I left Deal under clear starry skies this
morning only for it to cloud over and start raining just as I was arriving at
Grove Ferry. At 5.15am I made my way to the Ramp where I was able to shelter
from the fine mizzly precipitation and strong north westerly winds. Not really
looking hard for birdlife on the pool I just kept an eye out for the Purple
Heron to leave roost an sure enough at 5.50 it flew out from the Feast hide
pool area and out on its usual course towards Marshside.
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| The juvenile Purple Heron as it left this morning at 1/50th of a second at 2000 ISO |
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| The juvenile Purple Heron as it left this morning at 1/50th of a second at 2000 ISO |
A few minutes later
Bernie Weight joined me on the Ramp just missing the Purp, as it passed over
the cars as he as putting his boots on. The weather conditions didn’t give us a
good morning but we did see 5 Black-tailed Godwits at the back of the pool, the
6 Garganey were spread over the pool, 2 Wigeon still present as well as the
Ruff, 6 Little Egrets and a Grey Heron. The first of only 3 Marsh Harriers came
out of roost, a male, followed by another male and a tatty female. A visit to
the Feast hide gave us just 2 Green Sandpipers while a Whinchat was on the
barbed wire alongside Harrison’s Drove and the pool at Harrison’s was birdless.
A few Chiffchaffs were heard calling on our way round and 1 Cetti’s Warbler
sang out. The Water Meadows were a let down with just 4 Green Sandpipers and 2
Lapwings while the lake at Stodmarsh was very quiet although a flock of 200 or
so hirrundines were feeding over the lake most notably with Sand Martins, a
Great-crested Grebe was fishing and a flock of 18 Common Terns flew through in
a westerly direction. No sign again today of the Great-white Egret. There were
a family of 6 Goldfinches by Newbons Farm and a further flock of 18 were by the
metal bridge near Middle Drove, a single Greenfinch flew over and on returning
to the Ramp we added a Greenshank and 168 Greylag Geese. A visit to Restharrow
Scrape, Sandwich on the way home only gave a couple of drake Garganey, a Green
Sandpiper and a female Marsh Harrier.
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| Garganey at Restharrow Scrape Sandwich |
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| Garganey at Restharrow Scrape Sandwich |
