November 2005 Sightings

Cliffe 19 & 20/11

Although the weather made for an enjoyable weekend the bright sunlight does cause eyestrain!

Saturday started quite well with a flock of 30 Chaffinch mobbing a Sparrowhawk that was perched enjoying the sun near the Radar. In with the Chaffinches were 4 Brambling including 2 males.

Most of the Shoveler seemed to have deserted the Reserve but Teal numbers are up to 132 and the first 4  Shelduck for a while were on the Flamingo Pool. There are now 6 redhead Goldeneye on the Reserve. A look at the River was fruitful with at least 138 Common Scoter on the rising tide. After an hour of watching I was rewarded with a juv Pomarine Skua that came drifting up and eventually took flight and flew west. It was big and stocky but as with all skuas, jizz identification must be confirmed by plumage characteristics, so the uniform brown with little white on the upperwing and the classic double flash on the underwing with barred upper and undertail coverts was used to confirm the identification.

Sun.

There were still at least 22 C’n Scoter on the River but no sign of the skua, although it is likely it is still hanging about in this section of the River. As well as good numbers of Fieldfares there were lots of Blackbirds around with at least 32 in the area. These may be Continental birds.  The adult fem Hen Harrier was again over the Reserve and was last seen flying west over the Conoco Pools. About 2000 Dunlin were on the roost and 151 Grey Plovs but no sign of the Curlew Sandpiper that was seen earlier in the month.

CBG

Cliffe 12 & 13/11    

An unusually early start on Saturday enabled me to arrive long before the motorbikes did, which made for quite a peaceful day. From the first it was quite obvious that there were good numbers of Fieldfares about with good numbers near Boatrick House and also at the Cuckoo Patch. The view from the first mound revealed a quartering adult female Hen Harrier, at least 2 pairs of Stonechats but little else. A further pair of Stonechats were around the Coastguards Pool where there were also a flock of 23 Skylarks and 5 Corn Buntings and a Redpoll flew over towards East Tilbury. In the previous couple of years prolonged watching of the Stonechat pairs has revealed a Dartford Warbler but not today. A Kingfisher was again n the Ski Pool as was 40 Wigeon and a drake Pintail, a further 7 Pintail were on the Hidden Pool. The three Goldeneye were still present but this time on the Radar Pool. As I returned to Allen’s Hill three motorbikes and two quad bikes passed me making me grateful that I was leaving. Things were much the same on Sunday (including the quad bikes etc.) although there were also three Bramblings near the Radar.

CBG

12 November 2005
A Green Sandpiper was seen at Hawden before being flushed by two Grey Herons. This was, however, the only wader seen this morning. There are now Redwing all over the place, as well as good numbers of Song Thrushes and Blackbirds but still no Fieldfare with them.

21 November
A few Fieldfare around now and small numbers of Redwing seem to be everywhere you look. At least three each of Nuthatch and Treecreeper, and a single Marsh Tit were seen this afternoon. Also of note 33 Cormorants flew in to Haysden Lake from the east at around 2.05pm. An extremely showy Kingfisher was at Barden Lake on 23rd allowing dog-walkers to walk past just feet away (and still not notice it!).

26 November
The highlight was a Little Egret that flew east over Hawden this morning, where there were also five Wigeon and eight Pochard. Nearby at Barden 14 Lapwing flew west, a 1st winter Herring Gull and two Common Gulls were amongst the Black-headed Gulls and there was one Pochard amongst the Tufted Ducks. A further 3 Common Gulls were at Hawden.

5 Rooks outside MacDonald's in Tonbridge High Street on 27th were something of a surprise seeing how elusive they are at Haysden - perhaps I ought to go birding here instead!

Andy Appleton

Cliffe 05 & 06/11

A weekend of contrasts. The weather on Saturday was fine and bright and dictated a full day in the field, that of Sunday was damp and dull so only a couple of hours in the afternoon were risked. A feature of recent weeks has been the number of large gulls using the Reserve. It is probably a little early to look for Glaucous Gull but the number of argentatus type gulls around this early in the winter makes sorting through the large gulls worthwhile. However despite the large numbers present only the usual assortment of Yellow-legged, Herring and intermedius Lesser Black-backed were found. There were still several Herring Gulls with short primaries around that, particularly in flight, briefly gave the impression of a white-winged gull. Most of the local gulls come from the tip at Mucking in Essex, this is about to close so the local status of the large gull species will undoubtedly change in future years. The total gull counts were 886 Herring, 197 Lesser Black-backed and 111 Greater Black-backed Gulls. Further indications of the advancing season were noted with the first Goldeneye of the winter, three ducks, and the first big lump of Redwings, mainly seen bathing in puddles on the track near Boatrick House. The waders were more settled this week with only quad bikes to contend with rather than the usual motorbikes. There were 1700 Dunlin, 297 Grey, 180 Golden, and 122 Ringed Plovers. A single juvenile Curlew Sandpiper was gleaned from the Dunlin flock. The two resident Kingfishers continue to make themselves conspicuous on the Ski/ Flamingo Pools. Shoveler numbers were down, as they seem to be dispersing more widely in the area after being largely confined to the Reserve. There were still 10 Wigeon present but the numbers of Teal continue to increase as the rains fill the Black Barn Pools, with 108 present. On Sunday little had changed apart from the weather although a Grey Wagtail near the Radar was new.

CBG