Christmas get together 2009
Thank you for the continued support
This is an invite to get together for an Xmas Drink, Partners Included
18th December 2009 Belle Vue-tavern Pegwell Village 20-00hr
Can I take this opportunity to say Merry Christmas and a Happy New-Year
(Gadget)
Monday 30th November 2009 Minnis
Bay
Had a look from the clifftop at 13:15
for an hour and started with 3 cracking male Eider East. Also
East 4 Bonxies, 5 Red-Throated-Diver, 2 Great Norther
Diver, 4 Brents 6 Gannet & 8 Guillemot. At
13:40 a Leaches Petrel gave brilliant views feeding at the
breakers at the edge of the rocks for a few minutes before also heading
East. West were 68 Kittiwakes. Count numbers probably a bit on
the low side as quite a bit of stuff was feeding and generally going
both ways. (Chris Solly)
Monday 30th November 2009 Foreness
Barry and I spent the morning
sea-watching at Foreness between 8.45 and 13.45 apart from an hour or so
off when the heavy rain arrived. There were a lot of birds moving E,
including 3 Balearic Shearwaters, 1 Leach’s Petrel, 1
Manx Shearwater, 2 Pomarine Skuas, 3 Arctic Skuas, 18
Bonxies, 1560 Kittiwakes, 540 large auks, 21
Little Gulls, 3 Velvet Scoters, 3 Great Northern Divers,
1 Black-throated Diver, 38 Common Scoters, 3 drake
Eider, 3 Red-breasted Mergansers, 160 Gannets and 80
Red-throated Divers. A few bits hanging around included 4
Shags, 1 Mediterranean Gull and a Grey Wagtail. Hope
it’s like this every day. (Tim H)
Sunday29th November 2009 North Foreland
An hour at North Foreland during the worst of the squalls produced a
surprise Mediterranean Shearwater flying south. Other than that
13 Kittiwakes also south, 1 Great Northern and 3
Red-throated Divers on the sea along with an adult Shag. (F
Solly)
Sunday 29th November 2009 Foreness
area
My first jaunt around the area as a
bonafide Thanet resident was, a pretty mundane affair, a huge squall
with thunder, hail, lightning and torrential downpours ended my
session rather more quickly than I had hoped. A few divers were moving
east and they did include a Great Northern Diver, which appeared
to head straight into the then approaching squall, 36 Red-throated
Diver headed east and there were at least 19 Fulmars around
the cliffs. There were 2 Mediterranean Gulls on the grass by the
pitch and putt, 3 Great Crested Grebes and 1 Shag offshore
and that was about it apart from the usual waders. (Barry H)
Saturday 28th November 2009 Reculver area
Grey Phalarope at
Reculver today photos sent in by (Steve Aston)
Saturday 28th November 2009 Kingsdown MOD range
After a very poor session on Deal Pier, I drove down to Kingsdown in the
hope of catching up with the adult male Black Redstart
that has been present for the passed couple of weeks. It has a great
affinity for the rocks and wooden beach barrier at the northern end of
the MOD area, so much so that Steve Ray has taken some stunning images
from his car! I arrived in decent sunshine, yet every dog-walker,
jogger, cyclist and idiot did their very best to ensure I struggled to
get a photo of this superb little bird. Using both the EOS, and my digi-scoping
gear, I did get some very pleasing images as the bird fed along the
wooden rails at the top of the beach. 2 Stonechat, 1
Rock Pipit and a splendid adult winter
Mediterranean Gull provided added interest as did a Red
Kite that flew over the Deal Road, by Ham Fen, as I drove back
to Thanet. (Dylan)
Saturday 28th November 2009 Dover
A
trip to B&Q in Dover this morning meant an opportunity to check out the
Red Throated Diver in the harbour. This was soon found near the pier, in
the company of 15 Great Crested Grebes. (Ben Ring)
Saturday 28th November 2009 Dumpton & Foreness Point
My
new Camera arrived this morning, so I gust wanted to try it out so the
Greenfinch is from my garden, I decided to head over to Foreness point
and try it out on the waders, Turnstones, were most obliging as the
Sanderlings, Redshanks, Ring Plovers and Oystercatchers, all
in good numbers but were more flighty, early days but, well happy with the
new Camera. (Gadget)
Saturday
28th November 2009 Pegwell Bay
I managed about an hour down the bay
this afternoon before it drove me nuts and I left and decided to have a look
at the harbour and cliff top to see if there were any Black Redstarts or
Shags around as they seem to be around in good numbers everywhere else. I
couldn't find any Restarts but there were three 1st winter Shags in
the harbour, two of which were extremely approachable. The tide was low and
all three birds were in the inner basin opposite the harbourmasters office
near the bridge. There wasn't much on show at Pegwell - though I did see a
late Swallow fly west across the bay. Otherwise singles of
Peregrine, Merlin and Water Pipit plus 3 Little Egret,
1520 Golden Plover and 2600 Lapwing. (Phil M)
Friday 27th November 2009 Pegwell
Bay
I watched from the country park between
about 1.00pm and dusk. The Gull roost wasn't up to much as other than about
1200 Common Gulls very little else was around in decent numbers and
the Starling roost was awful with only about 300 showing in total
which is appalling. One Pied Wagtail and 104 Meadow Pipits
flew south or south west as did a few Rock Pipits. The only unusual
thing was that there were 6 Little Grebes this afternoon - the 4
normal ones in the garage pools plus 2 more in the river near Shellness. I
did take a few counts which were 31 Cormorant, 3 Little Egret,
12 Brent, 5 Shelduck, 125 Wigeon, 150 Mallard,
16 Teal, 1480 Golden Plover, 2000 Lapwing, 206
Curlew, 1 Water Rail, 1+ Merlin, 1+ Water Pipit and
2 Cetti's Warbler. (Phil M)
Friday 27th November 2009 Reculver / Coldharbour Area
A
walk from the Towers to Coldharbour & return via the railway embankment this
morning in sunny but increasingly windy conditions. Circa 20 Snow
Buntings were on the shingle by the seawall at the Towers end but were
frustratingly flighty & I soon gave up trying to get anywhere near them to
get a snap, a study of the large-ish assorted Finch flock at the White
Poplars produced a single female Brambling, my first of the winter,
as I neared the Towers on my return, a Peregrine flew over my head &
headed towards Minnis Bay & the Brent Geese flock had risen to some
200 birds grazing in the field behind the oyster farm. (Ben Ring)
Thursday 26th November 2009 Walmer Area
Working (sat drinking tea) at Walmer today , had 2 House Martins
heading north around noon. (Andy Keen)
Tuesday 24th November 2009 Foreness Area
A
quick jaunt along the cliff-top at Foreness first thing produced 8
Great-crested Grebes, 2 Shags, 8 Mediterranean Gulls, 5
Swallows, 1 House Martin, 1 Black Redstart, 2
Stonechats and 2 Snow Buntings - all of which contributed to a
very exciting session! (F Solly)
Tuesday 24th November 2009 Pegwell
Bay
A bit dull today - both the weather and
the birding. I didn't stay long - the highlight of the morning was seeing
Jason 'Lawrence Olivier' Mitchell (fresh from his opening night appearance
on BBC's Inside Out last night) doing his 'lovely's' impersonation of a tough
guy tree felling trees near the car park. The acting was okay but I thought
the constant bowing after every swish of the chain saw a bit pretentious?
He spoke about an autograph but I wouldn't give him one. Anyway - the only
birds I took note of were 2 Little Grebe, 2 Diver species -
south, 1 Little Egret, 1540 Golden Plover, 1650 lapwing,
1+ Water Pipit and there was a Cetti's Warbler singing from
the country park scrub. There was also a Redpoll in the cherry tree
in my garden which I heard/spotted as I emptied the moth traps. (Phil M)
Monday 23rd November 2009 Pegwell
Bay
I watched the bay/mud and some of the
country park between 8.30 and 12.30 today. The highlights were 3 Siskin
- north over the car park, 5 Twite showing on a few occasions - once
perched giving lovely views, 1+ Merlin, 1+ Water Pipit, 2
Cetti's Warblers singing around the Country Park plus a Chiffchaff
near the car park. I took a few counts which were: 2 Little Grebe,
3 Little Egret, 15 Brent, 30 Wigeon, 4 Pintail,
535 Oystercatcher, c30 Curlew, 116 Grey Plover, 2300
Lapwing, 2108 Golden Plover (I was bored and head counted them -
it took ages!), 77 Bar-tailed Godwit, 740 Dunlin, 65
Sanderling and 185 Knot. (Phil M)
Monday 23rd November 2009 Dumpton Thanet
A
very nice surprise this morning in the garden amongst the Great & Blue
Tits, Goldfinches, and Greenfinches was a male Blackcap; there
has been an increase in the number of Blackbirds on the berry bushes
in the garden and around the field behind y house and 2 Wrens are
in and out of the Ivy on the back wall most day's, (Gadget)
Sunday 22nd November 2009 Gazen Salts NR
An
hour visit to a reserve I hadn't been to for many years (& so close to home
as well) was a real pleasure as although the species seen were common they
were fairly plentiful & the enclosed wood gave added shelter from the strong
winds. The roving parties of Long-tailed Tits added a cheer to the
gloom & the Mallards on the main lake were an added source of
amusement. A fly-over immature Marsh Harrier was a surprise so close
to town, particularly as it appeared during a sunny period. (Ben Ring)
Sunday
22nd November 2009 Stodmarsh NNR
A
morning at Stodmarsh, with a break in the weather, produced a Juvenile
Hen Harrier, 1 Peregrine Falcon, 6 Marsh Harriers, 1
Kestrel, 1 Sparrow-hawk, with the Peregrine, Hen and 3 Marsh
Harriers mobbing each other for a short while over the main lake at
Stodmarsh, before dispersing in different directions around the reserve.
Several Fieldfares along the Lampern Wall, and a pair of Great
Crested Grebes seen from the Reed bed hide. The main lake held the usual
wildfowl, with several Cormorants on the roosting tree. A pair of
Cetti’s Warblers were heard outside of the Reed bed hide. Steve Ashton
Saturday 21st November 2009 North
Foreland
A small number of birds flying overhead
today with Siskins, Chaffinches and Starlings on the move. I
did have 2 Reed Buntings, 1 Redpoll, 3 Tree Sparrows,
15 Skylarks and a single Grey Wagtail. The bushes were very
quiet with 1 Chiffchaff, the usual 2 Stonechats at Joss Bay
and 5 Firecrests. (Simon Mount)
Saturday 21ts November 2009
Foreness area
This afternoon the 3 Mediterranean
Gulls (2 adults and a 1st winter) were present along the greens - same
as last weekend. At Northdown there were 5 Grey Herons at roost.
(Simon Mount)
Saturday 21ts November 2009
Foreness area
Went for an hours stroll between 12.15 -
13-15 around the Point. A few birds were noted and included 2 imm Shags,
2 Swallows south, 1 Black Redstart, 33 Purple Sandpipers,
71 Sanderling, 4 Mediterranean Gulls, 3 adults and 1 1st
winter. Over the sea Kittiwakes appeared to be moving into the Dover
Straits with 435 counted in the hour I was there, 5 distant large Auks East,
12 Red-throated Divers East and 2 Fulmars. (Barry H)
Thursday 19th November 2009 S/Bay /
Dumpton / Grove Ferry
With the weather continuing with high winds for the
past few day's and builders repairing my roof I've just grabbed a few bits
within the last three days, a quick look over at Restharrow Scrape Sandwich
on Tuesday 17th November, noted: 4 Common Snipe 4 Moorhens, 2
Pied Wagtails, 1 Common Gull and 3 Meadow Pipits,
Wednesday 18th stuck up home with the builders, the amusement of a
Carrion Crow playing with a small Rugby Ball out in the field was the
best of the day, then this afternoon a quick look over at Grove Ferry where
I met up with Steve Ashton & Mike Gould we sat in the old Green hide hoping
for a Bitten or Harrier nether arrived we settled for Common Snipe,
Coots, Mallards, Tufted Ducks, Black Headed Gulls, Cormorants and
Grey Heron. (Gadget)
Thursday 19th November 2009
Westgate Bay
Had a look at the bay at high tide today
which had a Great Crested Grebe & two Red Throated Diver
south. On the small patch of seaweed remaining at high tide were 221
Turnstone, 21 Redshank and 57 Sanderling one of which was
colour ringed on both legs the details of which I will forward to the B.T.O.
and it will be interesting to know from whence it came. (Chris Solly)
Wednesday 18th November 2009
Fayreness area Late News
Now I’ve seen a picture on this site of
a Snow Bunting I can confirm I saw one at Hackemdown point (folly
between Capt Digby and the Fayreness pubs) last Tuesday morning on the
footpath (Bryan Mitchell)
Tuesday 17th November 2009 King George VI Park Ramsgate
I
don't really take notice of how many birds i see but apart from the usual
Parakeets, Doves, Robins, Blue & Great Tits & a wren I was most happy to
see 4 Brambling (Mark Milham)
Monday 16th November 2009 Pegwell
Bay
I went down this
morning for a few hours and spent much of the time either in the hide or in
that general vicinity as the weather was quite poor today. The counts were 2
Little Grebe, 3 Little Egret, 14 Brent, 160 Mallard,
100 Wigeon, 1 Common Scoter - south, 450 Oystercatcher,
80 Curlew, 2500 Lapwing, 1300 Golden Plover, 120
Grey Plover, 62 Bar-tailed Godwit, 80 Redshank, 180
Knot, 450 Dunlin, 43 Sanderling, 6 Snipe, 1 adult
Mediterranean Gull, 1 adult Yellow-legged Gull, 1 Sandwich
Tern, 7 Fieldfare - west, 4 Stonechat, 30+ Rock Pipit,
2 Water Pipit, 40 Skylark and 1 Cetti's Warbler. (Phil
M)
Sunday 15th November 2009 Dumpton Thanet
After yesterday's gale force wind, that took some of my roof tiles and
through them around my garden, today was set to cleanup time, the garden
full of birds which were feeding around me 7 Goldfinches, 4
Greenfinches, 1 Chaffinch, 5 Blue & 4 Great Tits,
2 Dunnock, 1 Wren, 3 House Sparrows, 7 Starlings,
5 Collard Doves and 1 Robin, but the best of the day was 10
Grey Partridge at 15-40hrs dropped into the Newlands Farm field behind
my house and started feeding, (Gadget)
Sunday 15th November 2009 Foreness Point & Pegwell Bay
Arriving on a falling tide, there were still 16 Purple Sandpipers in
the roost which gave great views. Other birds included c.30 Sanderling,
c.20 Grey Plover, c.30 Ringed Plover, c.30 Turnstone. A
Shag was busy fishing off-shore. Earlier at Pegwell, a single
Swallow flew south. (Jason M)
Saturday 14th November 2009 North
Foreland and Foreness
Gave the sea a couple of looks today as
there was quite a bit of South in the strong winds. I saw a steady movement
of Great Black-backed Gulls heading South. The only seabirds were 3
Gannets and 23 Common Scoters. One of the Gannets was a juv.
bird that after struggling round North Foreland against the gale, just
seemed to collapse onto the sea exhausted. At Foreness there were 3
Mediterranean Gulls - 2 adults and a 1st winter. The Northdown roost
held 4 Grey Herons (on Thursday it was 5) (Simon Mount)
Thursday 12th November 2009
Pegwell Bay
I popped down after dinner for a few
hours and stayed until dusk. Nothing too drastic showed - the tide was miles
out etc and the only notes I took were of 800 Golden Plover, 1200
Lapwing, 2 Ringed Plover, 1 Merlin, 2+ Redpoll and
1+ Water Pipit. There were also 7 Snow Bunting showing on and
off across on Shellness, 2 Cetti's Warblers behind the hide on the
country park plus I heard a Firecrest calling from the bushes just
south of the car park as I left at about 4.15. Bird of the day was a
Woodcock that got flushed from the end of my garden - the damn thing
nearly whacked me in the face! Some berks have burned down Maurice's burger
stall overnight - the surrounding bushes are all burned out too. It was
bound to happen of course as any wooden structures going to be targeted by
vandals sooner or later. (Phil M)
Thursday 12th November 2009 Foreness Area
Being a nice sunny morning I decided to go over to Foreness area and look
for Purple Sandpipers, as I was leaving a phone call from Steve Ashton
saying he was over there already, we spent a couple of hours photographing
the waders on the rocks, Birds noted: 34cc Purple Sandpipers, 70cc
Oystercatchers, 80cc Turnstone, 40cc Sanderling, 22cc
Knot, 30cc Ringed Plovers, 20cc Grey Plovers, 2 Curlew,
3 Pied Wagtails, with a mixture of Gulls i.e. Great Black-backed
Gull, Lesser Black-backed Gull, Black-headed Gulls, Common Gulls and a
Mediterranean Gull and 1 Rock Pipit by the pumping station,
Steve headed of to Grove Ferry and I went home for lunch. (Gadget)
Wednesday 11th November 2009 Sandwich & Pegwell Bay
I
was on the beach near the Chequers looking at the flock of 31 Snow Buntings
when Steve Ashton phoned saying he was at Pegwell and after the Fan-tailed
Warbler (Cisticola juncidis) not having any luck getting close to the Snow
Buntings I decided to join Steve and after a few minutes up popped the
Fan-tailed Warbler and performed magnificently. The excitement only lasted a
few minutes then it disappeared off south and that was it for the
morning.... but I'm not complaining. (Steve Ray)
Wednesday 11th November 2009 Pegwell
Bay
It was cloudy and calm at first
light and conditions raised expectations somewhat - the reality was very
disappointing as it was virtually dead with only 2 Fieldfare, 5
Redwing and a Grey Wagtail flying west plus 1350 Wood Pigeons
flying north - presumably birds flying into Ramsgate from the roost down at
Sandwich. A flock of 200 more likely migrants flew west too. There wasn't
anything on the hover port so I ended up spending the rest of the
morning scanning the mud from the country park. Nothing too exciting showed
down there - a Merlin, a Water Pipit, 3 Redpolls and a
trickle of Skylarks heading mainly n/west. Ben saw 2 Water Pipits
around the scrape this morning plus he had approx 50 Redpolls n/west
over Stonelees yesterday and a few Siskin today. There were 2
Cetti's Warblers today which is quite good for here - one singing on the
country park plus Ben heard another in Stone Lees. It would appear there has
been a little influx this autumn? Late morning a flock of 25 Fieldfare
went s/west plus a flock of about 25 Shelduck arrived in off the sea.
The wader numbers are incredibly low still there being only 260 Dunlin, less
than 100 Knot and Grey Plover and the Lapwings and Golden Plover continue to
hover just past the 1000+ mark which is fairly poor. Birds of the day came
at 11.45 three Shore Larks flew north into the bay and looked as if
they were going to land in the salt marsh up near the car park but at the
last minute gained height again and flew up somewhere near the hover pad
where they landed. I packed up my gear and checked the pad but couldn't
relocate them unfortunately even though I had a fairly good look - well a
good look for me anyway. I have an attention span of about 45 seconds these
days - I gave these birds ten plus minutes before giving up. I did take a
few other counts which were 4 Little Grebe, 3 Great Crested Grebe,
17 Brent, 180 Wigeon, 160 Mallard, 40 Teal, 2
Pintail, 76 Sanderling, 4 Ringed Plover, 55 Skylark
- c45 north and c10 s/east plus there were singles of Firecrest and
Chiffchaff heard during my second look around the hover port. (Phil
M)
Tuesday 10th November 2009 North Foreland Area
Had
a walk along to Joss Bay today when the fog lifted, nothing unusual apart
from a single House Martin heading south! (John C)
Tuesday 10th November 2009 Pegwell
Bay
I arrived at 07.00 in
a pea souper - locked up my V12 Paganni Zonda (okay pushbike) and headed off
along the clifftop where the bushes were full of Thrushes stranded by the
mist. They were mainly Fieldfares and Blackbirds but there were quite a few
Redwing and Song Thrushes too. Apparently there were 30 - 40 Fieldfares
doing the same down on the country park first thing too. I almost trod on
two Snow Buntings before I got as far as the farm - they were on the
muddy path and flew just a few yards into the adjacent field and started
foraging for food. Much better than the ones I've been seeing across on
Shellness anyway? I stayed up at that end watching the Hover Port and Farm
too, until about 10.00 just as the sun started to break through the murk
properly, which is when I left and went down onto the country park. There
were 3 more Snow Buntings on the hover pad but very little else
grounded. I did find two Firecrest and a Chiffchaff in the
spot where the Yellow Browed Warbler was and there was another Firecrest in
the Cypress trees at the back edge of the farm - otherwise I had to make do
with whatever flew overhead which was 33 Chaffinch, 15 Redpoll,
3 Tree Sparrow, c 50 Redwing and 33 Fieldfare. The
country park area was much as its been though I did get a flock of 4
Crossbill fly west over the hide and there were 2 - 3 Redpoll
amongst the finch flock. There was also a Water Pipit which at long
last I saw on the edge of the scrape. I've been hearing 'presumed' Water
Pipits for about two weeks now but this is the first one I've actually seen
out in the open. I'm pretty sure there are at least two birds about? Another
two Snow Bunting flew north from the direction of Sandwich and a
Merlin was causing havock on and off. In the afternoon I decided to go
back down and have a look along the western undercliff and the park. I
stayed for over an hour and didn't see a single migrant - not even a Rock
Pipit. On the way home I could hear a Firecrest calling from the
abbey garden near the small roundabout at the bottom end of Grange Road plus
there was a Grey Wagtail calling from the garden rooftops when I got
home. I've heard/seen it on and off for about a week or more now. (Phil M)
Monday 9th November 2009 Pegwell
Bay
I arrived at just
before 07.00 and headed for the cliff top/farm to see if there was anything
going on. There wasn't! It was quite cold and very clear overhead and quite
breezy in the more exposed spots. There was naff all around the bushes and
overhead 4 Redwing, a few Chaffinch, 9 Redpoll and 5
Siskin flew west. A steady trickle of Wood Pigeons were moving
north - I counted 1150 before I had a quick walk around the hover port and
moved down onto the country park. Just before I left the pad I picked up a
flock of 8 Crossbill flying n/west - the first ones I've seen for
about two weeks. I also saw a flock of grey Geese which came in off at about
08.30. There were 18 birds which split into 3 flocks and proved difficult to
identify as I was too lazy to unpack the scope from my backpack so just had
to rely on binocular views. Luckily a group of three flew virtually
overhead and they were White Fronted Geese - the other 12 were
different and presumably Pink-footed? The White front went west inland - of
the other 15 - twelve went north and three went west. The country park was
dead and after a few fruitless walks around the bushes seeing more 'naff
all' (Other than the Fan tail) I ended up standing around yakking with two
amateur photographers both called Steve, both very old, incredible short and
ultra boring to boot as well as poor Sid and Penny who had to listen to our
drivel ... though Sid worships the ground I walk on after seeing my
fantastic artistic skills ... then some bloke called KEVIN who did me
a favour as things started to pick up in the afternoon - I'd have left
otherwise much earlier. Quite a bit of wildfowl was moving after dinner time
so we just stood around and scanned the sea. Many Brent were coming
in from the north then entering the bay and numbers of Teal and
Wigeon rose to half reasonable numbers. Shock Horror we even had a flock
of ... wait for it ... 27 Eider!! 27!!! Other extra added 'bits'
included 2 Merlin, 1 Marsh Harrier, 1 adult Yellow-legged
Gull and there were 3 Snow Buntings across on Shellness for a
while. Numbers of Bar-tailed Godwits rose to 33 which is the highest
count of the winter so far. A few Skylarks and 3 more Redpoll went n/west
over the country park too - otherwise it was much as you'd expect. I forgot
to mention I did see 5 Twite during the morning too. (Phil M)
Monday 9th November 2009 Minnis
Bay Clifftop Thanet
As the wind had a bit of Northerly
decided to do a quick seawatch at 12:30. Fairly slow with heading East
Red -Throated Diver 3, Great Crested Grebe 1, Brent Geese
25, single Shelduck usual Cormorants etc and a Sparrowhawk
around the houses. Going West along the clifftop some movement being
Fieldfare 21, Skylark 5, and Redwing 4. Then at 13:25
picked up a Shearwater heading East ( for those that know the area halw-way
from the clifftop to the green bouy) immediately clearly showing white upper
tail coverts and tail was 'rounded' not pointed like juvenile Gannet, also
far too small for Gannet. Dark cap and shoulder mark visible and when it
banked in bright sunlight dark smudged belly and vent with pale breast, my
first Great Shearwater! Brilliant. (Chris Solly)
Monday 9th November 2009 Chalk Hill / Farm Area Thanet
I had a wander around the
paths around the Chalk Hill / Farm area this morning. It certainly felt
more wintry. As I
was doing my circuit, a Snow Bunting
bounded low across the field, gained height and headed NW. I don't think I
flushed it, so it may have just arrived off the sea. Later on a group of 3
headed N over the allotments. They barely cleared the allotment fence, so
were probably tired migrants. Nice start to the day.
(Scott
)
Sunday 8th November 2009 Sandwich Bay
Whilst sitting on the beach this morning at Sandwich Bay, a Great Skua
and the Peregrine Falcon, flew along the coast line, photos were
obtained in dull, overcast and very light drizzle not the best conditions,
(Steve Ashton)
Saturday 7th November 2009 North
Foreland
Mute Swan
flew over the Golf course this morning and 37 Purple Sands on the
beach below the Captain Digby. (Brian Short)
Saturday 7th November 2009
Reculver Area
A bracing stroll along the seawall early
this morning at Reculver produced 5 Snow Buntings just past the
Oyster Farm on the beach and they were very tame feeding only a feet away.
Not much else on offer other than a few Brent Geese, with a high
proportion of juveniles they must of had a reasonable breeding season, 275
Lapwing and a few common waders. (Barry H)
Friday 6th November 2009 Pegwell
Bay
I popped down for a
couple of hours after dinner today. It was quite peaceful even though there
were a few birders about - some looking for the zitter but a fair number of
punters by the look of it just taking in whatever was about. I just stood up
on the bank where the old hide used to be and had a lazy session. For the
first time this autumn it felt like a winter session with lots of wildfowl,
waders and Gulls etc on view - very little else other than the large winter
finch flock which were loitering around the normal spot behind the hide.
Overhead a few Starlings, Wood Pigeons and Skylarks
were still moving as well as 6 latish Swallows which flew s/west.
There was also a definite winter nip in the air by late afternoon. I took my
normal notes/counts which were 4 Little Grebe, 2 Great Crested
Grebe, 1 Diver sp - south, 9 Little Egret, 175 Mallard,
240 Wigeon, 22 Teal, 5 Gadwall, 1500 Golden Plover,
2500 Lapwing, 14 Bar-tailed Godwit, 1 Merlin, 1 adult
Yellow-legged Gull, 40 Lesser Black Backed Gull, 400 Great
Black Backed Gull and the over wintering Sandwich Tern was
rooting in amongst the Oystercatchers across on Shellness Point. There were
at least 120 Chaffinches around the country park today. (Phil M)
Friday 6th November 2009 Canterbury Road Area R/Gate Thanet
Had a quick visit before work this morning in the area behind the shell
garage. Quite lively actually. Best bird was a Black Redstart in one
of the trees by the allotment fence. A few small groups of Redwings
were moving over and a large single flock of Fieldfares (about 30?)
west. Lots of common Finches and Thrushes, 1 Siskin and a
group of 4 Lesser Redpolls alighted briefly in a tree before moving
on, again west. (Scott)
Thursday 5th November 2009 Foreness Area
Had a walk from Foreness along to the Captain Digby and back mid-morning
in a rather fresh westerly wind. Not a great deal was seen apart from 2
Black Redstarts, 1 Rock Pipit, 6 Purple Sandpiper, 1 ad
Mediterranean Gull, and a small group of large gulls, on
the pitch and putt course, which despite a good scan revealed nothing out of
the ordinary. (Barry H)
Wednesday 4th November 2009 Pegwell Bay
I wandered all the way along from Westcliff
Terraces, through the park, farm. Cliff top and Hover Port but there was
very little about. Pretty much all I saw were 2 Firecrests and 2
Chiffchaffs around the park/chine and 3 more Goldcrests between
there and the country park. By the time I'd got to the other end the tide
was coming in so I ended up messing about around the country park for a few
hours as the tide got higher and higher - eventually filling up the whole
close area of salt marsh exposing all the skulking passerines and a single
Jack Snipe. It pushed all the wildfowl into view too there being 2 Brent,
173 Mallard, 2 Pintail, 3 Gadwall, 11 Teal and
202 Wigeon plus good numbers of Pipits, Buntings and Skylarks -
roughly 40 Reed Bunting, 50 Meadow Pipit and 30+ Rock
Pipits. It would appear there has been a new arrival of Stonechats
too as there about a dozen or so scattered between the hover port reed beds
and Stone Lees today. This is quite a good number for here. On my way home I
bumped into Johnny 'the wig' Websper - he pulled over in his car to ask me
if I would sponsor him as the old wrinkles are doing a sponsored Zimmer
frame walk. It's always good to know just how far the exponent is going to
run when you sponsor someone isn't it? You don't want to sponsor them for a
fiver a mile and they run 80 miles do? Anyway we had a little chat and a
sponsorship was agreed ... how much? Lets just say I put myself down for a
penny per inch ... I doubt if I'll have to hand any more than about two quid
over? Whilst we were chatting an Audi R8 drove past - I explained it's a
high performance vehicle - pushing 180 MPH at top speed. "Is that faster
than my Model T Ford" he asked? Ah bless him - it's hard for our OAP
brethren to get their heads around the onward march of technology isn't it?
I do realise this is meant to be a bird information service so I suppose I'd
better get things back on track with today's counts/notes even though I'm
convinced my little chat with Johnny was far more interesting? Anyway -
there were: 3 Little Grebe, 5 Divers - 1 south and 4 north, 8
Little Egret, 2500 Lapwing, 500 Golden Plover, 1
Black-tailed Godwit, 10 Bar-tailed Godwit, 107 Turnstone,
130 Redshank, 1 Jack Snipe, 285 Curlew, 1 Merlin,
1 Sandwich Tern, 3 Corn Bunting plus 3 Siskin overhead.
(Phil M)
Wednesday 4th November 2009 Restharrow
Scrape SBBOT
A quick look at the Restharrow Scrape this
lunch time, there was a bit moor water than last time I was over here but
still a long way to go before its back to high water levels, birds noted: 6
Teal, 2 Moorhens, 1 Pied Wagtail, Walter Pipit,
and 4 Pheasants with the normal Crows, Rooks and Jackdaws over head.
(Gadget)
Tuesday 3rd November 2009 Pegwell Bay
I didn't stay out for too long today - the
weather was quite poor and there weren't too many birds about. The only
thing other than the obvious that I could find around the bushes was a
Firecrest and whilst watching the dropping tide 3 Red-throated Divers
- a 1st winter and 2 adults, which were swimming around offshore plus a
Spotted Redshank. The only other notes I took were 14 Shelduck,
45 Mallard, 77 Wigeon, 3000+ Lapwing, 1520 Golden
Plover, 250 Dunlin, 2 Corn Bunting plus about 20
Skylarks flew n/west overhead. (Phil M)
Tuesday 3rd November 2009 Dumpton Thanet
Lunchtime today Starlings were at the
feeders in the garden for the fist time for a long time other birds noted 8
Goldfinches, 4 Greenfinches, 5 Blue Tits, 4 Great
Tits, 3 House Sparrows, 1 Dunnock, 1 Robin, 3
Collard Doves and over the field behind my house 60 Herring Gulls, 17
Black Headed Gulls 14 Crows and 120+ mixed Feral &
Woodpigeons over head Redwings with odd Song Thrush,
Pied Wagtail moving west. (Gadget)
Monday 2nd November 2009 Pegwell Bay
Quite nice weather today but very little to
get blood pumping. Craig and I walked around most of the area but it was
hard work ... well I was with Craig after all? And me - the local celebrity,
humbly lowering myself to spending the day with one of the surfs!! I'll be
talking to Dylan soon at this rate? Anyway - between us we came up with 2
Little Grebe, 1 Mute Swan, 11 Shelduck, 60 Mallard,
37 Wigeon, 1 Shoveler, 1 Gadwall, 1 Red Breasted
Merganser, 1 Merlin, 1 Peregrine, 690 Oystercatcher,
3000+ Lapwing, 1660 Golden Plover, 110 Grey Plover, 3
Ringed Plover, 200 Dunlin, 42 Sanderling, 210 Curlew,
42 Knot, 1 Sandwich Tern, 2 Firecrest, 2 Redpoll
and 5 Siskin. The people looking for the FTW (a cryptic
codeword of such cunning that it'll take a team of codebreakers years to
decipher?) saw a Tree Sparrow on the country park too. (Phil M)
Sunday 1st November 2009 Pegwell Bay
I had two half-hearted looks for the Shrike
today - once early morning then again at about 9.30 after I'd been down onto
the country park. There was no sign of the bird though the weather was
atrocious especially on my second look. Other than a couple of flocks of
Redwing which added up to around 30 birds plus 2 Redpolls flying
west I saw naff all up there. I did hear a couple of Firecrest
calling around the hover pad plus Phil Charlton saw at least two more in the
park. I did head up to the park on my way home but the rain had set in by
then so I ended up having a quick cycle around the paths which took about
one minute and I headed off home. I did see a Swallow flying north
through the rain up that end but nothing else. Watching from the country
park during the morning produced the following: 7 Brent, 1 Black
Brant (an adult with a few white feathers around its face), 70 Wigeon,
4 Pintail, 11 Bar-tailed Godwit, 1000+ Golden Plover,
500+ Lapwing and the Sandwich Tern. 2 Ring Ouzels were
seen from the country park by some blokes looking for the Fan tailed
Warbler. I forgot to mention that there were 4 Woodcock seen in the
area yesterday. (Phil M)
