End of May down the Lane

Posted on 31st May 2017 by Richard

The second part of May continued to be good for wildlife down the Lane and the fields below; the House Sparrows nesting above the back door fledged and no sooner had they and a second lot started !
Also fledged were the Blue Tits in the Box at the top of the Garden and all around young Wrens and more were appearing.

The fields were just as busy; Yellowhammers, Reed Warblers and Whitethroats numbering more than anything else

Young Jay – Just fledged Blue Tit – Ladybirds in Spring!

Female Reed Bunting – Female Yellowhammer – WhitethroatA trip to Dungeness proved very good to see the Damselflies and Dragon Flies coming to life.
The Scrapes were pretty quiet though, just many Common Terns, Avocets and the usual. Two pairs of Egyptian Geese gave birth on the Islands, nice to see but some avid Dungeness Birders not too happy about the invasion. All Gods creatures !

Four Spotted Chaser – Blue Damselfly – Green Damselfly

Avocet Dungeness – Trout in Stream down the Lane – House Sparrow approaching nest above back doorOur passing Hedgehog found a friend and from the noise was successful in it’s mission. However, soon after this we didn’t see them again. Good news is they seem to have taken up home in the Mill House opposite.
I miss them but they’re still around and will hopefully produce young shortly.

Whitethroat with a pretty good Breakfast I’d say !With 5 days in Pembrokeshire and the weather being quite good since, wildlife and nature is rolling along nicely.

More birds inland Pembrokeshire

Posted on 10th May 2017 by Richard

Swallows

I was lucky enough to find a campsite just a mile from the coast, space for 80 Campers and Caravans, but I was only one of four people staying there.
In true anti-social fashion I found a spot the furthest away from anyone else and enjoyable the peace and smell of the Farm no end.

Fist to show up were a gulp of Swallows, a fair number of them flying at speed past my Camper just some three feet above the ground. Luckily photo wise some settled now and again so I was able to get a few half decent close up shots of them.

Swallow
Although seeing much the same amount of birds as I would back in Kent, it’s always nice to see them in another setting, so a good showing of Wheatears, Sedge Warblers,Reed Buntings Greenfinches, Linnets and more

Wheatear – Sedge Warbler – Linnet

Greenfinch – Reed Bunting – Whitethroat
There’s no doubt the fact this is a great area to visit. You have the Pembrokeshire Coast Path which goes through the places I visited; Marloes Sands, Martins Haven and up to St. Davids.

The nearest larger town with well known Supermarkets is Haverfordwest, about 6 miles inland but most of the Villages along the Coast have some smaller Stores and / or decent Public Houses !

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New year Dungeness RSPB Reserve – Bearded Tits

Posted on 4th January 2017 by Richard

My first proper day out of the year and indeed, for two weeks so it was off to RSPB Dungeness on a sunny bright morning all be it only barely above freezing at 9am.

Male Bearded Tit

Female Bearded Tit

It’s strange, I’d been hoping to photograph Bearded Tits for over a year, I’d go to the Reserve Viewpoint where everyone see’s them, but never did.
Suddenly, in October I saw a female at Minsmere, then a male at Dungeness, this morning I saw a pair, not on the Scrapeboard but flitting around the Reeds for a more natural photograph.
In fact, they were there for a good 10 minutes. A fine start to the day.

Ringed Male Reed Bunting and Funghi, name I don’t know

There wasn’t a lot around the main Reserve so I ventured off, parked my Van at the Old Lighthouse and had a walk along the Beach. It seems that many birds enjoy a nap when the sun comes out, but the brisk walk helped to shake of the remainders of my Cold a bit.
After some lunch in the Camper I drove along to the ARC thinking the Bearded Tits would be my one and only ‘nice’ highlight, would stroll around and head off home.

Chiffchaff enjoying the early afternoon sun

As luck would have it (luck is the big word in birdwatching I’ve found), although fairly common birds, a Chiffchaff posed well in the Reeds by ‘The Pines’, some Reed Buntings were flying around here and there then upon a short walk accross to Boulderwood Farm at the RSPB Entrance, some Tree Sparrows were making good use of the Bird Feeders.

Tree Sparrow sharing Feeder with female Reed Bunting

It’s interesting speaking to people around and about, so many are very much like me, theyve become Pensioners and looked for something that’s going to interest them, get them out, keep relatively fit by walking at their own pace, in genral, a purpose.
You also find that some take it up simply for something to do and not convinced they’ll enjoy it, but they do, then before they know it, it’s out almost every day and venturing beyond the local area to see more and more.

Retirement I guess is a big reminder of age, but all the more reason to live the life and not, as the old TV Series suggested, ‘waiting for God’ !

Early December at Oare Marshes

Posted on 12th December 2016 by Richard

Oare Marshes on a bleak, slightly drizzly, dark, cold and overall dismal day makes for good birdwatching in my opinion, not good necessarily for good photos though.
It always reminds me of the opening scene in the original 1950’s production of Dicken’s ‘Great Expectations’ and wandering around you’re half expecting for the Convict to suddenly jump out at you.
After all, Oare is close to Dickens Rochester home !

It was one of those days when you don’t think much is going to happen, but within minutes of arriving there a Marsh Harrier was weaving and gliding toward me making a good low fly past for the camera.
I was surprised not to see it suddenly dive for prey, but just carried on toward Faversham.

Male Reed Bunting

By the time I’d walked the half circuit around to the beach the tide was getting just low enough to start bringing in the Waders.
First up were Turnstones, one of my favourites, they appear not too human and camera shy, just popping along the rocks looking and picking treats from the sea.

Left; Pintail – Right; Turnstone

Left; The Large Heron – Right; Redshank

Further along the Redshanks started to appear on one piece of island which broke through the water and a Curlew was patiently waiting for a bit more beach to appear before joining them.

On one of the inland pools I spotted one of the largest Heron’s I’ve seen to date. Many see them as ‘common as muck’ but to me, everyone has their own slight variations and there’s usually a pose with a decent background that’s better than than photos taken previously.

Beside that, the main pool consisted mainly of Teal, Pintails, Lapwings, Shovelers and Wigeon.

Oare is drive time wise the closest beach / marsh to home and it’s a very rare event you won’t see lot’s of something, the occasional rarity all made better by the occasional Boat sailing by.

Rye Harbour Nature Reserve Mid September

Posted on 13th September 2016 by Richard

Like many coastal reserves, visiting them on a hot day is not always advisable, 1. The birds are all sheltering and 2. there’s never enough shade plus of course,, the settings on your camera need changing for every direction !!

However, 27 degrees on 12th. September is not the norm and as it was due to get hotter still, this day seemed the best option.

Whilst walking alongside the canal going out to Sea, two Seals made their way otwards on the tide bobbing up just now and again seemingly to put the sun on their cheeks before going back down again re-appearing some 50 meters further out.

Most birds on the Lakes were too far to get any decent shots but on my way back to the Van, the area around the Static homes was full of bird song with Buntings and Starlings happily sharing Blackberry bushes and the roofs of Static Homes !

After Rye, I popped over to Dungeness for a quick look around the Old Lighthouse Garden but nothing present there.
All in all, not a good day for any tick sheets but a beautiful September morning and early afternoon getting warm from the Sun and…….tired

Grey Wagtails in the Lane

Posted on 22nd May 2016 by Richard

22nd.May

Grey Wagtails are great to watch, always busy, running around the ground searching for either nest building ‘equipment’ or Flies.

The Lane has about six at present and at no time do you not walk around the corner without seeing one or two scampering along, then in the evenings they’re down in the Stream having a Bath!

The problem for some is ‘why are they called Grey Wagtails and not Yellow!’. The answer to that is quite simple, they have a grey head!
Saying that, why call their cousins Pied Wagtails, although some call them black!

Bird names re quite odd sometimes, a Chiffchaff is obviously called that because of it’s Chiffchaff song, a Blackbird is called that because it’s black, so why isn’t a Robin just called a Redbreast, or a Dunnock called a thin beaked brown. Does a Dartford Warbler come from Dartford, or a Sandwich Tern come from Sandwich. In fact where does Tern come from !!

Anyway, speaking of Blackbirds I just caught this female out the corner of my eye and fancied a quick photo of it. There’s something about Birds carrying things whether it be twigs, flies or other birds in some cases.

Many birds around here have their nests, there are House Sparrows under the Eaves, Robins in the Hawthorn Bush and Dunnocks in the Ivy.
Much activity is going on, eggs are either nearly or have hatched.

Parental nature kicks in and Summer is nearly here.

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