It was good to have a day off today and I headed along to Shuart with the aim of a wander through to Reculver. It was a beautifully sunny morning but with a cool southerly wind that picked up strength as the visit went on. Making my way down the track I came across a mixed flock of Tits with Great, Blue and Long-tailed as well as a couple of Goldcrests in amongst them. Overall it seemed quite quiet but I enjoyed listening to and seeing what I could find. A couple of Jays and a Great Spotted Woodpecker called noisily and a Sparrowhawk exploded from cover before making its way through a small gap in the hedge opposite scattering Wood Pigeon in all directions as it did so. A Water Rail called but unusually I did not hear a Cetti's Warbler as I made my way along. Two more Goldcrest were working their way through the hedgerow and a pair of Mute Swans were making the most of a small pool of water in the harvested Sweetcorn field.
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| Mute Swans |
A digger clearing one of the dykes had attracted a large number of Herring and Black-headed Gulls with a couple of Great Black-backed and three Common Gulls. A Grey Heron was also keeping an eye on what was being dug out and darting forward to grab anything edible that it could. As I came up to the embankment a Common Buzzard was hunting over the back fields and another Grey Heron flew over. 10 Red-legged Partridge were strung along a field edge on the other side of the track and ran for cover as a Common Buzzard flew low along the field edge. I decided to have a short wander along the embankment and came across a Common Darter on the wing which I didn't expect as it was so cool today. It came down and made the most of the warmth from the bare ground as it sunned itself. It was a welcome sight as it may be the last one I see this year. I will miss seeing both Dragonflies and Butterflies.
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| Common Darter |
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| Common Darter |
I carried on a little further as I wanted to check out a couple of fields that I could see had some standing water. The first had a pair of Mute Swan and a few Black-headed Gulls dotted around while the second was more productive with 64 Lapwing and 5 Snipe.
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| Lapwing and Snipe |
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| Snipe |
Another 9 Red-legged Partridge were tucked in at the side and a couple of Mallard were on the water. As I made my way back towards the stables I heard my first Cetti's Warbler of the visit. Suddenly every bird went up across two fields and the culprit became clear as a Peregrine streaked through narrowly missing an evading Lapwing as it did so. I came across a small group of Mushrooms at the side of the track while a little further along a single Mushroom was growing.
On nearing the stables a Common Buzzard flew along the back of the railway embankment and landed in the sparse top of one of the trees. It soon attracted the attention of a couple of Magpie and seemed to decide to pre-empt any hassle from them and moved on but had to abort its first take off attempt as a gust of wind appeared to throw it off balance before it righted itself and lifting off.
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| Common Buzzard |
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| Common Buzzard |
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| Common Buzzard |
Small flocks of Starlings were moving west and a couple of flocks of Chaffinch were heading in the same direction. A smart male Black Redstart at the stables gave some nice, if somewhat distant views, as it worked its way along on the wires besides one of the horse paddocks. As soon as it caught sight of a food item on the ground it would drop down before returning to the wires again.
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| male Black Redstart |
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| male Black Redstart |
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| male Black Redstart |
On reaching the sea wall the tide was heading in quite fast and the remaining shore was deserted of birds as it was full of dog walkers instead. 20 Chaffinch flew west following the line of the shore. Out to sea appeared to be very quiet bar a few Black-headed and Herring Gulls off shore. Apart from 7 Mallard on the sea the walk to Plumpudding was quiet and looking along from the sea wall to the wader roost at the back of Plumpudding I could see it hadn't built up much yet with just 1 Curlew and 38 Oystercatchers there. 2 Mute Swan proved to be the sole occupants of Plumpudding. One of them had just finished preening and gave an obliging wing flap as it settled its feathers back into place which is always an impressive sight.
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| Mute Swan |
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| Mute Swan |
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| Mute Swan |
I came across small numbers of Turnstone and Ringed Plovers on the walk along to Coldharbour while another 15 Mallard were on the sea. A few Great Black-backed Gulls were loafing around off shore. I could see 25 Redshank roosting on various banks, 1 Little Grebe and 1 Little Egret as I made my way round Coldharbour. A couple of Stonechat were taking advantage of the shelter from wind in the lee of the bushes by the sea wall.
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| Little Egret and roosting Redshank |
As I carried on round Coldharbour a Rock Pipit flew up and landed on the sea wall. The largest flock of Golden Plover I have seen this year was swirling round with 263 birds in the air which was an impressive sight as well as sound with many of them calling away.
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| Rock Pipit |
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| Golden Plovers |
I had a sit on the sea wall and was greeted with the impressive sight of 380 Brent Geese heading from the sea inland to the fields. It had been nice to see the steadily increasing numbers.
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| Brent Geese |
All appeared to be very quiet out to sea which made what happened next so unexpected. I was idly having a scan round when I saw an auk coming heading east. I literally couldn't believe what I thought it was and tried for some photos as it came past. The photos are very poor and very heavily cropped but do confirm that it was indeed a Black Guillemot heading east. A bird I never thought in a million years that I would get the chance to see, hoped yes, but never thought I really would. I texted Chris Hindle to let him know and also that it had looked as if it went into Minnis Bay but that I hadn't been able to see if it went down. As it turned out it must have done as apparently it was seen in Minnis Bay later on in the afternoon which was brilliant. It really was a little beauty and from the photos appears to be a first winter from the black banding in the white wing patches. It definitely made my day and pretty much my year, I was that pleased to see it.
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| Black Guillemot |
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| Black Guillemot |
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| Black Guillemot |
It turned out to be the only auk that I saw during the visit. A Great Crested Grebe flew west far out to sea and a Mediterranean Gull also flew west but otherwise it remained quiet out to sea.
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| 2nd winter Mediterranean Gull |
Flocks of various sizes of Brent Geese were flying past heading east before veering inland to join the others on one of the fields. The bright light really highlighted their plumage.
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| Brent Geese |
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| Brent Geese |
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| Brent Geese |
A Kingfisher flew up onto the breakwater groyne and dived to fish a few times but without success. It looked stunning in the sunlight and being closer than I normally see them it gave some very nice views and was a joy to watch.
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| Kingfisher |
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| Kingfisher |
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| Kingfisher |
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| Kingfisher |
A Purple Sandpiper then joined it on the groyne and though the Kingfisher flew as the Purple Sandpiper came in it only flew a short distance along the groyne and settled down again. I must admit that they are not two birds that I ever expected to get in the same photograph.
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| Kingfisher and Purple Sandpiper |
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| Kingfisher and Purple Sandpiper |
A Black-headed Gull flying in low over the groyne caused both birds to fly with the Purple Sandpiper just dropping down onto the beach where it fed along the waters edge.
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| Purple Sandpiper |
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| Purple Sandpiper |
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| Purple Sandpiper |
It then had a wander up the shore to the high tide line which allowed me some of the best views of Purple Sandpiper I have had. Just beautiful.
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| Purple Sandpiper |
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| Purple Sandpiper |
It had been a very productive sit on the sea wall but with it time to make a move I started out towards Reculver. On the walk back I saw a total of 4 Gannet east and a few Sanderling. The flock of Mallard lifted off from the sea with the Leucistic Mallard gleamingly pale in the bright sunshine.
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| Mallards with Leucistic Mallard |
As I neared Reculver a Black-headed Gull was bobbing around near the rocks and from the towers a few were near the base and one of them gave some good views as it took off from the sea. It brought a very enjoyable visit to a close.
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| Black-headed Gull |
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| Black-headed Gull |
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| Black-headed Gull |
Birds seen this visit included: 1 Pheasant, Blue Tits, Great Tits, 10 Long-tailed Tits, 3 Goldcrest, 2 Jay, 8 Magpie, 1 Great Spotted Woodpecker, 13 Blackbird, 58 Chaffinch west, 1 Kestrel, 2 Common Buzzard, 3 Wren, 1 Moorhen, 1 Sparrowhawk, 1 Water Rail, 1 Song Thrush, 7 Mute Swan, 4 Grey Heron, Black-headed Gulls, Herring Gulls, 16 Great Black-backed Gull, 6 Common Gull, 10 Reed Bunting, 19 Red-legged Partridge, 64 Lapwing, 5 Snipe, 24 Mallard, 2 Cetti's Warbler, 1 Peregrine, 3 Goldfinch, 6 Stonechat, 190 Starling west, 7 Meadow Pipit, 1 Black Redstart, House Sparrows, 9 Pied Wagtail, 3 Curlew, 58 Oystercatcher, 9 Turnstone, 29 Ringed Plover, 31 Redshank, 3 Little Egret, 1 Little Grebe, 3 Great Crested Grebe, 350 Brent Geese, 1 Rock Pipit, 263 Golden Plover, 1 Black Guillemot, 1 Kingfisher, 1 Purple Sandpiper, 16 Sanderling, 4 Gannet east,
