Turnstone, 2 Ringed Plover and 6 House Martin. A top birding morning with lots of quality around and plenty of photo opportunities.

 Red legged Partridge

Small Heath

Back to Westbere

With the sun settled and warm temperatures again today I cycled down to Westbere Lakes after work at 3.30pm where I had an hour walking up to the river and back looking for dragonflies and damselflies. It was a little windy which made for some photo challenges but a few shots were taken. Plenty of Common Blue Damselfly seen, my first this year which allowed the camera to spring into action. 

Common Blue Damselfly

Also seen were a good number of Azure Damselflies but I did not see any Variable Damselflies, I probably need to get my eye on in these. Further up near the river there were a few Hairy Dragonflies and it was good to see a good number of Red eyed Damselflies. 

Red Eyed Damselfly

I did not search the river for Banded Demoiselle but hope to get a few shots of the males over the next week or so, I think they are stunning insects. Hopefully a few shots of these will show this. As I neared the end of the walk a flash of orange flew by and briefly landed, it was a Scarce Chaser, a good species to see in these parts. I didn't take my bins but I did see 2 Common Tern, 1 Nightingale and 1 Cuckoo was heard. 

Damselflies at Westbere

With another warm day and temperatures soaring again I made a 30 minute visit to Westbere lakes at lunchtime in order to see if I could find and photograph some butterflies, dragonflies and damselflies. I did not have to walk far before some damselflies were noted. However this is not a strong point of mine yet and identifying them was a little trickier. I took a number of shots and I think this is an Azure Damselfly. Please let me know if I am wrong.

Azure Damselfly

Moving on I came across a few Blue tailed Damselflies which thankfully stayed still long enough for a few shots, again I hope I am right.

Blue tailed Damselfly

Nearing the river I had a quick scan along the edges and located 2 Banded Demoiselles, the male out on a branch in the river whilst this female let me get a few shots of her. They really are stunning insects up close and a world that we often ignore in the undergrowth. 

Banded Demoiselle

There were also 5 Hairy Dragonflies on the wing and also seen were 1 Red Admiral, 1 Peacock and 1 Orange Tip. As I cycled home from work tonight I called into East Blean Wood to see if the Heath Fritillary was on the wing yet. I checked out a few areas but with no luck yet. Maybe they need a few more of these sunny days in order to appear. I met Julian and Alex Perry there who also drew a blank with these but we did have a Lesser spotted Woodpecker fly over. Not much else except 2 Orange Tip patrolling. 

That Time of Year Again

I had a brief visit to the valley today in warm conditions and hoped that the weather would produce either a decent raptor or a few insects. I did not have long but managed to note 1 Red Kite, 4 Marsh Harrier, 1 Kestrel, 3 Hobby, 2 drake Garganey, 3 Greenshank, 3 Redshank, 2 Bittern, 1 Treecreeper and a text from Chiddy had me soon connecting with a smart summer plumaged Grey Plover, a scarce bird to get in the valley. With the temperatures soaring there were a few butterflies on the wing. I noted 2 Orange Tip, 1 Peacock and lots of Common Blue Damselflies had appeared. Highlight however were 2 Broad bodied chasers which posed for a few shots in between speeding off to catch their prey before returning normally to the same perch and 2 Hairy Dragonflies. Hopefully the rare Heath Fritillary butterfly will be just about on the wing now and if I have time I will call in sometime tomorrow to take a look.

Broad bodied Chaser

Going For Gold.....Again!

I left home this morning at 5am in windy and wet conditions. Not the best conditions for listening to birds singing but I made an attempt anyway. I spent some time at various places listening for Golden Oriole but all I could really here was the wind and rain hitting the car. Luckily I had my trusty flask to help keep my spirits high. I didn't really know what to do this morning. I certainly didn't want to get that wet so I drove over to the towers and had a quick look out at the sea. Nothing doing here although I spotted a lone figure of Derek Smith as he was tucked away sheltering from the elements. With the clouds looking like they may break I then called in at Chambers Wall where I walked down to the sea to see if the Curlew Sandpiper was still around. I had not been scanning long when I received a call from Derek to say he had a Golden Oriole singing. That was it, I ran most of the 1 mile back to the car and soon arrived at Shuart, albeit a bit out of breath. I spent a few minutes in the area listening with no joy and was soon joined by Matt Hindle. Again we had no luck, Matt went to Chambers and I stayed in the area. I could see a brighter spell of weather coming my way and thankfully this must have done the trick for thankfully I heard the call of a Golden Oriole. It performed its brilliant fluty call half a dozen times but try as I did, I could not locate the bird despite being pretty much under  where it was calling. This was dream birding again and after my experience a few weeks ago I continued on in good spirits. Back to reality and birds I did note today were 2 Lesser Whitethroat, 1 Nightingale, 2 Chiffchaff, 3 Whitethroat, 6 Blackcap, 1 Cetti's Warbler, 5 Skylark, 1 Green Woodpecker, 3 Swift, 4 Sedge Warbler and 2 Cuckoo.

Cuckoo

 There were 7 Swallow, 1 Yellow Wagtail, 3 Reed Warbler, 2 Marsh Harrier, 1 Grey Heron, 4 Cormorant, 2 Great spotted Woodpecker, 2 Ring necked Parakeet, 2 Kestrel, 4 Shelduck, 1 Peregrine, 2 Oystercatcher and 1 Fulmar east. Hopefully some better weather forecast for next week... at last!

Sandpiper Surprise

I was awake at the silly time of 4am this morning and rather than go back to sleep I decided to get up and venture out early. I was soon in the car driving around the Reculver lanes for some time, listening at various locations for Golden Oriole etc but no luck with that although one was heard a little later by Julian Perry. Birds I noted early were only 1 Nightingale, no sound of the second bird, 9 Blackcap, 7 Whitethroat, 4 Lesser Whitethroat, 3 Chiffchaff, 2 Grey Partridge, 1 Skylark, 4 Pheasant, 1 Cuckoo, 1 Barn Owl watched distantly hunting at Brooksend, 1 Little Owl, 2 Red legged Partridge, 4 Corn Bunting singing, 1 Great spotted Woodpecker and 1 male Marsh Harrier. I then arrived at Reculver where after parking up and a cup of coffee I wandered on down the seawall to Coldharbour and inland to Chambers Wall car park before returning the way I had came. The sun broke through eventually to a nice morning. Birds seen included 5 Whitethroat, 7 Cormorant, 16 Swift, 18 Oystercatcher, 4 Yellow Wagtail, 5 Shelduck, 2 Blackcap, 1 Little Owl and 5 Linnet. As I approached Coldharbour I had the usual scan of the muddy fringes and noticed a single wader hopping along on one leg. Moving slightly nearer I could see it was a Curlew Sandpiper (154) coming into summer plumage, a real bonus bird in the spring as normally they are encountered in the autumn as they pass through. Unfortunately the bird only had one complete leg as can be seen in the photo but it seemed otherwise in good health. I was able to get a few shots before I left it to feed. 

Curlew Sandpiper

Other bits noted were 4 Ringed Plover, 18 Swallow, 8 Sedge Warbler, 3 Redshank, 1 Grey Plover, 6 Wheatear, 4 Skylark, 4 Common Tern, 7 House Martin, 1 Common Sandpiper, 2 Marsh Harrier, 1 Kestrel, 1 Cuckoo and 1 Grey Heron. I later met up with Julian Perry, another birder, sorry I don't know your name and Steve Ashton where Steve and I later returned to the Curlew Sandpiper and took a few more shots before I left Steve to it and retuned back along the seawall and home for breakfast. 

Curlew Sandpiper

A Birding First!

I have been birding for about 27 years roughly, starting at the age of about 11 as far as I can remember. The fantastic thing about this hobby is that there is always something new to learn every time I go out or new encounters with birds, sometimes rare as well as common. Today after work I had such an encounter when I visited a site where 2 young Tawny Owls have been seen in the past few weeks. I have never seen young Tawny Owls despite having heard and seen hundreds in years gone by so this was a new experience for me. After some searching I eventually found both of them huddled together, there are two in the photo but the other is hiding directly behind the first. I spent some time just watching as they sat and watched me, they only occasionally opened their eyes and spent most of the time asleep as Owls do! A few photos of this first occasion were grabbed in low light before I left them in peace. A brief but brilliant encounter. Other bits noted were a few singing Blackcap and Chiffchaff.

Tawny Owl