Saturday 16 February 2013

A Brief Session

I woke up this morning at 5.30am to the sound of a Robin singing and after getting ready was out of the house not long after where I had a drive around the lanes listening for Owls. It was quite cloudy but not a breath of wind which made for some good listening. Despite this I did not hear any Owls and still have not heard or seen a Little Owl, surely they must give themselves up soon. As I was passing back towards Chambers Wall 1 Barn Owl was seen and later at Chambers Wall car park whilst chatting to Derek another Barn Owl showed well in the growing light passing by us quite close. I also heard 2 Grey Partridge from the car park. I only had a brief session today and had to be home by 9.30am to take my daughter to karate so I wandered down to Coldharbour and west along the seawall before returning along the green wall and embankment. A few birds were in song this morning making for some nice sounds and a reminder its only a few weeks away until the migration begins. Birds noted were 2 Skylark, 26 Curlew, 1 Golden Plover, c60 Fieldfare, c100 Cormorant flew in from the south, 1 Woodcock flew over at dawn, 2 Marsh Harrier were patrolling near Shuart and 1 Grey Heron was in the Wantsum. There were 12 Reed Bunting with a few males in song, 7 Mute Swan, 1 Green Woodpecker, c40 Lapwing in fields east of Coldharbour, 5 Shelduck, 3 Meadow Pipit with 1 male giving his parachute display. A couple of dots offshore were probably Great crested Grebes, also seen were 35 Redshank, 7 Turnstone, 18 Oystercatcher, 2 Ringed Plover, 1 Grey Plover, 10 Mallard, 1 Dunlin and 1 Kestrel. With the forthcoming week off work hopefully a few visits into the area to see whats about and maybe some sunshine!


Oystercatcher

Skylark

It seems that the Chiffchaff I saw the other day at Reculver is in fact a Siberian Chiffchaff. Derek Smith heard the bird call well today. Here is a photo of the bird from the other day. I shall have to take another look and try to obtain a few better images.

Siberian Chiffchaff

8 comments:

  1. Nice Skylark Marc, they are getting fewer and fewer here now :-(

    I find the Little owls call around 11am, then again around 3pm. More than they do early morning, at least at this time of year :-)

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  2. The Oystercatcher duo is gorgeous! Beautiful shots!

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  3. Those Oycs are stunningly sharp, great stuff.

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  4. very nice shots....
    http://www.serkanmutan.com/

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  5. Thanks for your comment on our dragonfly blog!
    Eric has done pretty well indeed with the bee-eater and its prey!
    Your birds - I have seen all your recent pics - are amazing and enchanting!
    The Oystercatchers are top notch!
    I wish I could see the Bullfinches too!
    Sorry for not visiting more often but I spend my time in hides!
    Cheers Marc and keep well!

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  6. The Oystercatchers, and the Skylark but, you caught the Siberian Chiffchaff, brilliant shots Marc.

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  7. Wow, Marc, that Oystercatcher shot is stunning!!!

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