Monday 12th. December 2011

With most of the rest of the week looking not very good weatherwise , I got out early in the sunshine and headed for Sevenoaks Reserve , with the intention of having a look around , then moving on . It might have been sunny , but it was still cold , with a cold breeze by the water . I headed towards Willow Hide , and it wasn't long till I heard the constant chattering of Siskins , right up in the top of

the Alders . Their constant movement , along with the breeze , did not make getting a few shots

easy , but just the odd ones came out half decent . There were probably 50/75 in the flock , spread amongst several trees . Just the usual waterfowl from Willow Hide , and Egyptian and Canada Geese in the fields beyond . Lots of Chaffinches , mixed Tit flocks and a couple of Song Thrushes were seen along the track between East Lake and Long Lake ,along with

this Dunnock , that looked as if it was still wearing it's thermals . On the way back , a small flock of

about 10 Lesser Redpolls was found , once again high up , this time in Silver Birch . I'll be glad when

 they have eaten all the high stuff and pose lower down . Several Jays and Magpies seemed to be arguing , but it didn't seem to bother the Redpolls , but when the Air Ambulance helicopter flew over low , that was the last I saw of them . I put up two Grey Herons on my way to the Public Hide , but no sign of the Little Egret today . Lots of Lapwings and mixed Gulls and the usual Greylag Geese on the islands from the hide , and on the grassy area to the left , about 15/20 Common Snipe , could well

have been more . Just the small area covered by this shot held 7 of the species . The walk down to Tower Hide found a couple more small groups of Siskin , but little else . The view from the hide found nothing at all . A quick look from Slingsby Hide failed again to produce a Water Rail , just a couple of Reed Buntings , several Blue Tits and the resident Robin . Retracing my steps , I heard Green and GSWoodpecker and also Mistle Thrush . Getting back to where I started , I decided to have a look at Carter Hide , but it only produced a Sparrowhawk in the trees on the far bank . I followed the alternative path to Willow Hide , finding the 'ugly duckling' , fast asleep on the way . I

managed to past without waking it .A second look from the hide , now that the sun had got onto the

water did produce a couple of juvenile Pied Wagtails , searching for their breakfast , and the sun now

made the drake Teal look very dapper as he followed his lady . There then followed the most unusual couple of hours . As I said earlier , I was going to move on , Phil's New Hythe was in mind , but as I rejoined the track alongside the East Lake , constant calls from Kingfishers were heard , and the first of probably 35/40 sightings of the species began . I know for a fact that there were at least 5 birds involved , and it looked to me as if there were two pairs , and the odd one , but there could well have been others . The two pairs seemed to be arguing and one minute the pair from the corner near the Visitor Centre would chase off the other pair and all would go quiet , then the reverse would happen . All this was going on beyond the trees on the edge of the lake , but I found that by waiting at one of the fishing platforms in between the VC corner and the island half way down the track , the birds would spot me and veer off and head over the Darenth and in the direction of the Willow Hide , only to reappear shortly afterwards and continue the feud . I did find a spot on the corner where I had a

good view of the goings on , but it was very distant . I tried to get shots of the action , but it was all too quick , as they appeared and disappeared into the trees . The above shot was the best I could manage , but it was very distant . The odd time , a single bird flew into and settled briefly in the

corner , no doubt to get it's breath back , but once again it was at distance . Apart from the visual aspect of the scene , the constant calling of the birds , even when they had flown some distance from the lake edge , could be heard . By the time I left them to it , which was nearly two hours later , I had taken lots of shots , but 99.9% of them turned out to be totally useless , thank heaven for digital

photography . On my way back to the car , two Great Crested Grebes , who seemed to be on a mission , made it into the viewfinder , but a small raft of Pochard way out in the middle of the lake didn't .By now it was too late for New Hythe , or anywhere else for that matter , just where the time went watching and attempting to photograph the Kingfishers went , I have no idea .
This post is a day late , as , having done all the work and about to publish it last night , Internet Explorer crashed , and I lost the whole thing apart from the opening couple of lines . The computer very nearly joined the wind and rain outside the back bedroom window last night .