Saturday 1 December 2012

The Winter is Here!

After defrosting the car this morning at 5.45am I eventually drove over to Reculver where it was literally freezing. I had a listen for some Owls calling but drew a blank but as I pulled up at the Chambers Wall gate 1 Barn Owl was seen in the headlights as it hunted alongside the main track. I parked up in the car park and listened to the day waking up. There was a considerable amount of Blackbirds calling and flying around and as I stood by the car having a cup of coffee a few large groups of Cormorant totalling 279 flew over from the Stour Valley. 1 Grey Partridge was calling and 1 Sparrowhawk zipped through. As soon as it was light enough I began my walk down to the railway line where I saw the Barn Owl again hunting. It seemed that each bush had Blackbird,Fieldfare and Redwing falling out of them and 3 Goldcrest were noted. I walked along the embankment checking all the berry bushes for a Waxwing before walking down to Coldharbour where I sat down and looked out to sea for a while before returning and checking the bushes once more. Birds noted in mostly sunny but cold conditions were 2 Cetti's Warbler, 1 Grey Wagtail, c100 Redwing, 1 Marsh Harrier, 2 Water Rail, 2 Little Grebe, c80 Lapwing, 3 Lesser Redpoll, 8 Siskin 7 Pied Wagtail and 2 Bearded Tit were seen near Coldharbour allowing the camera to be released into some action. They never showed that well but I managed to capture a few shots.


Bearded Tit

Other birds noted were 4 Reed Bunting, 2 Kestrel, 1 Little Egret, 18 Dunlin, 31 Oystercatcher, 20 Grey Plover, 3 Ringed Plover, 1 Bar tailed Godwit, 7 Turnstone, 1 Red throated Diver, c400 Brent Geese including 1 Pale bellied Brent Goose. There were 2 Shelduck and as I approached the embankment again I could see 1 Waxwing sitting on top of a bush with some Fieldfare. Unfortunately as the Fieldfare took off so did the Waxwing and I watched it fly east calling and out of sight. Maybe that photo opportunity will happen tomorrow! The only other birds of note were 2 Golden Plover and 1 Grey Heron. Not a bad start to the month with a good range of species seen. Hopefully tomorrow will deliver some more goodies. 

Goldcrest

9 comments:

  1. Muy naturales las capturas del Bigotudo en su habitat.Saludos

    ReplyDelete
  2. That Goldcrest looks close Marc, could have used an extension tube on that!

    Oh! and thanks for talking that Waxwing in for me this morning :-)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. It was only about 2 metres away. I couldn't fill the frame with the whole bird.

      Delete
  3. Love the Bearded Tit photos! The blades of grass made for a nice frame of his eye! Keep warm!

    ReplyDelete
  4. A great selection of birds to see. Really enjoyed the beared tit pictures. From Findlay

    ReplyDelete
  5. That Goldcrest looks amazing Marc, brilliant!!!!!

    ReplyDelete
  6. Oh, I think the Bearded Tit is brilliant and the Goldcrest is another for number 1, beautiful shots.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Awesome photos! The Bearded Tit looks like an angry little bird in the second shot! haha! Fantastic close up of the Goldcrest!

    ReplyDelete