Dec07NWKent

If you live, or for that matter visit, any site in North or West Kent then I would be delighted to hear from you! Sightings would be appreciated from Sheppey in the North to Dartford & Tunbridge Wells to the West and then back to Maidstone in the East.

There were 3 Barnacle Geese with the regular flock of Canada Geese here today. Previous records of this species locally have involved single birds (very rarely 2) and most, if not all, were probably escaped or feral birds. However, given that these were the first since April 2003, that the 3 arrived together following recent reports of others in north Kent, and that they appeared to be quite wary, it seems likely that they were genuine wild birds.

Also present today were single Little Grebe, Little Egret and Kingfisher along the river, 2 Peregrine together on a pylon south of the village, and a flock of 13 Corn Bunting going to roost in the reed-beds to the north.

New Diggings were quiet with just a few Tufties and a Shoveler. Littlebrook was also quiet although a Lesser Spotted Woodpecker was notable and was my third sighting of this species here this year.

The Thames had a few more gulls to look at with 200+ Graellsii Lesser Black Backeds, 20+ Greater Black Backeds, just 3 Herring Gulls on the foreshore (1 ad and 2 1st winters) and 10 Yellow Legged Gulls (3ad, 2 sub-ad, 4 2nd winter and a 1st winter). 17 Black Tailed Godwits flew upriver and a Little Egret flew around aimlessly, or so it seemed.

Passerines included 30+ Fieldfare and 20+ Redwing along the entrance road to the Marsh along with a tit flock. 2 Green Woodpeckers were by the Thames as were 2 Reed Bunting, the wintering pair of Stonechat and a Rock Pipit.

"Norfolk and Chance" was a racehorse name rejected as unsuitable by the Jockey Club but it sums up Flossie's and my last ditch attempts to record Med Gull for the year at New Hythe.

Recent visits, going through the gull flocks, have all been unsuccessful and today was no different. However over the last week, or so, we have seen: Bittern (Millsteam), Goldeneye (Lunsford lane pit) Chiffchaff, Cetti's warbler and Common Sandpiper (Brooklands lake), Kingfisher (Abbeymead) and a pair of Stonechat (Round pond).

Six Goosander, at least six Little Egret and a Chiffchaff were at Haysden this afternoon. Three warders were at Hawden - one each of Green Sandpiper, Snipe and Lapwing - and ducks included eight Wigeon and a pair of Teal. Two Kingfishers also noted here. There was a total of 14 Pochard on three lakes including nine drakes on Haysden.

Capel Fleet midday - 13.30. Cold, strong wind, clear sky. 100+ lapwings were in the field looking over Capel Fleet reedbeds Westwards. 20+ herring gulls were amongst the lapwings.

After 30 minutes or so 1 Marsh Harrier was spotted gliding over the reed beds and fields, and was joined 20 minutes later by a further 2 Marsh Harriers.

1 Little Egret was in the reeds by the waterbed alongside the road to the west of the viewpoint. 2 Kestrels over the fields westwards of the viewpoint and 1 Female Hen Harrier (our first ever sighting - so this caused much excitement!) gliding over the fields just 100 yards along from the viewpoint. Also 2 Green Sandpipers flew over the viewpoint to land in the roadside waterway reed beds

Elmley Marshes: Cold, strong wind, clear sky. Walk to Wellmarsh Creek only. 1 Stonechat Sharfleet Creek: 20+ wigeons,10+ dunlins,1 redshank, 2 Shelducks in flight. 1 Kestrel 1 Curlew in flight 1 Marsh harrier over Counterwall Hide area.
(Mrs Anne-Marie Griffin)

A visit out to the seawall coincided with the high tide and as a result I saw nothing of note. Greenhithe's Caspian Gull wasn't present but a Black tailed Godwit was roosting on one of the barges.

Greenhithe was more productive with an adult Caspian Gull flying from one mid-river object to another (ie, barge, bouy, boat etc). Could have been the same bird that was seen at Dartford on Christmas Eve.

Littlebrook's finches had ganged up again and 200+ Chaffinch were present along with 10+ Brambling and 80+ Linnet.

A beautifully still, bright and crisp morning tempted me out onto the Marshes for a post-dawn amble up to the Thames. 6 Reed Buntings flitted along the path in front of me and 5+ Song Thrushes had arrived overnight in the scrub by the river wall. 2 Chaffinches, 2 Greenfinches, a pair of Stonechats and a Goldfinch were also in the scrub along with a Jay.

The Darent had a Common Sandpiper and 2 Golden Plovers flew over. The Thames had very few gulls although 590 Dunlin were feeding along the shoreline and 500+ Lapwing were roosting on the mud along with 4 Grey Plover and 45 Ringed plover. The tip at Rainham is of course closed so gulls were present in only small numbers along the shoreline with 4 Yellow Legged Gulls amongst them: 2 ad, 1 sub-ad and a 1st winter. Littlebrook was also very quiet with 100+ Black Heads, 20+ Common, 10 Lesser Black Backed and 3 Yellow Legged Gulls: 1 ad, 1 2nd win/sum (yellow bill with a black tip) and a 1st winter. The 2nd flooded field had unprecedented numbers of teal and a thorough count finished at 301 with a pair of Shoveler in with them and a pair of Wigeon also present. The New Diggings had 1 Argentatus Herring and a Green Sandpiper. 150 Chaffinch were present in small flocks along University Way.

First port of call, Chetney and Funton with 3+Marsh Harrier, 820+ Knot, and an RBMerg. At Lower Halstow, the Whimbrel was in residence on it's usual 'rock' shoreline together with 350+ Brents and a Peregrine causing chaos and hassling a male Marsh Harrier. At Motney, very few birds bar a Peregrine and 60 Avocet. Next stop, Copperhouse Lane and 9 cracking Mergs. Last stop Cliffe with 2 Scaup on the Timber lake and a second winter Caspian Gull in the South Quarry, not a bad day!!

1 Adult Caspian Gull was on the Thames foreshore at Dartford in a large gull pre-roost at 3.15pm. A very similar bird to the Cliffe bird (scroll down). Also present were 5 Yellow Legged Gulls.

adult Caspian Gull © Andrew Lawson

This bird is about as good as they get. Note the long, thin, flesh-coloured legs, long narrow (droop-tipped) bill, small, beady black eye and the pear shaped head with rounded cap lacking the angle at the rear of the crown (angle shown by the Herring Gulls in the image).

The head also looks slightly smaller than that of the Herrings (or is the body larger?). Whichever is true, proportionately the head looks small compared to the body and this is typical of Caspian Gull. YLG has a large square-ish head, of course.

This bird also attacked its neighbours by stretching its neck and holding its wings up - this attacking posture appears to be diagnostic of Caspian Gull according to Olsen and Larsson.

Finally, I had difficulty editting this shot as the conditions were poor for digiscoping. As a result, all the gulls in this shot look a few 'grey-scales' darker than they should (the LBBs are Graellsii).

Did a 3 hour walk around Shellness on the morning of 23rd December. The fog meant visibility was down to about 40 metres. Highlights were a Purple Sandpiper feeding with Turnstones between the groynes, on the walk down towards the hamlet. Numbers of Redshank, Grey Plover and Sanderling were also streched out here along the shoreline.
At the blockhouse there were two seperate wader roosts, one comprising several hundred birds, mainly Knot. Scanning through the waders located a single Snow Bunting on the beach in front.
(Stephen Lemon)

Three Goldfinches were in the trees by the car as I put my wellies on. I hadn’t left the car when at about 12.45pm I looked at a bird that I was expecting to be a Chaffinch that had just landed in a tree a few yards away - however I stood staring at rather more white wing bars - a cracking male Lesser Spotted Woodpecker. Its crown appeared slightly orangey red in the awful light. I watched this bird, even getting good ‘scope views for a couple of minutes before it flew off over the A21 and into the gloom. Number 104 for the year and the first I have seen at Haysden since October 2004. A minute later and about 30 Siskin flew into alder trees and a Great Spotted Woodpecker called – not too bad as I was still only about five yards from the car.

Hawden, Barden and Haysden Lake were all almost completely frozen. Eleven duck on a small unfrozen piece of Haysden Lake included two redhead Goosander as well as four Tufted Duck and five Mallard. A Kingfisher was also seen here briefly and two male Reed Buntings were near Longfield Lake. Two lots of two Goosander and a single bird flew west along the Medway in the fog and assuming they weren’t duplicates this means there were 7 birds in all. Other birds noted included at least three Treecreeper, seven Bullfinches, just one Chaffinch and half a dozen Redwings. No Fieldfare and no Greenfinches seen yet this month…

135 White-fronted Geese dropped into the reserve tonight just as it was
almost dark.

Still one juvenile White-fronted Goose along the river today, but no sign of the other 7 birds. Also today: single Shoveler, Peregrine and Kingfisher, 1-2 Common Sandpiper, and still at least 6 Siskin at Starkey Castle.

As I left Eastchurch at 6.30am I heard a Tawny Owl calling to the east of the village. Upon my arrival at Capel Fleet the growing light revealed a hunting Barn Owl just after 7am. I spent most of the morning at the View Point. Birds of note were 3 Stonechat, at least 12 Marsh Harrier, a female Hen Harrier, a female Merlin, 3 Bewick’s Swan (flying west at 8.05am), 52 White-fronted Geese (flying east towards the view point then turning to head back west at 10.30am), 1 Water Rail, 4 Snipe, 2 Golden Plover, a Green Sandpiper (which flew onto the frozen ditch beside the road then flew off again), a Cetti’s Warbler and a flock of at least 28 Bearded Tits (which offered fantastic views).

There was a single Goldcrest near Mockett’s Farm and a further female Hen Harrier was noted. There was a Green Woodpecker and another pair of Stonechat by the Ferry Inn. A Kingfisher flew past Harty Ferry over the saltings at noon. On the mud at the Swale there were 2 Grey Plover, 3 Turnstone, 1 Dunlin, 2 Ringed Plover, 17 Bar-tailed & 88 Black-tailed Godwit and 2 Ruff. A flock of 100+ Brent Geese were seen flying over and a single Great-crested Grebe was on the Swale. The Harris Hawk was also seen perched on one of the bushes on the hill.

The walk from the Ferry Inn to Shellness produced little of note other than 1 Snipe, 2 Little Grebe, 80 Wigeon, 7 Gadwall and 14 Shovler on the Swale NNR. The low tide made for poor viewing at Shellness. 2 more Great-crested Grebes were noted and another 100+ flock of Brents.

3 Avocet were seen flying along the Swale and a further 2 Bewick’s Swans were on the edge of the water at the most easterly end of the spit. In total 76 species were noted for the day.

The local Greylag Goose flock has recently taken to feeding on the arable fields north of the parish, so I was mildly surprised to see a party of 18 grey geese on the west bank of the river early this morning. However I was considerably more surprised when I got the scope on them and discovered that 8 of them were in fact White-fronted Geese, only my third record of genuinely wild birds in this area. There were also 7 Teal on the river itself, but nothing else out of the ordinary today.

250+ Skylark were wheeling back and forth over the old tip across the Cray from Dartford with 100+ finches mixed in. The New Diggings held 8 Gadwall, 12 Shoveler, female Wigeon and 3 Tufted Duck.

The Thames had a few gulls to look at and I was pleased to find 1 Caspian Gull present although it flew downriver after a couple of minutes. 12 Yellow Legged Gulls were present and comprised 2 adults, 3 3rd Winters, 6 2nd winters and 1 1st winter.

A party of Long Tailed Tits were flitting from bush to bush down by the Thames: I don't think I've seen this species so far out on to the marsh before. 3 Reec Buntings were not so unexpected.

I had 4 redwings in my Dartford garden today. Also a female g s woodpecker was on the feeders this morning and at 3pm. I have a cracking photo of her. Also saw a wren in my garden which i dont often see.
At sidcup golf course this week the Little Egret has been quite tame this year and showed well on Monday and Wednesday. The kingfisher was diving in to the lake outside the clubhouse last week. Grey wagtails are back and seen daily. G s woodpeckers and green woodpeckers are plentiful along with loads of r n parakeets and about 100 Canada Geese with 1 grey lag goose.
(Leon Nicholson JP)

I have just been to Sevenoaks Wildfowl Reserve and saw the following: 46 TEAL, 3 MUTE SWANS, 225 GREYLAG GEESE, 6 COMMON GULL, 16 POCHARD, 1 WHITE-FRONTED GOOSE(JUV.), 3 GREY HERON, 1 MERLIN(FEMALE), 1 WATER RAIL (CALLING), 1 KINGFISHER, 20 SISKIN, 1 BLACKBIRD(PARTIAL ALBINO), 14 LESSER-BLACK-BACKED GULLS, 85 B.H GULLS, 3 SNIPE, 34 COMORANT, 1 G.WOODPECKER,5 HERRING GULL, 16 TUFTED DUCK, 27 LAPWING and 40 GADWALL.

There were 58 White-fronted Geese on the reserve at dawn this morning.
(Derek Faulkner)

12 Little Egret were roosting at first light and a Barn Owl was a nice surprise as I walked round Haysden Lake. Two Reed Buntings, three Gadwall and at least 55 Cormorant were also seen at Haysden. A brief visit to Hawden produced four Snipe, 12 Lapwing, a Green Sandpiper, three Wigeon, one drake Gadwall, and a Sparrowhawk.

A different six Goosander (three drakes) were on Haysden Lake this morning along with four drake Pochard, a single female Tufted Duck and a Little Grebe. Sixty Siskin flew over and landed above my head and there was still one Little Egret on Longfield Lake. Another couple of Siskin and two Lapwing were noted near Barden where there were five Gadwall amongst the Coot and Tufted Duck. Two Treecreeper were near the car park and a Water Rail showed briefly in the Shallows where there were also a few Bullfinches. Colour was also provided by several Kingfisher sightings and one male Yellowhammer.

Including. Roas & Outfall, West Lane. 11.15 to 14.00 hrs. 8/8 cloud, E 3, very cold, clearance from midday to 0/8. HT. 16.05 hrs. 4 oC. at 10.30 hrs. Low Tide to Rising Tide. Outfall, 11.15 to 12.30 hrs.

Brent Goose - 349 to south of Outfall, arrived on rising tide from east   of Sheerness, towards Minster.
      Oystercatcher - 2150 Roas, counted from north side of Outfall.
      Knot - 400 Roas.
      Sanderling -   15 Outfall but tide still out.

West Lane, 12.50 to   14.00 hrs.   We met Frank Barnard, I include some of his records.
      Mute Swan - family of 5 on main fleet.
      Bewick’s Swan - 2 ads. on main fleet 08/12, but chased off by   cob Mute swan, - FB..
      Moorhen - 62, inc. 35 on field to east of Angling lake, 5 Horsefield, 22 Reserve pool.
      Marsh Harrier - 5 over Grain marsh 17/11, from FB. inc. 3 ff, 1 m. & 1 imm.
      Stonechat - 2 prs.
      Greenfinch - 30.
      Goldfinch - 10.
      Redwing - 20.       Sunday   16/12/2007, Grain Outfall.
      14.30 to 15.45 hrs. 0/8 cloud, E 2, just as cold, 4 oC. at 14.00 hrs. HT. 16.50 hrs.
      Assume all waders roosting at outfall groynes unless stated.

     Little Egret - 1.
      Brent Goose - 306.
      Bewick’s Swan - flock of 11 ads. arrived from the NE. at 14.55 hrs. flew overhead near
      Cockleshell Beach & continued to the SW. into the Medway.
      Oystercatcher - 100’s flew into the Medway on the rising tide, but n/c.
      Grey Plover - 6.
      Dunlin - 21.
      Sanderling - 96, but very mobile along tideline.
      Redshank - 36.
      Purple Sandpiper - 1 from 15.30 hrs.
      Turnstone - 28.
      It seems the best time to see the PS. is within 1 - 2 hrs. before HT. It feeds with the
      Turnstone as they collect at the near side of the north groyne. They also roost with
    Sanderling & Redshank   near the railings enclosure if the tide is not too high &
      are not disturbed.   Very few waders are present   at LT. here, but they arrive from
    feeding areas to the north.

Despite the bitter easterly wind, six brave souls turned up for a guided tour at Capel Fleet today. I found a sheltered watch-point on the footpath by the hawthorn hedge at the foot of Harty Hill. A flock of 30+ Bramblings gave good views, while Corn Buntings, Fieldfare and Redwing were present in numbers. Numerous ringtail Hen Harriers floated past. Best of all, a juvenile Rough-legged Buzzard perched close enough that we could see the eye-colour, (pale brown, if you're interested) before sparring with a female Peregrine and putting in some low-level hovering.
At Elmley, my entirely unscientific survey (walking from Spit End to the entrance track) earlier this week revealed the presence of at least 17 Short-eared Owls.
(Rob Clements)

Six Goosander including four splendid drakes were on Longfield this afternoon. Two Siskin flew around, a single Mandarin flew North, one Little Egret was on Longfield and there were four drake Pochard, 35 Mallard and a Kingfisher on Haysden Lake.

A glorious day after the recent spell of wet and windy weather so I decided to take the opportunity to survey the last of my Winter Atlas tetrads, covering the area immediately north of the village.

Several of the regular species were missed, but nonetheless I managed to record (and count) a total of 47 during the timed visit, including Little Grebe, Little Egret (2), Dunlin, Curlew, Common Sandpiper, Kingfisher, Grey Wagtail, and a nice flock of 9 Siskin feeding in alders at Starkey Castle, near the northern boundary of the parish.

3 Caspian Gulls present today: an adult on Littlebrook at 9am and 2 birds, a 1st winter and a 3rd winter, on the New Diggings at 11am.

Littlebrook also had 12 Yellow Legged Gulls at midday with 5 adults, 5 3rd winters and 2 2nd winters. 2 1st winters were present at 9am whilst a 2nd winter was also on the New Diggings. That makes 15 in total, I reckon.

Also of interest was a flock of about 600 finches feeding on the old Joyce Green Hospital site with 400+ Chaffinch, at least 35+ Brambling, 150+ Linnet, 1 Lesser Redpoll and a Reed Bunting.

An amazing sight in my garden in Hartley was of a cracking male Brambling. It's the third brambling this winter in the garden (previously I have had two females)!

Many large gulls were present this afternoon including this splendid adult Caspian Gull. This bird, or another, was present last Saturday as well.

Unlike most Herring Gulls, this bird is pretty much already in summer plumage which makes them much easier to pick out up to December although some Herrings will start to show summer pluamge now. This bird was so white headed that sunglasses were needed to prevent blindness! Long neck and 'pinhead' helps separate this species from the short-necked and 'bruiser' square-headedness of Yellow Legged Gull which also have white heads now. In fact, due to the broad chest, adult Caspian looks like a 'ten-pin' or 'skittle' when viewed front on. This bird also had the all white tip to P10 and the pale grey/white 'eating' much further towards the tip of the outer primaries compared to Herring and Yellow Legged adults. Note the long, parallel sided bill with a hint of a droop at the tip. Small, beady black eye is also high up on the head.