My visit to Reculver today started well when the first bird I caught sight of was a female/immature Black Redstart on the rocks by the car park. The local Robin was taking grave exception to it and chased it repeatedly never giving it peace for long. It was a little beauty. There wasn't really enough light for a photo but it was nice to have some memory shots. A Stonechat on the rocks also attracted the Robin's ire as did a passing through Rock Pipit.
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| female/immature Black Redstart |
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| female/immature Black Redstart |
The tide was on the turn as I came down onto the sea wall and was starting to go out. The sea was very calm and there was not a lot of wind although I could feel it starting to pick up. High winds were forecast for later on and I wanted to be off the sea wall before then. Having already been blown over by the wind recently I did not fancy repeating the experience! A Grey Wagtail flew west and a couple of Curlew were heading east out to sea. Overhead 8 Meadow Pipit were flying west with another 3 close behind. It was very quiet out to sea with just a few Herring and Black-headed Gulls. 3 Meadow Pipits were on the rocks and allowed some nice close views.
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| Meadow Pipit |
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| Meadow Pipit |
As I approached the oyster farm I had another Black Redstart flying west along the beach. It settled briefly on the rocks before continuing west. A Mute Swan gave a close flyby, the tips of its wing feathers curling up with the down beat.
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| Mute Swan |
The leucistic Goldfinch was gleaming white over in the far bushes near the back of the oyster farm standing out even at that distance. A Meadow Pipit in the same bush chased it out but it stayed over towards the back. I heard the unmistakable sound of Bearded Tits pinging away and a couple were working their way west through the reeds alongside the dyke in front of the oyster farm. I was lucky enough for the male to give some brief views so I tried for some photos from the sea wall even though really it was too far away for my camera. They are beautiful birds and the males are particularly handsome and though they soon carried on moving through the reeds west they had definitely made my day and are my first for the autumn.
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| male Bearded Tit |
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| male Bearded Tit |
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| male Bearded Tit |
It was still remaining very quiet out to sea but was nice to see a very smart adult Mediterranean Gull flying west, its wings gleamingly pale.
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| adult Mediterranean Gull |
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| adult Mediterranean Gull |
A Merlin streaked across one of the fields scattering Meadow Pipit, Skylark and Linnets. It missed a Linnet by a fraction and turning on a sixpence it tried for a Meadow Pipit but missed that too. It then started to rapidly climb gaining more and more height with repeatedly flickering wing beats, ranging from extended to folded back, eventually going so high that I lost sight of it. I have not seen one climb so high before. Initially a few passarines were trailing it calling in alarm but then it was just the Merlin continuing to gain height until it was just a speck and I lost it to view.
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| Merlin |
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| Merlin |
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| Merlin |
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| Merlin |
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| Merlin |
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| Merlin |
As I neared Coldharbour I could see 2 Merlin coming in off the sea with the trailing one having a Herring Gull in hot pursuit. By the time the Merlin reached the shore it had left the gull behind but the gull was still reluctant to give up.
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| Merlin in off the sea with a Herring Gull in hot pursuit |
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| Merlin in off the sea with a Herring Gull in hot pursuit |
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| Merlin in off the sea with a Herring Gull in hot pursuit |
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| Merlin in off the sea with a Herring Gull in hot pursuit |
The two Mute Swan were on Coldharbout in their usual spot but I could not see any Redshank today. A Little Egret was absorbed in fishing and for once appeared unconcerned by the people passing by on the sea wall. Each time it caught something it would flick its head sideways which seemed to enable it to move what ever it had caught from the tip of its bill to catching and swallowing it. Mostly it flicked to its right but occasionally to the left. It appeared to have about a 60% success rate of catching small prey.
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| Little Egret |
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| Little Egret |
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| Little Egret |
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| Little Egret |
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| Little Egret |
The wind was gathering strength rapidly so I came down off the sea wall and headed towards Chambers Wall. A couple of Corn Bunting were tucked in sheltering from the wind with a Reed Bunting a little further down. A Cetti's Warbler was in its usual spot as I approached the railway line but otherwise all remained pretty quiet. 4 Repoll flew west calling but otherwise it continued to be very quiet as I made my way along to the pick up point and I could not even manage to find a single Goldcrest. A single Chiffchaff called and a Green Woodpecker alarm called as a Common Buzzard made its way through. The Ivy flowers were attracting good numbers of wasps. They appeared to be all German Wasps Vespula germanica with the 3 black facial spots showing well when viewed from face on and I enjoyed watching them before heading to the pick up point. It had been an interesting visit.
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| German Wasp Vespula germanica |
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| German Wasp Vespula germanica |
Birds seen this visit included: 2 Black Redstart, 7 Robin, 1 Grey Wagtail west, 5 Stonechat, 1 Pied Wagtail, 2 Curlew east, 1 Rock Pipit, Herring Gulls, Black-headed Gulls, 17 Meadow Pipit, 9 Blackbird, 3 Kestrel, 21 Starling west, 3 Grey Heron, 2 Great Black-backed Gull, 2 Wren, 4 Bearded Tit, 10 Oystercatcher, 3 Reed Bunting, 5 Goldfinch, 1 Mediterranean Gull, 1 Turnstone, 5 Magpie, 1 Sandwich Tern, 2 Cetti's Warbler, Skylarks, 10 Linnet, 3 Merlin, 7 Mute Swan, 1 Little Egret, 10 Swallow, 1 Redwing, 8 Chaffinch, 2 Corn Bunting, 2 Reed Bunting, 2 Blue Tit, 1 Chiffchaff, 4 Redpoll west, 1 Green Woodpecker, 1 Common Buzzard,
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