As I finished work earlier than expected today I paid a short visit to Reculver this afternoon. It was a beautifully fine afternoon to begin with and a Starling on the rocks by the car park looked stunning in the light.
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| Starling |
Wandering along the sea wall I saw some small duck, a good ways out, fly up briefly from the waters surface before settling back down again a short distance away. I had a sit on the sea wall and after a while the ducks once again flew up and flew low above the water before settling down again a little further on. I was able to see them better this time and I could see that they were 14 Teal.
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| Teal |
As I neared the green bank I saw a bird flying in from the sea quite high and about halfway between me and Reculver. I could see it was a female/immature sawbill and expecting it to be a Red-breasted Merganser I grabbed a few photos even though it was a long way off. The photos are very heavily cropped but all suggest it could actually be a Goosander with the bird showing a clear cut demarcation line between its head and neck. It isn't as thick necked as I imagined a Goosander would look in flight but is quite heavy bodied. A white chin spot is just about visible in some shots but could be the effect of heavy cropping of the photo. The white wing patch appears not to be separated by a black line but on a photo this cropped would probably be hard to see anyway. In the end I have come down on the side of Goosander because of that sharp demarcation between head and neck but, as always, I could be wrong.
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| female/immature Goosander |
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| female immature Goosander |
A little further along 7 Shelduck were on the sea and looking very smart. Out to sea the wind turbines were once again giving the optical illusion of floating in the air. I have seen it once before when the horizon line becomes lost and a darker band of sea fools the eye into thinking that it is the horizon line resulting in the turbines appearing to hover.
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| Shelduck |
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| Optical illusion of hovering Wind Turbines |
Cloud cover started to build and the cloud formations looked very striking. The air was suddenly filled with the calls of Golden Plover and 177 birds were wheeling around, the most Golden Plover I have seen so far this winter. I couldn't see what had put them up.
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| Cloud formation |
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| Golden Plover |
I had another sit on the sea wall and just enjoyed watching out to sea for a while. Small numbers of Gannet were on the move with most heading west and a couple coming east.
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| immature Gannet |
I caught sight of a little bird out to sea whirring along and had my only auk for the afternoon when a Guillemot flew east.
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| Guillemot |
Three Great Crested Grebe were off shore and 14 Mallard came into land. I liked the shape they formed as they did so and the stages of landing on the water captured in the photo. It still fascinates me that photos allow me to see things that happen too fast in real life to be able to sufficiently appreciate them.
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| Mallards |
I could see 190 Brent Geese on the sea towards Coldharbour and 110 Oystercatcher roosting on the beach. A Rock Pipit was investigating one of the groynes and 3 Pied Wagtail were along the shoreline with the male flying up to the groyne at one point. The Rock Pipit did not like that at all and chased it off. Out to sea a Sparrowhawk flew in from the north. Four Teal flew west and I wondered if they would join up with the other birds I saw earlier.
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| Teal |
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| Teal |
It was time to start heading back. I could hear multiple alarm calls from the Oystercatchers and turned to see they had been disturbed from their roost by walkers along the shingle bank. The Oystercatchers flew my way together with some Ringed Plover, Turnstone, Sanderling and a couple of Dunlin. Tucked in with one of the flocks of Oystercatcher were 2 Curlew.
A couple of Mute Swan flew east out to sea as I made my way back, coming down onto the water near Coldharbour. A little further along another couple of Great Crested Grebe were on the water. A single Teal was close inshore and climbed out onto the rocks but keeping a wary eye on passers-by on the sea wall.
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| Teal |
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| Teal |
I finished an enjoyable visit watching a stream of Brent Geese move west out to sea in an undulating long line. It was a bonus to have had some time for some birdwatching this afternoon.
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| Brent Geese |
Birds seen this visit included: Teal, Shelduck, 9 Gannet 7 west 2 east, 1 Guillemot, 25 Sanderling, 10 Redshank, 18 Mallard, 7 Pied Wagtail, 5 Great Crested Grebe, 5 Meadow Pipit, 1 Rock Pipit, 2 Stonechat, 2 Mute Swan, 190 Brent Geese. 38 Ringed Plover, 5 Turnstone, 2 Curlew,
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