I paid a visit to Reculver after work this afternoon. It was
clouding over with a light north westerly wind. The visit started well as I heard two pipits calling,
sounding different to Meadow Pipit. They landed on the rocks, as I came down
from the towers, so I headed down the steps to see if I could manage to see
them. They were 2 lovely Rock Pipits which gave me good, if a little distant
views. I felt really lucky to have seen them.
 |
| Rock Pipits |
 |
| Rock Pipits |
 |
| Rock Pipit |
 |
| Rock Pipit |
I carried on along the sea wall and, as usual on a Sunday,
it was very very busy with people. There were 10 Collared Dove perched on a frame near the
oyster farm buildings, the most I have seen here at once.
 |
| Collared Doves |
Out to sea there was
a very distant bird which appeared to be a Red-throated Diver. 3 Sandwich Tern flew past calling away. It was pretty quiet otherwise. I had really hoped to
see the Snow Bunting or a Short-eared Owl but unfortunately I was out of luck
with both. I would very much like to see the Snow Bunting but I still have not
managed to catch up with it. Out to sea Mallard were bobbing around. Altogether
I saw 74 out to sea.
 |
| Mallards |
There was a Kingfisher on the groyne near Coldharbour with
some Turnstone but it got scared off by some people who came past. I did not
expect to see it again but was lucky enough to see it fishing from some rocks
as I made my way back to Reculver. It caught 3 fish in the space of 5 minutes. I
had not realised that they fished in the sea.
 |
| Kingfisher |
 |
| Kingfisher |
 |
| Kingfisher |
 |
| Kingfisher |
I did not manage to catch up with the Snow Bunting but a
Linnet gave me some lovely views. Normally they are so flighty but this one was
obviously very hungry.
 |
| Linnet |
 |
| Linnet |
I carried on back and altogether had 6 Little Egret with 2
of them flying past. A Great Black-backed Gull was on one of the Cormorant
poles. Light was fading fast but there was still no sign of any
owls. I did however get a very nice surprise. I was checking out to sea and
could see what appeared to be a diver much closer. It was a
Red-throated Diver and presumably the same one that I had seen much further
out. It caught a large fish which attracted the attention of both a
Black-headed Gull and a Cormorant. I took some photos and hoped for the best as the light level was dropping all the time. I really was so lucky to see it. It was in
full summer plumage. As expected, the photos are very noisy but I am pleased that I have them.
 |
| Red-throated Diver |
 |
| Red-throated Diver |
As I neared the end of the sea wall I saw a Devil’s Coach
Horse beetle. They are impressive beetles.
 |
| Devil's Coach Horse Beetle |
The wind by this time had picked up a lot and was very
strong and very cold so I was pleased to be heading home but I had a very good
visit.
Birds I saw included: 2 Rock Pipits, 6 Little
Egret, 3 Mute Swan, 4 Meadow Pipit, 10 Collared Dove, 3 Redshank, 1 Wren, 3
Sandwich Tern, 1 summer plummage Red-throated Diver, 147 Linnet, 1 Kingfisher,
51 Turnstone, 15 Ringed Plover, 14 Oystercatcher, 74 Mallard, 1 Grey Heron, 1
Goldfinch
No comments:
Post a Comment