Rainham double-date

I ended up going to Rainham Marshes twice this week - on Wednesday with Shane and on Thursday with Ian. I am STILL without Dartford Warbler on my yearlist despite spending much time staring into what I think is the correct bramble clump... oh well. Wednesday brought nice views of Short-eared Owls and there were a few other things worth enthusing about. Both days were very cold and mostly cloudy.

OK, Wednesday. A very still day, stillest I've ever known at Rainham. All the waters were frozen and wildfowl-free. The Cetti's are beginning to sing properly and this one even let me take a terrible photo of it.

There are quite a few Stonechat pairs around the reserve.

We went through the gate out to the river wall, and turned towards the tip, hoping for Short-eared Owls. We took the low path but then a Shortie bobbed up and down again over the high path. So we hurried up the slope and soon located the owl, which had landed on a post.

There it is :)

A closer crop to show off that wonderful frowny face. It took off soon after and crossed the rough field behind the firing range numbers, eventually going out of view.

We followed the river path along towards the stone barges. The river was flat calm and busy with wildfowl. Here some Teals in difficult... I mean atmospheric... light.

Having noticed a Shortie or two over the top of the tip, we left the river path to cross the road and head up there. A big flock of Linnets was  moving over the slope, and among them were a couple of Skylarks.

Then a Shortie appeared from our left and flew directly overhead. The light was completely wrong but it was amazing to have such a close fly-by.

After it went over us, this owl had a brief contre-temps with a Carrion Crow before heading away.

We climbed up the path to the top, and here had further views of a couple of Shorties hunting low over the rough vegetation up here. Then we headed back down to return to the visitor centre.

Returning along the riverside, we met a pretty large flock of Dunlins (guesstimated at 50 birds), feeding on the shore as the tide ebbed. There were plenty of Redwings and Fieldfares zipping about near the visitor centre.

Wigeons in the murk. Sounds like a film.

The last pics are from the car park - a camera-shy female Greenfinch, a more confident female House Sparrow, and a meditative Collared Dove.

Puffed up and blue-tinged in the cold. Lots of food out for all the birds here though.

And so to Thursday. I took the train and arrived before 8am, just as the sun was rising.

Some pretty intense colours going on there. The actual sun appeared briefly behind the Dartford bridge, then slipped under a wall of cloud, where it stayed for most of the rest of the day.

Along the river wall I found this Weasel...

... and this female Stonechat who seems to have mislaid part of her anatomy. Still very early and dark so some serious noise levels in these pics.

I was due to meet Ian on the Serin mound at 9am. But there was an accident on the A13 and he was delayed until gone 10am. I spent most of that time on the mound, enjoying a mixed flock of Goldfinches and Linnets, a passing Goldcrest, distant Marsh Harriers but no Short-eared Owls.

 I did go for a short walk at one point when it was getting too cold standing still, and photographed this Kestrel.

Once Ian arrived, we spent a while longer on the mound and failed to find any Shorties. Then we moved on to the stone barges to look for Black-tailed Godwits (some of which I'd seen on my way to the Serin mound). Again, no joy. Here is a bunch of Common and Black-headed Gulls against a gritty industrial backdrop. Wader-wise there were several Redshanks and a lone Snipe.

We drove on down to the reserve then, had some warming tea, and then walked an uneventful lap around. Ian found a Peregrine pair on a pylon.

Two Pintails near the Ken Barratt hide.

Yet another Stonechat, this one from the Tower Butts hide. There wasn't too much else from here, except a ton of Wigeons with a few Shovelers, Teals, Gadwalls and Pochards on the tiny bit of unfrozen water.

A Kestrel and its lucky number.

We walked back on the riverside, and here Ian finally found a far-off Shortie to add to his yearlist. He also found a Rock Pipit for me to add to mine.

Hilbre Island and West Kirby Marine Lake

With high tide not til 4.30pm, Nick and I made the walk across to Hilbre Island on Sunday morning. This lies off the south tip of the Wirral, and is walk-to-able at low tide via a big expanse of soggy sand. There was snow overnight in Warrington but this hadn't made it to the Wirral - it was, however, a dull grey day.

To get here, you park at Morrisons in West Kirby, and then walk out past the Marine Lake. there were a couple of birds bobbing about on it which proved to be a pair of Red-breasted Mergansers. We had plans to walk all the way around the lake later, as there was supposedly a Great Northern Diver on it, but for now we headed out towards the island.

Halfway across, with half of my face numb from the crosswind, I paused to admire the crazy landscape of rippling flatlands, stretching across to the straggly hump of Hilbre Island itself. It's the seaside, Jim, but not as we know it.

We didn't see much on the way over. A Knot flew by at a distance, a Golden Plover very close. Once we could see the shore beyond the island we found a few waders there, including a Bar-tailed Godwit. Approaching the main island via seaweedy rocks we were soon among Turnstones and Oystercatchers.

Flyby Turnstone. Shoulda used a faster shutter speed. But then there woulda been more noise. But there is already a lot of noise. I don't think I'm getting the best out of this camera yet... mind you it was a grey old day.

Once you reach the 'Little Eye', the nearest bit of the island, you head sort of north-west along the low ridge that separates the Little Eye from the island proper, and when you get to the island proper you join a proper tarmaced path that brings you past the bird observatory and eventually to a walled but roofless building that gives views out to sea. Here we stayed for a while and found (well, mostly Nick found) various goodies including Grey Plover on the rocks (not a cocktail), and three or four Slavonian Grebes and a single female Scaup on the sea.

Most of this stuff was out of range though. So here's a Herring Gull fight, with spectators...

... and a young Cormorant coming in to land and showing off its totipalmate feet.

On the shore was one of the birds we'd particularly hoped to see, though it was odd to see just one on its own - Pale-bellied Brent Goose.

The walk back to the mainland was really hard-going - FIERCE cold wind in our faces, and conversation died completely as we put our heads down and concentrated on making it back to dry land. Then it was time to do a clockwise lap of the Marine Lake.

The Marine Lake is large, though much longer than it is wide. At the northern end the wind was whipping the waves up and over the path but the further we went the calmer it became. This subadult Herring Gull plunge-dived into the lake to obtain a mussel, which it then dropped on the footpath to try to break it. What a perfectly timed photo (sadly it's a bit of a disaster in all other respects!)

We got to the far end without finding the diver, and then carried on along the road back towards our starting point. There is a little jetty thing here with rocks around it, and on these rocks were roosting waders.

Most were Redshanks.

But there was also this gorgeous little Dunlin.

While I was taking lots of photos of the waders, Nick was more constructively engaged and managed to find the diver. It looked like it was nearer to the far shore than to us so we retraced our steps for closer views, but that didn't really happen.

A distant pic but I thought it was worth showing as you can see Hilbre in the background.

We had to get back to the car then but there was time for a few more gull photos.

Herring Gull who had grown tired of me taking its photo.

From here we went down to Parkgate but stayed only briefly because the cold was getting ridiculous. We saw a Marsh Harrier here, also Little Egret, but not a lot else.

When I got home yesterday I added up my year-list - 105 so far. And still lots of obvious and embarrassing gaps!

Woolston finch-fest

On Saturday Nick and I braved really-really-coldness to visit Woolston Eyes. It was evident pretty early on that all visible bits of the 'Eyes' were frozen solid so the focus was mainly on little birds, especially wintry ones.

From the path towards the reserve proper we found a Kingfisher sulking in a canal-side tree, too far below us and too shadowy for photos. More co-operative was this Redwing, one of a mixed group of thrushes flitting back and forth across the path.

There are feeding stations either side of the hide here, and I could just about see that the finches on the ground below them included quite a few Bramblings, while on one feeder was this male Bullfinch.

From the (elevated) hide, it was easier to see what was going on at ground level. Here are three male Bramblings at various stages of plumage development, with some Chaffinches.

The feeders themselves were mostly packed with Greenfinches - nice to see, given how scarce this species has been lately in some areas thanks to the dreaded 'trich'.

Now and then all the Greenies would rush away for no obvious reason, and this was when a Willow Tit would sneak in to grab a seed.

There is also a Marsh Tit here (apparently just the one) - caught and ringed recently. I heard it pitchoo-ing and had a possible brief view but no pics.

Shunning the feeders was this Lesser Redpoll, which dropped in to feed on the mugwort seeds in front of the hide, and refused to give us a clear view.

Not strictly finches but of the finchy ilk - two male Reed Buntings in the reeds around the feeders.

A Common Buzzard drifted over.

On the frozen lake itself there was almost nothing to see - a few Shelducks sitting on tiny islets, and this lone Canada Goose.

We opted to walk down to the weir, to see if all the regular wildfowl had been pushed there. The sky was starting to look a bit ominous by this point but there were still sunny moments.

An odd squeaky caw drew our attention to these fast-moving corvids. Then the other bird joined in with a baritone cronk, confirming they were Ravens - lovely surprise!

The waters around the weir were indeed full of wildfowl - Tufties, lots of Shovelers, Gadwalls, Mallards.

The larger bit of water, left of the path, also held four drake Goldeneyes, though curiously no ducks.

On the other side of the weir, two more drake Goldeneyes (and again no females). They were better lit but still too far away really.

This female Mallard came closer, in hope of bread, but we had none so off she went again. And because the grey clouds were really building now we headed back, finding big numbers of Redwings on the way. A lovely morning at the Eyes despite frozen-ness.

Rainham - lots of rain, not so much ham

James, Imi and I went to Rainham on Monday, just for a couple of hours in the afternoon, with the objective of fluffing up our yearlists a bit. We had sunshine and showers... but mostly showers. Apologies for the dingy photos which follow... however, there are not many of them.

From the visitor centre, a really smart male Marsh Harrier was cruising about upsetting the crows. It was already drizzling so we dived straight into the Purfleet hide and enjoyed watching the Wigeons milling about on the shallow waters.

It rained on and off as we continued around towards the Tower Butts hide. James picked up a distant Short-eared Owl over the firing range numbers and a Kestrel hovered briefly nearby. There was little else around, though. A few Lapwings commuting between here and the riverside, a few gulls and Cormorants going over.

From the Tower Butts hide, I mostly stuck to the back looking out at Aveley Marshes and hoping that the Shortie would reappear (it didn't). There were masses of Teals on the water on both sides and the odd sparkly-white Little Egret.

A flock of eight or so Black-tailed Godwits came over from Aveley to the main reserve and I just managed to nab a (dire) shot of them. Then we packed up and carried on round towards the Ken Barratt hide. On this stretch the rain really started to come down and we saw more or less nothing. It was a relief to get into the hide and we stayed til the rain stopped. The rest of the walk was dry and the sun came out a little.

Approaching the woodland, we scanned along the line of trees to find the Barn Owl box, and it was occupied - a sleepy little face was just about visible through binoculars and on this very heavily cropped photo.

The feeding station on the edge of the woodland was busy with tits and Reed Buntings. Nearby, this Chiffchaff was bouncing around in the alders and providing occasional photographic micro-opportunities.

From the last bit of path we added Curlew and Pintail. Then it was time for a cuppa, and we had a quick walk along the first bit of the riverside before heading home.

Yearlisting at Dungeness

In a moment of madness I agreed to a yearlist challenge with James. I don't usually keep a yearlist but I kind of have to, now. Nick ALWAYS keeps a yearlist, just for his own interest, so he was as keen as I was to go somewhere good on January 1st, and the obvious choice was good old Dunge. The day began very pleasantly (albeit cold, with an actual frost!) but greyed over and got windy towards the afternoon. Birding from the car produced much what you'd expect, with Fieldfare the top bird.

We started out at the beach, taking a bit of a look at the gull flocks without finding the first-winter Caspian that's been here a while before walking close to the shore to seawatch. There was a big sea going on and lots of avian action over the waves. We ticked off Great Crested Grebe, Red-throated Diver, Guillemot, Gannet and Med Gull in quick succession, plus the commoner gulls and lots of Cormorants.

Of course, the only thing in photo-range out of that lot was commoner gulls, in this case an actual Common Gull, and two Great Black-backs, an almost-adult and a first-winter.

Another first-winter GBBG, watching over the car. We drove down to the Obs end, and took a totally fruitless stroll around the 'moat'.

Back past the power station to check the patch. Here's one of two Pied Wagtails that were patrolling the perimeter, this one looking apologetic that it's not a Black Redstart.

The patch was very busy as ever. We went fairly close to it and scoped it for a while, hoping to unearth a Kittiwake or even a Little Gull, but no joy.

A photo of the patch, which I took in order to look at more closely later, in case there actually was a Kittiwake in there, and...

... D'OH! There it is. But we didn't see it at the time so it's not going on our lists.

We went back to the car, getting a Stonechat en route. Then I noticed a small knot of people who seemed to be scoping another gull flock and decided we should go and look at what they were looking at. It turned out that they were not scoping the gulls at all - they had a small camera on a tripod and were taking scenic pics. But that didn't matter, because among the gulls was a suspiciously smallish, intriguingly pale-headed first-winter one, which woke up after a while to show its little eyes and long, straight bill.

And we'd found the Caspian. A very distinctive bird when seen properly. Here it is 'dry-retching at the hideousness of Dunge', as my friend Ian put it when I showed him this photo. I took many, many more pictures of it but in honour of those who think it's 'another bloody seagull' I'll just stick to one photo.

However, that is the last photo of the day. Things had gloomed over a LOT and we didn't see anything much else at close enough range, except for two very close fly-over Great White Egrets after I'd put the camera away - again, d'oh. But we added quite a bit to the day list on the main reserve, including the Long-eared Owl at the dipping pond, Smew and Goldeneye on Burrowes pit, and other bits and bobs including Cetti's Warbler, Common Buzzard and, surprisingly, a lone Egyptian Goose at the back of Dengemarsh. And we just had enough time at the end of the day to nip to Hythe and get Purple Sandpiper.

Rye Harbour and Pett (and Hastings)

On New Year's Eve, Nick and I went to Rye Harbour so I could show him where I cut my birding teeth, as it were, and also hopefully meet the Glossy Ibis at Pett Level (but we didn't manage that). It was a mostly fine but blowy day with occasional squally showers, and we reached Rye Harbour at about 10am.

The beach reserve continues to change dramatically - there is even more water around than there used to be, with the 'wader scrape' now extending much further westewards and separated from the Ternery Pool only by the old footpath. From some way off it was evident that the flat beach area (which is now really more water than beach) was loaded with Golden Plovers, though from the actual hide the light was poor and everything was a little on the distant side.

Goldens on the wing. Without any apparent reason they were restless, big and small flocks taking off and flying about before settling again. The large flocks looked quite amazing as they turned in the sunlight, their white underneaths flashing and sparkling like a flung handful of glitter, in a way that a still photograph cannot begin to convey.

Two close-ish flypasts - Shelduck and Oystercatcher.

We walked down to the beach - the tide was some way out and on the shore were many gulls and more Oystercatchers, and a few Sanderlings also, though all a long way off, only just ID-able through Nick's scope.

Besides assorted gulls the most evident flyovers were Cormorants, this young one sporting a striking leopard-print belly.

We didn't go to the far Ternery Pool hide but visited the one at the eastern edge. From here were the usual commoner duck species, plenty of Lapwings and a lone Little Grebe.

The other hide though, the one looking east across the now vast wader scrape, was Little Grebe city. The wind had really picked up at this point and the grebes were mostly tucked in one sheltered corner, which they shared with a pair of Gadwalls. Here are seven, but there were at least seven more just out of shot.

Also here were industrial quantities of Wigeons, some resting and some flying about.

The walk back to the car park didn't reveal a lot, and we opted to drive on to Pett Level. Here it was really windy and very cold, and our scanning of the fields in search of the Glossy Ibis was to no avail. The tide was in by this point so no wader action on the beach either. The pools were quite busy with wildfowl but nothing new except for the usual Curlews on the fields and a Brent Goose or two feeding with a bunch of Canada Geese.

Then it was on to Hastings for a non-birding afternoon but we did park at Rockanore and found a handful of Fulmars already back on the cliffs.