When I arrived at Reculver this morning out to sea was calm and it appeared quiet. I could see 12 Brent Geese sitting just off shore towards the point where a small area of exposed shore was dotted white with Herring Gulls. I couldn't see the Black Redstart, from yesterday, but the usual Robin was on the rocks checking out its domain from various vantage point and clearly defending territory so may already have had a run in with it. As I made my way past the towers 3 Pied Wagtails were on the concrete apron looking for insects.
A Common Buzzard was up at the back and a few Mute Swan dotted around the back fields as I started out along the sea wall. Out to sea a diver surfaced a good way out. It reared up and did a wing flap and started to settle back down. I was expecting it to be a Red-throated but it did not look right for one and I wondered if it could be a Great Northern or Black-throated Diver. It held its thickish and quite large bill straight and its head shape appeared quite angular with a reasonably steep forehead. It proceeded to sit mainly facing away which therefore gave quite limited views. When it turned its head it appeared to have a white cheek that did not extend above the eye. Its neck from the back did not appear very thickset, possibly paler than its back but that could just have been a trick of the light at that distance. It did have strikingly white rear flank patches which could be seen from both the side and the back and suggested that it could be a Black-throated Diver.
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| ? Black-throated Diver |
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| ? Black-throated Diver |
Frustratingly at that point I lost my balance and by the time I got back on the diver it had taken off and was flying away from me. Luckily for me it turned and started to come back east, coming past me, still a good way out, before turning again and this time continuing strongly west. Still struggling for balance I only managed some really poor photos which are heavily cropped and I have to admit, that having zero experience of either Black-throated or Great Northern in flight, I still wasn't sure which it was and hoped the photos might help.
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| ? Black-throated Diver |
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| ? Back-throated Diver |
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| ? Black-throated Diver |
Having looked at all the information I could find I still do not think that it is a Red-throated and have come down on the side of Black-throated rather than Great Northern but could easily be wrong. That for me is one of the joys of birdwatching. Each time I come out I learn or notice something new, it doesn't matter whether its a bird I seen loads of times before or one like this where I have so much still to learn. All are great to watch. With more sea watching experience I will be able to look back at this bird and, will hopefully, instantly know which diver it is, and will correct the ID then if, as is highly possible, I have it wrong.
A little further along I noticed another diver off shore, this time a Red-throated Diver. It dived frequently, slipping smoothly below the surface without any of the jump of the nearby cormorant. It appeared slimmer necked, with no sign of a markedly white flank patch, a finer bill held pointing upwards and was nice to see and compare so soon after looking at the previous bird.
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| Red-throated Diver |
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| Red-throated Diver |
An immature Grey Heron called noisily as it flew up from the oyster farm before settling back down and a Wren scolded at me from the bushes by the sea wall. Overhead streams of Cormorants were moving out to sea in straggling formations.
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| Cormorants |
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| Cormorants |
I sat on the sea wall for a while and could see 1 Gannet flying west with another couple heading east a short while later. A couple of Red-throated Divers were flying east in the distance. A Herring Gull who had managed to catch a large flat fish settled on one of the marker poles and proceeded to try and eat it. However hard it tried, it could not manage to swallow it as it was just too wide at its widest point for its bill. The bird tried every which way to swallow it whole without any success, dropping it frequently to reposition and then try again.
At one point it almost looked as if if had managed to swallow much of it but that last part proved to be just too difficult and with the gull literally choking it had to spit it out and start again and ending up back where it started. And this became the repeated cycle for the next few minutes.
Having tried for several minutes and with the gull looking visibly tired by now it must have decided to move to plan B and headed out to sea with the fish still firmly held. I thought it would come down and try swallowing it on the sea but it appeared to keep going and I wonder if it ever succeeded.
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Carrying on I could hear a Water Rail calling again from the dyke near the junction of the green wall and 14 Sanderling flew east out to sea. A Stonechat and a Reed Bunting were in dispute and another Reed Bunting joined in forcing the Stonechat to move along aways. It was nice to have a chance to catch up with Marc Heath and he let me know that a couple of Wheatear were on the rocks a little further along. I carried on towards Coldharbour with the rain clouds gathering apace behind me. Unfortunately a dog walker was on the shore where the Wheatear had been and I did not get a chance to catch up with them. A Cetti's Warbler was vocal and out to sea a Great Crested Grebe was offshore. 4 Sandwich Tern were fishing and I paused to watch them for a while. Out to sea the numbers of Oystercatchers flying east started to increase as groups of various sizes headed past.
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| Sandwich Tern |
With clear signs of heavy rain showers on the way it was time to make a move. The walk up to the pick up point at Chambers Wall did not turn up anything unexpected and I got soaked on the last stretch during a heavy shower. It had only been going to be able to be a short visit today as I needed to get to work later but it had been good to be out and I have enjoyed trying to sort the diver out.
Birds seen this visit included: 9 Robin, 12 Brent Goose, Black-headed Gulls, Herring Gulls, 4 Pied Wagtail, 10 Mute Swan, 4 Little Egret, 6 Magpie, 3 Dunnock, 118 Oystercatcher, 1 Common Buzzard, 1 Black-throated Diver, 3 Red-throated Diver, 1 Grey Heron, 3 Wren, 2 Ringed Plover, 420 Cormorant, 14 Meadow Pipit, 2 Redshank, 6 Reed Bunting, 8 Stonechat, 10 Gannet 4 west 6 east, 3 Pheasant, 14 Sanderling, 1 Song Thrush, 1 Water Rail, 3 Corn Bunting, 2 Great Crested Grebe, 4 Turnstone, 3 Cetti's Warbler, 4 Sandwich Tern, Skylarks, 3 Kestrel, 2 Coot, 2 Blue Tit, 2 Chaffinch, 8 Blackbird, 1 Goldcrest, 1 Fieldfare,
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