Saturday 20 October 2012

A 'Shore' Few Days Good Birding!

With hopefully a few more good birds to get today I was out of the house this morning at 6.30am where I drove over to Chambers Wall and parked up in the car park. A few Robins were ticking away and 2 Grey Partridge and 1 Red legged Partridge were calling. As I sat in the car having a cup of coffee 1 Long eared Owl flew over the car and soon vanished down the hedge line.  Better was to come when at 7.15am and still in the car drinking I heard a Yellow browed Warbler call. I only heard it once but I could not relocate it when I looked a little later. I then eventually got out of the car and walked along the embankment and on to the seawall where I walked on down to Coldharbour. Birds noted were 35 Redwing, 41 Skylark, 4 Goldcrest, c350 Chaffinch, 26 Cormorant, 3 Chiffchaff, 15 Goldfinch, 8 Mute Swan, 5 Long tailed Tit, 2 Siskin, 1 Golden Plover, 3 Brambling and 2 Grey Heron. I received a call from Chidders alerting me that he was watching a confiding Snow Bunting. I didn't rush wish was just as well as he soon called to say a dog had flushed it. The news got better when I was on the seawall when he called again to say he had just seen a Shorelark, a good Reculver bird. I carried on along the seawall and cut across the ridge at Coldharbour. I was half way along when the Shorelark (171) flew up and flew west before landing again. I retraced my steps and waited in the area until Chidders, Adam, Mike, Chris and Anne arrived before we looked for it. It only took a few minutes before we found it again and a few shots were taken before it flew back east. Chris and Anne went their way and we walked back to find it. It was soon found along the ridge where Chidders and I spent some time photographing this little cracker. With a few photos in the bag we left it in peace and walked on down to Shuart before walking back inland to the cars. Other birds of note were 1 Ring necked Parakeet, 1 Short eared Owl, 3 Stonechat, 1 Kestrel, 3 Wigeon, 3 Little Egret, 2 Wheatear, 1 Marsh Harrier, 24 Lapwing and 3 House Martin. Yesterday (19th) I spent a couple of productive hours at Shuart and noted 1 Ring Ouzel, 1 Peregrine, 2 Brambling,(167) 2 Fieldfare, 3 Goldcrest, 1 Yellow browed Warbler (168) which showed briefly, 4 Ring necked Parakeet and 3 Jay. As I looked for the Yellow browed Warbler I heard an unfamiliar call flying over and looked up to see a Hawfinch (169) flying over and out of sight. I ran to the corner and briefly watched it fly towards Shuart farm and probably land in the area. This is a new species for me in the Reculver area and takes me to 232 species for the area. Other bits of note were 1 Stonechat, 1 Tree Sparrow (170) down at the stables with Reed Buntings and Chaffinch. I took a dodgy record shot in the rain, not good at all but the first time I have photographed this species in the area. There were also c40 Redpoll and c200 Siskin over. A brilliant couple of days with some top birds in the area. What will be next?



8 comments:

  1. Great shots of the Shorelark, may even come down there on Sunday morning to have a look myself!

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  2. Some fantastic species seen today Marc, and I thought I'd done well with a Brambling and Reed Bunting ! ( well I did really, for here!)

    Like those Shorelark images :-)

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  3. Great quality birds in there Marc, new addition to the Reculver list too, excellent.

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  4. Well and truly worth getting out of the house by 6.30am. Shorelarks are in short supply in my neck of the woods up here in't north.

    Can't see much to call the Tree Sparrow shot 'dodgy'. An excellent day to say the least Marc.

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  5. Wonderful, the Shorelark is fantastic, lovely.

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  6. oooh, very nice indeed Marc - Shorelarks are such crackers, eh?

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  7. Your Shorelark looks very similar to our larks. Beautiful photos!

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