I drove over to Reculver this morning at 10am in very cold conditions again, stopping off on the way to check inland where I noted 1 Common Buzzard, 10 Tufted Duck, 1 Bewick's Swan, 1 Pochard, 2 Shoveler, 6 Gadwall, 4 Mute Swan, 1 Marsh Harrier and 1 Kestrel. Moving on to Chambers Wall where there was a biting easterly eye watering wind I walked on down to Coldharbour and west along the seawall where I then returned inland via the embankment. It was pretty quiet really but nice to know in a few weeks the rocks will be dripping with Wheatears and Black Redstarts! Birds I noted were 4 Mute Swan, 14 Cormorant, 4 Long tailed Tit, 13 Redshank, 99 Golden Plover were in fields behind the car park, 1 Wigeon, 10 Mallard, 11 Dunlin, c120 Brent Geese were in flight near Shuart and 3 Turnstone on the foreshore. There were 2 little Egret, 1 Grey Heron, 23 Curlew in fields, 1 Kestrel and 5 Goldfinch. With the odd bit of sunshine showing through I thought I would have another go for the Siberian Chiffchaff at West Brook Valley. After a 15 minute walk to the site I arrived where I soon could hear Chiffchaffs calling. 2 Grey Wagtail were noted flying over and I spent the next hour looking for the Siberian Chiffchaff which after some time I eventually located in a small woody area with 8 Long tailed Tits and c10 Chiffchaff. It was very noticeable in the dark wood how pale this bird actually is compared to the other 'green' Chiffchaffs. The bird spent some time coming down to the stream where I managed a few very 'noisy' shots of the bird but it remained quite hard to follow. In the end I waited for the bird to complete its circuit before it returned back to the area. Whilst in the area I also heard a Bullfinch but a while later when I had followed the Chiffchaff flock back over to a more open area where I have seen them feeding before I heard a 'Bullfinch' type call which I thought come from the area the Chiffchaffs were in. I have read that Siberian Chiffchaff have a call like this but cannot be sure that it was this bird. With a few shots to look at I made my way back to the car only seeing 1 Teal and 3 Gadwall on the way. Hopefully there will be a few birds to see at the weekend. The following shots contain more noise than Animal from the Muppets playing the drums but some photos are better than none..... I think! Any comments on the bird very much appreciated.
Siberian Chiffchaff
