Reculver proved to be pretty chilly when I arrived in a cool north westerly wind, the tide was a fair way out and still going out. With the northerly element I hoped that some things may be moving at sea, however, the sea remained quiet apart from gulls but I could see that a small movement of Meadow Pipits was underway with small groups regularly moving west during the first part of my visit.
A pair of Oystercatchers were sheltering on the oyster farm and Redshanks seemed to have disputes at regular intervals, having a quick chase before settling back onto the lagoons again.
A pair of Carrion Crows were on the shore, one of which kept hunching down and then stretching up, and appeared to be displaying to the other who seemed to totally ignore it and just kept on feeding.
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| Carrion Crow |
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| Carrion Crow |
I could hear a Little Grebe calling but did not see one today. A pair of Shelduck flew both east and west and may well have been the same birds. When I arrived at Coldharbour it was pretty quiet. 4 Little Egrets were on there, the most I have seen together for a while, and a pair of Shelduck were tucked into the bank. The usual few Redshank were also dotted around.
4 Chiffchaff were feeding in one of the bushes next to the sea wall by Coldharbour. One of them appeared to have something stuck to the feathers round its bill as these appeared quite black and at some angles appeared to stick out in places as if they had been made very stiff with whatever was stuck to them. I was pleased to see the Chiffchaff as hopefully they are a sign that a few new birds had come in.
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| Chiffchaff |
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| Chiffchaff |
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| Chiffchaff |
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| Chiffchaff |
As it was more than possible that the Chiffchaff were newly in, I decided to try and see if I could get as far as Plumpudding and see if anything was also around. I could see the immature male Eider on the sea behind Coldharbour and a male Teal was also on the sea.
I could hear a Marsh Harrier calling and looked up to see a male high above me. He suddenly lost height rapidly and landed before a short time later was up again but this time flying acrobatics and appearing to be displaying.
Plumpudding island was pretty quiet with just a pair of Mute Swan, a pair of Mallard and a few Redshank. The sun came out briefly and the water changed from grey to blue, with a Redshank looking very smart against it.
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| Redshank |
There were a small group of 35 Brent Geese on the sea. Unusually these were the only ones I saw today so I do not know if they have already started to move out.
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| Brent Geese |
I had a sit on the sea wall and watched the male and female Marsh Harriers displaying. They would move rapidly from high up to one or other landing and then the other coming down and chasing and wheeling round together, with one or other of them upside down at times. The male appeared to pass something to the female and she carried it for most of the time I was watching. They really were incredible to watch and I felt so lucky to have been able to sit and watch them. I tried for photos but they have come out badly as the birds were pretty distant and I did not want to move closer in case I disturbed them. But they make good memory shots even if heavily cropped and very noisy.
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| Marsh Harriers Displaying |
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| Marsh Harriers Displaying |
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| Marsh Harriers Displaying |
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| Marsh Harriers Displaying |
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| Marsh Harriers Displaying |
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| Marsh Harriers Displaying |
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| Marsh Harriers Displaying |
The weather started to improve on the walk back with sunny intervals but frequent rain clouds sweeping past out to sea. I love the reflections into the sea.
I saw a Short-eared Owl briefly over the oyster farm. I could hear and then see a large plane coming in low over sea and, what I now know is a Royal Air Force A400M Atlas Military Transport plane, gave very good views as it flew past. It certainly caused everyone on the sea wall to stop and watch as it was pretty low and not something you see everyday.
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| A400M Atlas Military Transport Aircraft |
A small group of Meadow Pipit were feeding beside the sea wall and allowed some very nice close views. They are lovely little birds. Throughout the afternoon I had seen frequent parachuting displaying birds. Also, frequent disputes had broken out when one wandered in to another ones territory with the singing bird chasing its rival away.
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| Meadow Pipit |
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| Meadow Pipit |
The tide was well out by now and I could see the immature male Eider having a wash and brush up at the end of one of the exposed mussel beds. When he flapped his wings I could see that he was moulting a large number of his flight feathers.
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| Immature Male Eider |
It must have been a day for planes because, once again, I could hear engines, this time multiple ones, and the Aerobytes display team flew past, turning on smoke as they did and treated me to a mini display, twice flying straight up before turning and coming straight down again. After a couple of runs they headed off but it did make quite a spectacular end of the visit and once again they stopped everyone on the sea wall as they watched them.
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| Aerobytes Display Team |
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| Aerobytes Display Team |
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| Aerobytes Display Team |
Birds seen this visit included: Blackbird, Robin, Herring Gulls, Black-headed Gulls, 9 Redshank, 72 Meadow Pipit, Carrion Crows, 3 Pied Wagtail, 1 Rock Pipit, 7 Shelduck, 8 Great Black-backed Gull, 11 Oystercatcher, 15 Mallard, 1 Dunnock, 13 Reed Bunting, 2 Pheasant, Linnet, Skylarks, 1 Little Grebe, 3 Little Egret, 3 Chiffchaff, 1 Eider, 2 Teal, 2 Grey Plover, 3 Sanderling, 1 Ringed Plover, 8 Turnstone, 1 Curlew, 35 Brent Geese, 1 Short-eared Owl, 1 immature male Eider
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