With a day off allowing a chance for a wander I made my way to Reculver and aimed to see how far I could get. There was a westerly breeze and sunshine with some clouds and the tide was on the way in. A couple of Robin were having a face-off on the rocks by the car park and a Wren was busy squeezing into the smallest gaps between the rocks in search of food. The sea appeared to be quiet and apart from the usual gulls I could only see a single Gannet moving east. As I reached the sea wall a Mute Swan flew past as it moved out to sea before heading west and it was close enough to feel the down draft from its wings as it came over. A little further on a Stonechat flicked up onto the sea wall before dropping back down and moving nearer a male that appeared to be keeping look out.
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| Mute Swan |
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| Stonechat |
Redshank calls rang from the oyster farm as a Kestrel flew over before pausing to hover several times and then dropping down onto prey. The walk up to the junction of the green bank was fairly quiet. A single Great Crested Grebe flew west, as did a Gannet but otherwise out to sea remained quiet. Groups of Cormorants, with flock sizes of between 3 to 82 were coming in off the sea and heading south and during the visit I saw a total of 576 doing so. As I headed on up towards Coldharbour a male Chaffinch popped up onto the sea wall before dropping back to the shore and continuing feeding amongst the seed heads.
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| Cormorants |
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| male Chaffinch |
On approaching Coldharbour I could see 2 Shelduck, 8 Mallard, 2 Curlew and 16 Oystercatcher roosting on the shore. I had a sit on the sea wall and looked out to sea for a while but it remained quiet with just a couple of Gannet east so I started to make my way around Coldharbour. A Little Egret came in to land and a couple of Little Grebe were diving for food before one tucked its self into the bank, its eye glinting in the sunlight.
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| Little Egret |
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| Little Grebe |
As I carried on I could see a group of 18 Redshank roosting but it was only when I had gone a little way further along the sea wall that I could see that a Common Scoter was tucked in with them. Now that did come as a surprise. Originally it had its head tucked down but as a large group of cyclists went past it peeped up to see what all the noise was about.
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| Redshank roosting |
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| female/immature Common Scoter |
After a while it came down off the bank and treated me to the closest views I have ever had of a Common Scoter as it worked its way towards me. It was a beautiful little duck and swam for a while and had a quick drink before starting to feed. As well as dipping its head underwater it also, at one point, spun round and round in a tight circle and I wondered if the current created by this stirred up the sediment with food in it for it. It appeared well and I felt very lucky to be able to watch it. After an euthusiastic wash and brush up it started feeding again. It had made my day being able to enjoy such close views of a bird I normally only see a good way out to sea. There was no warning of the sad turn of events that things were about to take place only minutes away.
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| female/immature Common Scoter |
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| female/immature Common Scoter |
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| female/immature Common Scoter |
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| female/immature Common Scoter |
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| female/immature Common Scoter |
I was side tracked at this point when a Kingfisher flew in and landed on the back fence and I enjoyed watching as it dived to fish a couple of times. It wasn't successful and moved off to try its luck further along.
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| Kingfisher |
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| Kingfisher |
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| Kingfisher |
I heard a splash and looked back to see that the Common Scoter had moved over to near the back fence not far along from the where the Kingfisher had been. It had its back to me and appeared to be shading the water with outstretched but bowed wings and I wondered if it was doing it so it could see into the water better. Tragically that turned out not to be the case. It suddenly flapped its wings and pivoted in the water and as it did so I could see that its head was underwater. I thought at first that it had hold of a prey item and it was trying to eat it but as it went on it became clear that it was frantically trying to free its head. Whatever it was caught in or on it could not get free and even as I made a move to see if it would be possible to get round to the other side in time to see if there was any way of helping it, it drowned, never managing to lift its head free. I couldn't believe it. What an incredibly sad end for such a beautiful little bird that only a short time before had been such a delight to watch. I felt so sorry for it and that I had not been able to help it. In reality there is no way I could have got to it in time but that did not help how I felt.
I took a break and had a sit on the sea wall and watched out to sea for a little while, still stunned by what had happened to the Common Scoter. Behind me a couple of Bearded Tits called from the reed bed. I decided to head back to Reculver and had a couple of juvenile Gannets flying east. A little further along a Blue Tit tucking into an apple paused long enough to peep at me before carrying on.
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| Blue Tit |
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| Blue Tit |
A flock of 22 Corn Bunting were scattered between a couple of bushes before moving on down towards the oyster farm. While above a Carrion Crow gave a Common Buzzard a pretty rough time before breaking off once the Buzzard had taken the hint and moved through.
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| Corn Buntings |
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| Carrion Crow mobbing a Common Buzzard |
It was a fairly quiet walk back. There were a few more Gannet out to sea and groups of Brent Geese were heading east. As I reached the junction of the green bank and beginning of the oyster farm I could hear multiple Corn Bunting calling and could see at least 65. As the 22 that I seen earlier had flown in this direction I have not counted them separately as they may have been part of this flock. A Redshank roosting on the shore looked stunning against the blue of the sea.
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| Redshank |
As I neared the Towers an obliging Meadow Pipit gave some very good views as it searched for insects amongst the shingle.
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| Meadow Pipit |
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| Meadow Pipit |
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| Meadow Pipit |
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| Meadow Pipit |
I finished the visit with a couple of Pied Wagtail searching for insects on the concrete apron and a Blackbird on the hunt for worms by the Towers. I was pleased that I had been able to come but the visit had definitely been overshadowed by the death of the Common Scoter.
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| Pied Wagtail |
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| Blackbird |
Birds seen this visit included: 5 Wren, 9 Robin, 1 Dunnock, 11 Gannet, 6 west, 6 east, Black-headed Gulls, Herring Gulls, 576 Cormorant, Carrion Crows, Wood Pigeons, 1 Magpie, 3 Mute Swan, 25 Redshank, 10 Great Black-backed Gulls, 47 Brent Geese east, 26 Meadow Pipit, 9 Stonechat, 3 Kestrel, 17 Reed Bunting, 6 Blackbird, 19 Goldfinch, 2 Blue Tit, 1 Great Crested Grebe west, 12 Linnet, 5 Turnstone, House Sparrows, 1 Chaffinch, 25 Ringed Plover, 24 Sanderling, 8 Skylark, 2 Shelduck, 8 Mallard, 2 Curlew, 16 Oystercatcher, 3 Little Grebe, 4 Coot, 1 Little Egret, 1 Common Scoter, 65 Corn Bunting, 1 Common Buzzard, 2 Pheasant, 1 Song Thrush, 5 Pied Wagtail,
