Capel Fleet and Belmont

As we drove back through Capel Fleet from the wader ringing at 00:10, Paul and I stopped the car to watch a Short-eared Owl by road. Stopping off at Belmont, three Redwings were in my parents' garden in the morning.

Short-eared Owl

North Kent, 4th August 2017

I picked Bob, visiting from the States, up from London in the early hours and we headed to our first site, the Ashdown Forest. None of the heathland specialists I was hoping to show Bob were on offer within easy reach of the car park but he was delighted to be able to spend time watching some characterful common birds such as Bullfinch, Treecreeper, Nuthatch and Goldcrest. The highlight for me was a family group of Lesser Redpolls. Next up was Oare Marshes, the natural choice for introducing a non-Brit to easy birding within reach of the city. We enjoyed fantastic views of the usual common waders, including several Golden Plovers and Ruff, while two Spotted Redshanks were tucked among the hordes of Black-tailed Godwits. A couple of Yellow Wagtails flicked around the margins and Bearded Reedlings called unseen from the island in front of the hide. Keeping an eye on the Black-headed Gulls eventually paid off with the resident adult Bonaparte's Gull loafing on the main spit, not to mention the scattering of Mediterranean Gulls.

We just about had time to whizz around a couple of sites on the Isle of Sheppey before getting Bob back to town. We drove up and down the entrance track at Elmley, using the car as a hide to photograph Yellow Wagtails, Marsh Harriers and Buzzards. Bob was still hoping to tick off Oystercatcher and Red-legged Partridge and a drive to Harty Ferry sorted that out.

we eventually picked out the adult Bonaparte's Gull on the East Flood at Oare

several Yellow Wagtails showed well along the entrance track at Elmley

November 14th-16th 2014

November 16th 2014

Leith Hill

Pheasant	Present
Woodpigeon	Present
Tawny Owl	2
Green Woodpecker	1
Jay	Present
Carrion Crow	Present
Goldcrest	Present
Blue Tit	Present
Great Tit	Present
Coal Tit	Present
Nuthatch	Present
Treecreeper	1
Wren	Present
Blackbird	Present
Fieldfare	Present
Song Thrush	Present
Redwing	Present
Mistle Thrush	1
Robin	Present
Meadow Pipit	1
Brambling	50
Chaffinch	Present
Lesser Redpoll	Present
Goldfinch	Present
Siskin	Present

Adult female Fieldfare

1cy Green Woodpecker

1cy female Brambling

Leysdown-on-Sea

Brent Goose (Dark-bellied)	Present
Red-throated Diver	2
Gannet	5
Cormorant	Present
Great Crested Grebe	5
Oystercatcher	Present
Grey Plover	Present
Ringed Plover	Present
Curlew	Present
Bar-tailed Godwit	Present
Turnstone	Present
Dunlin	Present
Redshank	Present
Black-headed Gull	Present
Little Gull	3
Mediterranean Gull	1
Common Gull	Present
Herring Gull	Present
Great Black-backed Gull	Present
Woodpigeon	Present
Collared Dove	Present
Green Woodpecker	Present
Magpie	Present
Jackdaw	Present
Carrion Crow	Present
Wren	Present
Starling	Present
Blackbird	Present
Robin	Present
Dunnock	Present
House Sparrow	Present
Pied Wagtail (yarrellii)	Present

Capel Fleet

Mute Swan	Present
Pink-footed Goose	30
Greylag Goose	Present
Teal	Present
Mallard	Present
Red-legged Partridge	Present
Pheasant	Present
Cormorant	Present
Little Egret	Present
Grey Heron	Present
Little Grebe	Present
Marsh Harrier	10
Buzzard	2
Coot	Present
Lapwing	Present
Black-tailed Godwit	8
Snipe	2
Black-headed Gull	Present
Herring Gull	Present
Great Black-backed Gull	Present
Woodpigeon	Present
Short-eared Owl	1
Kestrel	3
Magpie	Present
Carrion Crow	Present
Skylark	Present
Starling	Present
Blackbird	Present
Stonechat	2
Pied Wagtail (yarrellii)	Present
Meadow Pipit	Present
Reed Bunting	1

November 14th 2014

Leith Hill

Pheasant	Present
Sparrowhawk	1
Woodpigeon	Present
Great Spotted Woodpecker	Present
Kestrel	2
Magpie	Present
Jay	Present
Jackdaw	Present
Carrion Crow	Present
Goldcrest	Present
Blue Tit	Present
Great Tit	Present
Coal Tit	Present
Marsh Tit	2
Long-tailed Tit	Present
Nuthatch	Present
Treecreeper	3
Wren	Present
Blackbird	Present
Fieldfare	1
Redwing	15
Mistle Thrush	1
Robin	Present
House Sparrow	Present
Grey Wagtail	1
Brambling	1
Chaffinch	Present
Greenfinch	Present
[Redpoll (Common/Lesser)]	2
Goldfinch	Present
Siskin	Present

Recent

On Saturday I had a session at the patch which included a mooch around Banstead Woods towards the end of the day, successfully locating (to my surprise) the Marsh Tit that Ian Ward found recently. This bird represented a massive sigh of relief for me, being my 100th species at the patch this year.

On Sunday morning I headed to the Isle of Sheppey with Josh. We started at Capel Fleet at first light; unfortunately we didn't see any Hen Harriers or owls or anything like that but got nice views of a flock of twelve Corn Buntings and numerous Marsh Harriers. A quick call in at Harty Ferry saw us bag the Cattle Egret, a lifer for a Josh and only my second in Britain (both have been in Kent) before we headed to Swale/Shell Ness NR where Josh enjoyed some wader photography and the highlight was a fly-over Snow Bunting that we frustratingly couldn't get a decent look at.

Corn Buntings at Capel Fleet

Today I had the day off and was on stand-by for the Yellow-breasted Bunting in Norfolk, which didn't show up so I spent most of the daylight walking through Cuckmere Haven to Crowlink NT. The haven produced a selection of common wetland birds including Kingfisher and Rock Pipit along with strong numbers of Great Black-backed Gulls. It was all made worthwhile when a gorgeous male Black Redstart appeared on the clifftop between the two sites.

Male Black Redstart today along the cliffs between Cuckmere Haven and Crowlink NT

Dark-bellied Brents at Cuckmere today

Sheppey finishes the year off nicely

I went to Sheppey twice this bank holiday weekend. Firstly on the Sunday with my parents then on Monday with Phil Wallace.

The Sunday was a bit of a failure, after a couple of hours around the Swale NNR I failed to locate any Eurasian White-fronted Geese and was only rewarded with a single Bewick's Swan and a pair of Red-breasted Mergansers for my efforts along with an assortment of common shorebirds, a Little Egret and a Marsh Harrier here and there. There were also large numbers of Dark-bellied Brent Geese, Curlew and Golden Plover. A trip late in the day to Capel Fleet was spiced up by a single ringtail Hen Harrier which afforded good views as it flew in front of and by the car. There was little else there other than large numbers of Golden Plover.A Capel Fleet sunset

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The Monday was a lot better. At Leysdown-on-Sea Phil and I enjoyed excellent views of Grey Plovers, Sanderlings and Turnstones on the beach as well as a handful of Redshanks.


Grey PloverTurnstones

Sanderlings

We moved on to see if the Eurasian White-fronted Geese were back near the Swale NNR. We immediately got onto good numbers of Dark-bellied Brents, Golden Plovers, Curlews, Lapwings etc. I got onto some small grey geese in the distance. The scope kept going in and out of focus because of the distance but they didn't have much grey in the wing and I was fairly confident that they were White-fronts. We drove further up and onto a high point where we scanned the area that the Geese went down and sure enough there were 54 Eurasian White-fronted Geese along with many Dark-bellied Brents and a handful of Greylags! It was great to finally get this species, it's been a major tart for me for ages, so much so that, ironically, it didn't seem like a lifer. This was my 263rd British bird and 243rd British bird this year (and, I'm sure, the last).

White-fronted Geese (very distant, handheld digiscoped)

Dark-bellied Brent Geese

We went back to the seafront at Leysdown-on-Sea where we located c.5 Red-throated Divers, 2 Eiders and 3 Red-breasted Mergansers and enjoyed the shorebirds gathering in large numbers on the mud exposed by the ebbing tide.

There was very little else that the south east had to offer for us so we were stumped as to what to do next. In the end we plumped for a trip to Capel Fleet, for the outside chance of Short-eared Owl. Here we met Corinna Smart who was working hard on her new BTO tetrads on Sheppey which surprisingly no-one had snatched up before.

male Marsh Harrier

Here we enjoyed good views of a stunning male and 2 ringtail Hen Harriers as well as plenty of Marsh Harriers.
Hen Harrier (with a Marsh Harrier on the right in the upper photo)

A glorious sight and sound was a flock of c.36 Bewick's Swans which flew east over the road! Their calls were magical.

Bewick's Swans

In the big flooded field there were 15 Ruff along with a handful of Dunlin and lots of Golden Plovers and Lapwings. 2 Green Sandpipers flushed from the ditches and a Little Egret was also present. In addition we enjoyed good views of a Peregrine having it's dinner and then harassing a Marsh Harrier and saw a Sparrowhawk perched up on the bank. Red-legged Partridges were calling and flying around. A single Kestrel added to the raptor list.

Peregrine

It was nice to see a Barn Owl hunting and as we were driving back home along Harty Ferry road it flew right by the car and perched up on a roadside post at dusk.Barn Owl; a fitting end to the day