Sorry for not posting anything of late but,
it has been extremely hard work of late to report anything without repeating the
same thing every week. Restharrow at Sandwich has been pretty quiet this year,
the Oystercatchers have successfully raised 2 young but the Lapwings seem to be
struggling with just one fledged youngster from 3 nests and 7 chicks. There are
a fresh 2 at the moment but that may change as they get more adventurous. Have
been seeing the Barn Owl regularly over the Scrape and on the 22nd a juvenile Hobby was perched on a perimeter fence
post while the Owl was hunting and when the Owl came up from the ground with a
prey item the Hobby flew at the Owl appeared to strike it from above before
suddenly turning under the Owl and nicking the prey straight out of the Owls
Talons, very bizarre!
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| Barn Owl at 1000 ISO at Restharrow at 5.00am |
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| Barn Owl at 1000 ISO at Restharrow at 5.00am |
Also had Quail on four occasions, the 19th
& 20th, 26th and 29th. The Corn Buntings are a regular feature around the Scrape with as many as four being seen.
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| Corn Bunting at Restharrow |
Grove
Ferry/Stodmarsh has had all the expected summer birds with plenty of
Whitethroats, Blackcaps and Reed Warblers, lesser numbers of Sedge Warblers and
just a couple of Garden Warblers and Lesser Whitethroats. Up to four Bitterns
have been present and at least 8 Marsh Harriers but, sadly, the later seem to
have failed in breeding as no food passes are being observed and, today both
male and female birds were carrying nesting material. There has been up to 7
passage Greenshanks and 3 Spotted Redshanks plus a single Wood Sandpiper and a
peak of 12 Green Sandpipers. A maximum of 6 Turtle Doves have been noted, good
passage of Common Swifts, very few Swallows and Martins and just 3 Common
Terns.
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| Adult Purple Heron the Oxbow Stodmarsh |
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| Adult Purple Heron the Oxbow Stodmarsh |
An adult Purple Heron was found yesterday by Paul Thompson and luckily
today Chiddy and I were able to relocate it and it spent all morning in and
around the Oxbow giving occasional flight views but often at a distance.
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| Adult Purple Heron the Oxbow Stodmarsh |
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| Adult Purple Heron the Oxbow Stodmarsh |
Just 7
Green Sandpipers today but there were 9 Little Egrets and a juvenile Green Woodpecker was noseing out of it's nest hole. Hopefully returning
Waders will be arriving soon and there will be something to write about.
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| Juvenile Green Woodpecker |
