There has not been a lot to write about in
the “valley” so far this month plus work and household duties have left little
time to sit at a keyboard and put down the few sightings I’ve had and, on top
of that I have had ten days in West Africa with the wife so birding has been at
a premium. The discovery of Penduline Tits in the valley caused a whole heap of
trouble with ignorant and arrogant twitchers invading my patch and making my
birding there uncomfortable, plus I didn’t get to see the Tits either. It has
been very wet and there has not been a great deal of bird activity except for
the arrival of winter Thrushes with several thousand Fieldfares along with
Redwings and high counts of Blackbird. As I was a little disenchanted with the
Stour I even made a couple of visits to other east Kent sites and managed to
see both Snow Bunting and Shorelark at Reculver as well as Dartford Warbler at
Sandwich Bay. This weekend in the Valley (my first since coming back from
Africa) saw me standing on the Ramp at Grove Ferry on Saturday in a rather
dense fog that only lifted slightly but at 8.05 4 Whooper Swans flew past from
the Stodmarsh direction and carried on through towards Minster Marshes? Three of
the birds were adults and one was a first year bird. Sunday, however, there was
no sign of any Whoopers but the Alder Wood at Stodmarsh was full of activity
with lots of Chaffinches present plus one of each Lesser Redpoll and Siskin and
a couple of Goldcrests, a dozen Goldfinches and the bonus of 3 drake
Bramblings. At least a dozen Marsh harriers were seen and a Bittern was seen
from the Reedbed hide plus a Peregrine was seen to be chasing Fieldfares
without much success. Over the next few days I should put something together
about the Africa trip which was in The Gambia, a place I’ve visited on a number
of occasions but as this time it was with my wife it was NBA trip although the
cameras did go with me.
Snow Bunting at Reculver |
Snow Bunting at Reculver |
Shorelark at Reculver |
Shorelark at Reculver |
Shorelark and Snow Bunting at Reculver |
Shoveler in the rain at Stodmarsh |
Shoveler in the rain at Stodmarsh |
Fox on a rare sunny day at Grove Ferry |
Exreme record shot of the Dartford Warbler at Sandwich Bay |