I headed to Reculver on an almost windless but overcast morning and out to sea there was barely a ruffle on the waters surface in the calm conditions. I passed a couple of Chiffchaff in the bushes up by the towers and as I came down onto the sea wall there were another 6 in the bushes and scrub area suggesting some new birds in. A Little Egret flew over the oyster farm showing clear signs of moult in its flight feathers.
 |
| Little Egret |
Overall, it appeared very quiet as I headed along the sea wall. 10 Siskin flew west followed a short while later by 10 Skylark and 5 Meadow Pipit in the same direction. Small numbers of Swallow were moving through and a few House Martin. Ringed Plover and Turnstone were restless as several dog walkers were along various parts of the shore.
 |
| Turnstone and Ringed Plover |
 |
| Turnstone and Ringed Plover |
The odd Chiffchaff were in various bushes on the other side of sea wall and a male Blackcap popped up briefly and scolded a Stonechat. A Sparrowhawk overhead caused panic amongst the Golden Plover and they wheeled up in alarm. Flocks of Turnstone and Ringed Plover were still back and fore out to sea, appearing dark and light as they banked from showing upper to lower wings. Sadly they did not get much peace as disturbance from people along the shore was quite high today.
 |
| Turnstone and Ringed Plover |
 |
| Turnstone and Ringed Plover |
House Martins started to stream through both on the land side and out to sea. They would come through in pulses and were quite a sight and there were many more than I managed to count. 4 Dunlin dropped in with some Sanderling and a little further along Ringed Plover and Sanderling were joining some Turnstone on a rapidly diminishing tideline.
 |
| Turnstone and Ringed Plover |
 |
| Sanderling, Ringed Plover and Turnstone |
 |
| Ringed Plover |
Coldharbour was quiet with just a few Redshank and Black-headed Gulls. I had a sit on the sea wall for a while and out to sea remained quiet although I did see three small flocks of 3, 3 and 4 Little Egrets flying west far out to sea.
 |
| Little Egrets |
I had a wander along to Chambers Wall which turned out to be surprisingly quiet. A few Chiffchaff were calling but there did not appear to be any new birds in but they might just have been in super skulky mode. The hedgerow alongside the road was, however alive with birds with several Chiffchaff and a lovely Pied Flycatcher.
 |
| Pied Flycatcher |
 |
| Pied Flycatcher |
As I neared the pick up point the visit held one last surprise for me. I caught sight of a flash of red on the road and could see an insect scurrying across. I could hear a tractor coming up the road behind me and I wonder if the insect could feel the vibration because it was certainly in a hurry. It did not look right for a Corizus hyoscyami, a bug I have seen before, so I grabbed a few photos before it disappeared into cover and looked it up when I got home. I was really surprised to see that it was a Fire Bug Pyrrhocoris apterus. Not something I would have expected to see here at all as it is nationally very localised and not, as far as I could see, usually in this part of the country. Having checked as much information as I could in books and online I think that I have identified it correctly and wonder how it came to be here and whether it could have been blown in with any of the strong winds we've had recently. It certainly made a very interesting end to the visit and was a little beauty.
 |
| Fire Bug Pyrrhocoris apterus |
 |
| Fire Bug Pyrrhocoris apterus |
 |
| Fire Bug Pyrrhocoris apterus |
Birds seen this visit included: 28 Chiffchaff, 63 Swallow, 6 Pied Wagtail, Starlings, Black-headed Gulls, Herring Gulls, 5 Mute Swan, 2 Dunnock, 4 Wren, 10 Mallard, 4 Grey Heron, 2 Oystercatcher, 9 Redshank, 3 Little Egret, 18 Linnet, 10 Siskin west, 12 Meadow Pipit, 13 Skylark, 1 Pheasant, 7 Stonechat, House, 3 Great Black-backed Gull, House Sparrows, 13 Reed Bunting, 11 Goldfinch, 1 Kestrel, 5 Magpie, 35 Golden Plover, 138 Ringed Plover, 87 Turnstone, 835 House Martin, 3 Blackcap, 1 Sparrowhawk, 78 Sanderling, 4 Dunlin, 3 Robin, 1 Pied Flycatcher
No comments:
Post a Comment