I headed to Reculver with the aim of a slow
wander to either Chambers Wall or Shuart depending on how the walking went.
There was a south westerly wind with building cloud and it was forecast to be a
warm day. The tide was just starting to go out. It seemed fairly quiet when I
arrived. A few Sand Martin were zipping around and House Sparrows and Starling
were busy feeding up by the towers. Apart from some Herring and Black-headed
Gulls out to sea was very quiet. There was a juvenile Mediterranean Gull in
amongst 110 Black-headed Gulls roosting on the beach. An approaching dog walker
sent them all up so I tried for a photo and luckily I
managed to get the juvenile Mediterranean Gull in amongst them.
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| juvenile Mediterranean Gull in amongst Black-headed Gulls |
A couple of Redshank were noisily debating on the oyster
farm and a Grey Heron and a Little Egret were in the tree that often appears
popular with them. A Green Sandpiper was
also on the oyster farm. A few Turnstone were on the move as the tide fell with
12 flying in. 8 Ringed Plover were roosting on the shore. A couple of Carrion
Crow were working their way along the shore line and the light catching their
feathers looked lovely.
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| Carrion Crow |
A few Whitethroat were in various bushes while a male
Stonechat had a begging youngster in tow and a little further along I also saw a
female Stonechat. A couple of Wheatear were on the grassy area of the beach.
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| Wheatear |
Good numbers of
Meadow Pipit were either along the shore or the sea wall area. A couple of
Stock Dove were at a fields edge. I could see 8 Coot down the dyke near
Coldharbour which included at least 4 youngsters. Coldharbour itself was pretty
quiet with just a couple of Common Sandpipers and a few Black-headed Gulls. A pair of Pied Wagtail were on the shore with
the male posing nicely for a photo.
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| Pied Wagtail |
I sat and watched out to sea for a while. Sandwich Terns
were passing west in small numbers with a mix of adults and youngsters
amongst them. Common Terns were also heading west starting with a group of 15 adults and
youngsters and then passing west in 2’s and 3’s. A Herring Gull flew up holding something and
dropped it onto the shingle before flying down to see if it had successfully
managed to open it.
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| Common Tern |
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| Sandwich Tern |
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| Herring Gull dropping shell |
I carried on along the sea wall and found Plumpudding island
to be very quiet with only a couple of juvenile Yellow Wagtail and a few Linnet
on there. As I passed the stables there were 3 sizeable flocks of House
Sparrows adding up to approximately 160 birds. A female Marsh Harrier flew
across the back. Honeysuckle was out in flower and looked lovely.
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| Honeysuckle |
A family of Blue Tits were working their way through the
bushes. A male Marsh Harrier was quartering over a far field. As I came up to
the hedgerow I could see some hawkers on the wing. As it clouded over they
landed and in amongst them I could see a Southern Hawker. It appeared to be a
different individual to the one I saw last time as this one was a male. It was
a beautiful dragonfly and I was well chuffed to see it.
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| male Southern Hawker |
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| male Southern Hawker |
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| male Southern Hawker |
A little further along I was very pleased to see the male Southern Migrant Hawker as it was good to know that it was still around. I managed to get a shot quickly of it as it was resting up before a fast approaching tractor came up the track and unfortunately drove both the Southern and Southern Migrant Hawker ahead of it. They flew up the track strongly and I lost them from sight. A little while later Marc Heath had a male Southern Migrant Hawker much further up the track and it is hard to know if it was the same one or a possible second one. Time will tell I guess. It would be lovely if a female is found raising the possibility of them breeding.
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| male Southern Migrant Hawker |
A family of Blue and Great Tits were working their way through the hedge together with 5 Long-tailed Tits. Swifts were hawking for insects above. I came across a Small Red-eyed Damselfly and a Willow Emerald Damselfly who were both enjoying the sunshine.
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| Small Red-eyed Damselfly |
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| Willow Emerald Damselfly |
Birds seen this visit include: 22 Sand Martin, 1 Reed
Bunting, 7 Pied Wagtail, Cormorants, House Sparrows, Wood Pigeons, 65 Linnet, 6
Redshank, 31Turnstone, Black-headed Gull, Herring Gull, 1 Mediterranean Gull, 3
Little Egret, 3 Grey Heron, 17 Little Ringed Plover, 4 Great Black-backed Gull,
4 Carrion Crow, 28 Meadow Pipit, Skylarks, 1 Green Sandpiper, 7 Whitethroat, 5
Sedge Warbler, 3 Stonechat, 1 Reed Warbler, 2 Wheatear, 2 Stock Dove, 11
Oystercatcher, 24 Sandwich Tern, 6 Common Sandpiper, 7 Swallow, 8 Coot, 17
Common Tern, 4 Blackbird, 2 Goldfinch, 2 Marsh Harrier, Blue Tits, 3 Mute Swan,
1 Magpie, 1 Collared Dove, 10 Swift, 2 Wren, 1 Dunnock, 1 Jay, 5 Long-tailed
Tit, Great Tits,
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