Seasalter District - May 08

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31st.May

A lovely morning but rather misty over the sea. This must have confused the 15 gannets which flew up the Swale and twenty minutes later flew back out east. Apart from this the visit was rather quiet, just the usual reedbed birds and a few sandwich and common terns etc..

30th.May

At South Swale this morning; 3 egrets, 9 turnstones, 2 ringed plovers, 4 linnets, 1 yellow wagtail on the seawall, 1 swift, 6 lapwings on the arable later joined by 12 others, 2 marsh harriers and 2 gadwall in a large puddle on the edge of the first cropped field plus 3 common terns on the sea. Of note 26 swallows, in small groups, were moving west plus 4 house martins.

29th. May

A short visit to the seafront this morning produced nothing exciting. Around the 'island' at high tide; 9 common terns, 3 sandwich terns and 2 oystercatchers. Of note after the strong winds, I counted 160 cuttlefish along a 200 yard stretch of beach!  In the plots; 2 cetti's, 1 stonechat, 1 great tit, 6 swallows, 2 swifts and 1 curlew overflying to the mudflats and 2 egrets on the tidal pools later. Further on at South Swale, plenty of reedbed birds and 1 heron jumped up out of the reedbed just in time for it's photo!

27th. May.

After the 3 inches of rain received over the weekend this morning was a strange murky calm. A stop along the seafront by the Ski club produced, 7 curlews, 11 cormorants, 1 ringed plover, 4 egrets feeding in the tidal pools, several oystercatchers and 2 common terns.  Picking my way across the wet plotlands; 5 wrens, 3 kestrels, 3 swifts, 1 marsh harrier, 1 stonechat, 1 cuckoo, 2 skylarks, 1 mipit, plenty of reed and sedge warblers and reed buntings plus 4 whitethroats.

Moving onto South Swale; 3 skylarks, 2 lapwings, 2 marsh harriers, 2 herons, 1 egret, 2 mallard, 1 linnet and 1 cetti's warbler etc.

22nd. May.

After a week in Ireland looking at choughs and corncrakes etc. Seasalter looked rather quiet this morning.  Starting at Wraik Hill I noticed the nightingales had stopped singing leaving just whitethroats, willow warblers, chiffchaffs, 1 blackcap, 1 turtle dove, 1 cuckoo etc.. Down along SS.Lane several reed and sedge warblers plus 1 whitethroat, 1 cetti's and 1 marsh harrier.

Down along the seafront the incoming tide had little to offer except 8 common terns so I moved up to the South Swale reserve finding a small heath butterfly, several variable damselflies and 1 hairy dragonfly.

Further along, by the first 'pool', 4 stonechats were showing off their success this year.

Also in their company was a wheatear which posed on the wall and fence posts and by the entrance a cetti's and cuckoo could be heard.

13th. May

A short visit to the coast produced nothing of note, very quiet but on my return home I could hear bee-eaters calling overhead as I unloaded the car although I could not manage to see them, appeared to be heading northwest.

12th. May

A fairly quiet morning along the coast with 2 hobbies 1 kestrel, 2 marsh harriers, couple of ringed plovers etc. plus med. gull calling.  A walk up to the first pool at South Swale produced 2 hairy dragonflies, which is the first hawker dragonfly to appear but none of the small damselflies yet. The female shows brown eyes and a brown thorax whereas the male has blue eyes and 2 large yellow stripes along the thorax.

11th. May

From the Ski Club this morning; 5 sandwich terns, 1 common tern, 9 g.c.grebes, 16 curlew and a surprise greenshank in one of the tidal pools.  At the plotlands entrance the usual warblers plus 1 common sandpiper flew out from the bankside.

At South Swale, afew beardies etc plus 2 greylag geese seemed to come up from near the fields but little else.  moving back to SS Lane, a hobby was hunting over the Levels for some time. Moving over to CLOWES WOOD late morning the short walk around the 'dog loop' produced 4-5 nightingales, 1 grt spot, blackcap, willow warblers etc.. Also of note were the many green tiger beetles dotted along the path.

10th. May

Just back from enjoying the delights of Lesbos again and surprised to find the weather here warmer than Lesbos! A look over the empty mudflats produced 1 turnstone, a couple of ringed plovers, 5 egrets and a few oystercatchers. I quickly moved onto the plotlands finding; plenty of reed and sedge warblers, 7 linnets, 1 cuckoo, 2 cetti's warblers, 4 whitethroats, 1 marsh harrier, 4 goldfinches and a pair of swallows plus 2 stock doves.

Moved inland towards Wraik Hill and along SS Lane several sedge warblers, 1 cetti's warbler, 1 kestrel, 1 marsh harrier and 2 whitethroats.

At Wraik Hill; 4 nightingales, whitethroats all over the place, 3 blackcaps, great and blue tits, 5 willow warblers, 4 chiffchaffs, 4 lesser whitethroats, 1 yellowhammer and two year firsts here, turtle dove and garden warbler.

Insects were plentiful with several orange tip, peacock and green-veined butterflies plus a 'photographic first', a male hairy dragonfly.

Moving to South Swale at midday, rather quiet but a few bearded tits etc. in the reedbed plus a marsh harrier and as I was leaving 2 mediterranean gulls.