Seasalter District - JULY 09

Email sightings to Mike Gould:  click here

More Photographs

29th July

A brief stop at Wraik Hill proved very quiet, the only exciting sighting was of a stoat carrying prey, very few warblers. At the seafront I stopped by the YC and counted 191 black-tailed godwits plus a handfull of redshank. Further west by the huts, the juv. whinchat and wheatear were feeding on the beach along with several yellow wagtails and linnets.

In the afternoon Geoff Burton recorded; 2 grey plovers, 3 dunlin, 7 barwits, 15 whimbrel plus the wheatear and whinchat.

28th.July

I was only out for a hour this afternoon and walked up to the wall from the Sportsman. Not much change, the wind was as strong as ever (cannot remember a July with so much wind), the 15 strong flock of yellow wagtails was still present on the beach and adjacent damp grassland plus a few reed buntings and linnets. The juvenile whinchat was posing behind the huts but there was no sign of the juv. wheatear.

26th.July

A report this morning by Andy Malone of a fan-tailed warbler flying along the shoreline at West Beach, Whitstable and tracked westwards along to Preston Parade, Seasalter, where it was lost in the distance, the bird calling as it flew past.

25th.July

Spent a couple of hours around the large reedbed just west Of the Sportsman, one of the first birds I came across was a juvenile cuckoo on the track back out to the road.

Moving across towards the beach the dozen yellow wagtails were feeding in the grassy areas along with a couple of reed buntings plus another bird which appears to be a young whinchat. Other birds were, c.20 beardies, c.25 reed warblers, 1 blue tit, 3 linnets, 1 stock dove and 1 goldfinch.

.

24th.July

Went out this evening hoping for a good sunset shot but ended up a view of a storm sweeping in from Sheppey.  On the seawall a group of 12-15 yellow wagtails were feeding on the small flies and the juvenile wheatear was still present on the beach.  I also saw the barn owl plus 2 little egrets.

21st.July

A couple of short visits over the past week revealed very little except millions of tiny beetles about 2mm. long which descended upon anyone venturing along the seawall and made the experience very itchy. However, today they were not quite so bad and on the walk along S.Swale I saw; 2 egrets flying west, 1 kestrel, 15 linnets, 1 wren, 13 swallows, 4 swifts, 3 reed buntings, reed warblers which included a family party of 4 young birds close to the edge of the reedbed, c.10 bearded tits and c.12 yellow wagtails which appeared to be 3 - 4 family groups which came out of the cornfield to feed on the thousands of insects attracted to the warmth of the seawall.

.

At one point a kestrel came towards the reedbed where many of the juveniles were resting, which prompted 5 yellow wagtails to give chase and drive of the threat. I also noted 1 black-tailed skimmer, 2 blue-tailed damselflies and 3 ruddy darters, a rather poor show for what used to be a brilliant spot.

Plenty of painted lady butterflies,(c.25), plus 6 peacocks, numerous whites, most of these close to the beach where there is plenty of flowering plants. Unfortunately, the cattle are still present on the reserve, grazing off whatever flowering plants there were and now moving in onto the edge of the reedbed. It was interesting to note that it seemed impossible to find a spot where you could scribe a 4 foot circle without including cow poo!

14th.July

I started at the Sportsman this morning where I met Steve Ashton and a look on the beach near the huts revealed the juvenile wheatear which Geoff Burton found on Sunday. (There were two similar individuals two years ago, which stayed for 3 weeks). Rather flighty and not very approachable we eventually got shots where it was in company with the 40 - 50 linnet flock. Also 2 kestrels were seen.

The strong wind kept most birds out of sight in the reedbed but one noisy reed warbler almost came into view. (Photo taken yesterday evening)

The tide was right out, looking as if it nearly reached the Essex coast, so went for a walk over the plots which produced; 1 cetti's warbler, 1 stonechat, 2 goldfinches, 9 whimbrel (overflying), 1 marsh harrier and freshly emerged painted ladys, all over the marsh plus good numbers of gatekeepers and 1 essex skipper.

12th. July

A visit by Geoff Burton this morning revealed; 1 downy juv. wheatear, 1 hobby, barn owl, a singing stonechat and a family of swans plus the usual reedbed birds.

11th.July

Another short visit to the seafront produced; 150+ curlew, stopped counting at 150 as they faded into the distance, 31 black-tailed godwits, 7 egrets, 4 swallows, 1 sand martin and 1 juv. lapwing.

10th.July

A busy week put birding on the back burner but managed to get out for a couple of hours today. Along the seafront I saw a total of 31 whimbrel, with a flock of 15 landing briefly on the mudflats and as the tide came in 4 common terns rested on the breakwaters.

On the beach, c.15 linnets, 1 pied wagtail, 1 yellow wagtail and the ringed plover was still sitting tight. A pair of swallows had raised a large brood of young under a porch of someones house, right next to the front door! The beach roost held 26 turnstones plus on the 'island' were another 2 c.terns and 16 of the whimbrel.

4th.July

An evening visit to the marshes where I spent time photographing barn owls.

Other birds seen were 2 egrets, 1 marsh harrier, 2 cetti's along the road and on the next evening 1 juv. cuckoo and a family of 4 kestrels sitting on some wires. More pictures on the button

3rd. July

A rather misty start along the seafront, the 'island' attracting blacked-headed gulls plus one common and a few oystercatchers with c.20 turnstones on the dredger. Further west at S.Swale one cetti's by the PH. and one sandwich tern which caught a huge fish, only just lifting it out of the water, also 3 g.c.grebes flew west. In the reedbed I took some poor photographs of a bearded tit and a reed warbler both having rings on! The oystercatcher pair seem to making another breeding attempt close to a ringed plover that was sitting tight.

Went to THORDEN WOOD and found 4 heath fritilliaries close to the road, two of them mating or doing something.

1st.July

A walk around the Wraik Hill produced 2 chiffchaffs, whitethroats, chaffinches, wrens, greenfinches, goldfinches, etc.. Along Seasalter Lane by Mt. Pleasant, a peregrine was on one of the pylons and a marsh harrier over the Levels plus the usual reedbed birds in the ditches. On the seafront, one whimbrel was on the 'island' and was later joined by 142 curlew which were resting on the marshes. 22 turnstones were roosting on the 'scallop dredger'. The only bird of interest on the plots was a turtle dove flying west.