It was a very windy day today with a strong north westerly wind and jolly chilly too, but with some nice sunny intervals. I came down to Reculver but found it really was too windy and cold to try walking along the sea wall, particularly as I felt so rough today and balance was not at its best. So I decided to go up to the towers and see if I could find a spot out of the wind to try and sea watch for a while.
A Kestrel was hanging in the wind by the towers, intent on whatever it was hunting. It is amazing how they can stay almost motionless with so little wing movement. I managed to get a couple of photos and thoroughly enjoyed watching it.
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| Kestrel hanging in the wind |
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| Kestrel hovering |
Once I reached the towers I found a good spot out of the wind and waited to see what did or did not fly past. The sea was very quiet and there was very little going on out there. I did manage to see three Red-throated Divers and a Great Crested Grebe but that really was about it. I had hoped to perhaps pick up a few new birds for the year but I appeared to be out of luck. There was, however, a steady stream of gulls going west so I spent some time happily trying to get some photos of them. I had a very smart Common Gull go past and also a Herring Gull whose eye just caught the light as it passed me.
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| Common Gull |
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| Herring Gull |
A single Brent Goose flew west and gave some nice views as it did so.
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| Brent Goose |
A juvenile Herring Gull gave good views of both its upper wing, and a particularly good view of its underwing. It was very nice to have the gulls come so close and to see them at eye level.
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| Juvenile Herring Gull |
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| Juvenile Herring Gull |
The sea was quite rough but not as rough as I expected considering how strong the wind was. It was hitting the rocks but not causing massive amounts of spray. I tried to catch some spray on a photo but each time I tried it was suddenly less. Strange how that goes. Out to sea I could see it was raining and a partial rainbow appeared briefly.
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| Sea spray - Reculver |
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| Rainbow |
There was a good movement of Common Gulls with at least 40 moving through while I was there. I had one well marked individual go past and the photos I took in sunshine and then in the shade of the towers shadow show how much difference the light can make to appearance and colour.
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| Common Gull |
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| Common Gull |
Another passing Common Gull gave a spectacular view of its underwing. Unfortunately I missed a very smart Cormorant going past in full breeding plumage. I only managed to grab a shot as it disappeared from view. I had forgotten just how handsome they are in breeding plumage.
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| Common Gull |
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| Cormorant - breeding plumage |
A couple of Herring Gull went past giving good views of an upperwing and underwing respectively. I will need to work at getting much better at both ageing identification in gulls and gull identification full stop.
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| Herring Gull |
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| Herring Gull |
I had enjoyed my time at the towers, I have not done a seawatch for a very long time. It might not have produced any new birds for the year but it was good fun. I finished off with a juvenile Herring Gull and a Common Gull passing below me, not a view I usually see.
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| Juvenile Herring Gull |
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| Common Gull |
Birds seen this visit include: 1 Kestrel, c40 Common Gull, 120 Herring Gull, 50 Black-headed Gull, 1 Brent Goose, 3 Red-throated Diver, 1 Great Crested Grebe, 24 Mallard, 15 Mute Swan, 2 Pied Wagtail, 1 Blackbird, 15 Cormorant
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