It was a beautiful day today, warm, sunny and with a very
light wind. I have not been to Shuart for ages so I thought that I would give
it a go today. I was greeted by a Common Buzzard in the air and lots of the
usual little jobs around. A large number of Herring and Black-headed Gulls were
following a tractor. Shuart itself seemed surprisingly quiet for birds. There
were several Chiffchaff calling and I saw 10 on the way to the sea wall. A
Comma posed nicely for me and there were 2 Speckled Wood butterfly on the wing
and 1 Holly Blue.
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| Comma |
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| Speckled Wood |
There were lots of Common Darters, and I saw both males and females.
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| Common Darter |
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| Common Darter |
A flock of 9 birds flew low over one of the fields and
settled at the edge of the field. As they worked their way along I could see
that they were Red-legged Partridge.
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| Red-legged Partridge |
Another Common Darter was determined not
to be left out and perched right in front of me while I was watching the
Red-legged Partridge.
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| Common Darter |
Migrant Hawkers were repeatedly hovering over one of the
dykes so I tried for some photos and I am quite pleased with how they have come
out. It is something that hopefully, in time, I will be able to improve upon. It was also nice to hear a Cetti’s warbler calling. One of these days I
will be able to actually see one.
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| Migrant Hawker |
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| Migrant Hawker |
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| Migrant Hawker |
Just before the railway line a Kestrel gave a very nice view
as it flew over the top of me. I grabbed a shot and it hasn’t come out too badly.
Certainly the camera is coping better with flying birds than my previous one.
There were also 5 Common Buzzard on the wing at the same time and a Marsh
Harrier flew over.
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| Kestrel |
I walked along the embankment towards the stables. There
were 8 Pied Wagtails at the back of the stables and they appeared to be White Wagtails but I could not be sure as they were very distant. There were also 3 Stonechat and 2
Chiffchaff while Blue Tit, House Sparrow and Starlings were all feeding on the
blackberries and gave some very nice photo opportunities. They were clearly enjoying the blackberries.
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| Blue Tit |
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| House Sparrow |
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| House Sparrow |
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| Starling |
After a rest I headed towards Reculver along the seawall. It
was very busy with people, cyclists and dog walkers. There were 3 Teal on the
sea. I am so rusty with duck that it took me a while to work out what they
were. Some Mallards were also flying around and I saw 8 altogether. 57 Golden
Plover came up at the far back.
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| Teal |
A large number of Oystercatcher were roosting with 178
present. I also saw 50 Ringed Plover, 3 Curlew and 1 Dunlin. A whole line of
Turnstone were roosting on one of the breakwaters while a Grey Plover was on
one further down, presumably the same one I have seen before. When it flew it
struggled a bit as it is moulting a lot of its wing feathers.
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| Turnstone |
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| Grey Plover |
I really hoped to see a Short-eared Owl but there was not
any sign. It was, however, a stunning sunset and made the perfect end to the
day. The sky went through a whole range of colours as the sunset changed over
the course of the evening.
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| Sunset |
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| Sunset |
Birds I saw included: 5 Common Buzzard, 10 Chiffchaff, 9
Red-legged Partridge, 1 Cetti’s Warber, 3 Stonechat, 6 Sandwich Tern, 110
Linnet, 64 Turnstone, 178 Oystercatcher, 50 Ringed Plover, 3 Curlew, 57 Golden
Plover, 1 Grey Plover, 1 Dunlin, 1 Kingfisher, 3 Little Egret, 5 Grey Heron, 3
Teal, 8 Mallard, 6 Corn Bunting, 8 Meadow Pipit, 5 Blue Tit, 3 Great Tit, 1
Jay, 1 Green Woodpecker, 1 Greenfinch, 9 Skylark, 2 Wren, 4 Reed Bunting, 2
Kestrel, 9 Pied Wagtail, 6 House Sparrow, 5 Redshank, 5 Mute Swan.
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