Sunday 8 October 2017

The Species list stands at 159 so far for 2017

View list Here



If you would like to send any sightings to me for posting, you can at  martynwilson@talktalk.net

October 8th


We are into the second weekend of October probably the peak time for migration in Kent, yet still the Stour Valley remains very quiet. The only birds of note being a single Green Sandpiper, 2 Little Egrets, a Whinchat, 3 Kingfishers, 1 Pintail and, the ever present first winter Shelduck. The Barn Owl still crosses the reed bed in the early mornings and disappears into the Paddock. Bemoaning the lack of avian delectation Sue Morton, Chiddy and I made our way to the Marsh Hide where, the best birding had been enjoyed in recent weeks. On entering the hide to day we met Michael Linklater who asked us to confirm the id of a bird he had taken a picture of just 15 minutes earlier. There on the back of his Camera was a smart Dartford Warbler a bird never recorded in the Stour Valley before and, despite extensive searching for the next one and half to two hours there was no sign of it just 3 of 5 Stonechats that were noted today. Dejected we headed back toward the Ramp wondering what might be seen on the way. Just before we reached Harrison's Drove a few feet beyond the Metal Bridge we stopped to look in the 'Whinchat' field to see if the one we had seen earlier was still there and, sure enough it was and was joined by 2 Stonechats. I then put my scope straight onto the errant Dartford Warbler we'd been searching for earlier and spent a frantic few minutes trying to get Chiddy and Sue on to it. Half an hour later we had some cracking scope views of this ever mobile bird with Chiddy managing a very record shot as it sat within a bush.
Dartford Warbler - Mark Chidwick