A New Year Day's Bird Count - Shuart to Brook via Reculver 01/01/19

I have not done a New Year Day’s bird count for a long time so I thought I would give it a go today. The day started off surprisingly fine but became cloudy with a cool north westerly wind. I started at Shuart and aimed to walk through to Bishopstone but as it turned out there were so many people out by the afternoon that I decided to finish off at Brook instead.

We saw a very smart male Pheasant, together with the female, as we drove down to Shuart. It is a poor photo but makes a nice memory shot. There was a fair bit of activity around the car park when I arrived. A Chiffchaff was calling away and another was up near the bridleway. A flock of 12 Goldfinch were busily feeding and Blue and Great Tits were also very active. I picked up most of the usual little brown jobs and then started down the main path. A Great Spotted Woodpecker was drilling away. 

Pheasant

I could hear a Ring-necked Parakeet calling and was lucky enough for it to land in a tree almost directly above me. It made for a somewhat obscured view and I had trouble holding the camera steady but it was nice to get the chance for a few shots.

Ring-necked Parakeet

Ring-necked Parakeet

A little further on I had a Goldcrest busily feeding away. They are lovely little birds and I really miss that I cannot hear them calling anymore. A Common Buzzard was bombarded by Magpies and a couple of Carrion Crows and vacated the bush it was resting on.

On the whole the walk through was surprisingly quiet but I did manage to pick up Jay, Green Woodpecker, Skylark and Fieldfare. I had hoped for a Cetti’s but did not manage to catch up with one. I was surprised that I had no luck with either Greenfinch or Long-tailed Tit. A couple of Mute Swan gave a fly past. A single Golden Plover called.

I headed on past the stables and was pleased to pick up Linnet and Pied Wagtail. A House Sparrow posed nicely and a flock of Brent Geese flew past chattering away to each other. They always sound very friendly.

House Sparrow

Brent Geese

The wind was very much in evidence once I hit the sea wall and I gradually made my way back towards Reculver. The tide was on the turn and a Carrion Crow was feeding along the shoreline and looked very smart in the sunshine. They are quite striking birds. 

Carrion Crow

Flocks of Oystercatcher were on the move with some going east and some going west.

Oystercatchers

A Curlew flew past with a couple of Oysterecatcher and a small flock of 6 Grey Plover flew west. Good numbers of Ringed Plover were flying both east and west. When I reached Plumpudding Island, apart from 6 Redshank there was nothing else on there. I was hoping to catch up with a Snow Bunting or two but could not manage to find one.

I carried on towards Coldharbour. A Marsh Harrier was being mobbed by Corvids at the back and some Reed Buntings looked lovely in the light. Despite the gas guns some Brent Geese had settled in one of the fields and further down a large group had formed an almost perfect ellipse. Further down 2 were clearly feeling antisocial as they were feeding in a field on there own. They are handsome birds and I think that their calls are lovely. In the large group every now and then a disagreement would break out, presumably when one became within bill reach. They may sound friendly but invasion of space was definitely not tolerated.

Brent Geese

Brent Geese

Brent Geese

I stopped for a break just before Coldharbour and scanned the sea for a while. It was still very quiet but I did see 3 Great Crested Grebe and a Red-throated Diver. A Herring Gull looked lovely in the light. At this point the weather changed completely, clouding over rapidly.

Herring Gull

 4 Mallard were on the sea fairly close to shore while another 81 were further out to sea.

Mallards

On Coldharbour a Little Egret gave some nice views and several more Redshank were present. 3 Mallards were feeding and 2 Mute Swan resting up.

Little Egret

Redshank

I carried on towards Reculver rather hoping to be able to pick up some more duck/divers etc on the sea or flying past but did not manage to get anything new. 5 Coot were up the main dyke towards Chambers Wall. 

Coots

I got some nice views of a Grey Plover that was resting on the beach. They are lovely little birds.

Grey Plover

Grey Plover

Reculver had become very busy with walkers and dog walkers and as there were so many I decided not to carry on to Bishopstone, as the beach was crawling with people, and I walked instead to Brook. I hoped to catch up with a few more species and managed to add a Redwing and some Collared Dove’s. A large group of birds went up in the distance and I would imagine that it was the result of a Peregrine as it seemed that every bird possible was in the air, whatever it was it caused utter panic. At least it enabled me to add Lapwing and there were Golden Plover as well. A group of 30 Meadow Pipit were disturbed by some dog walkers.

Light levels were dropping a lot by the time I reached Brook and I called it a day. There were a surprising number of birds that I thought I was guaranteed today, such as Stonechat and Long-tailed Tit but I never managed to catch up with them. Ah well. I had a count up when I got home and I saw a total of 56 species today.

Birds seen this visit include: 2 Pheasant, 34 Goldfinch, 3 Robin, 58 Blackbird, 3 Wren, 2 Dunnock, Blue Tit, Great Tit, Chaffinch, 2 Chiffchaff, 1 Great Spotted Woodpecker, 1 Goldcrest, 1 Song Thrush, 1 Mistle Thrush, 2 Jay, 12 Magpie, Rook, Carrion Crow, Jackdaw, 5 Skylark, 38 Meadow Pipit, 4 Reed Bunting, 1 Ring-necked Parakeet, 2 Common Buzzard, 3 Kestrel, Wood Pigeon, Stock Dove, Collared Dove, 1 Green Woodpecker, Black-headed Gull, Herring Gull, Great Black-backed Gull, House Sparrow, Starling, 25 Linnet, 3 Pied Wagtail, 17 Mute Swan, 8 Fieldfare, 1 Redwing, 1 Golden Plover, 67 Ringed Plover, 2 Dunlin, 6 Turnstone, 120 Oystercatcher, 170 Brent Geese, 84 Mallard, 8 Grey Plover, 2 Curlew, 12 Redshank, 5 Coot, 3 Great Crested Grebe, 1 Red-throated Diver, Cormorant, 2 Little Egret, Lapwing, 1 Marsh Harrier.