Sunday 13th. March 2016

A pictoral catch up on some recent outings .

At Bough Beech Reservoir , a male Pochard was more willing to pose this visit ,

but , just one Goosander was seen , a fine drake .

Whilst along the causeway , one of two Goldcrests stopped 'flitting about' for as short time .

The down House bird survey , with a Dunnock in full song in the formal gardens , produced 18 species , ith just one winter visitor , a single Fieldfare .

An early arrival at the empty car park at Sevenoaks Reserve , was rewarded with a small flock of Redwing ,

and just beyond the visitor centre , one of two noisy Jays .

Heading towards Willow Hide , the Grey Heron was low in it's nest , probably on eggs ,

but from Willow Hide , just 6 drake Shoveler , pretending to be ostriches .

On the other side of the East Lake , the pair of Reed Buntings both managed to get into the same frame .

A trip to Rainham Marshes on a grey day , was rewarded with a flock of Golden Plover from the first hide ,
several flyby sightings , without a stop , of 1/2 Kingfisher , and a most confiding male Stonechat that flew in

 and posed on a fence just a few metres away . An attempt to find a recently reported Firecrest at Chislehurst failed , but moving on to Scadbury Park LNR , another flock of Redwing were found feeding in a horse paddock , along with twoWagtails . Very mobile , I only managed one shot . The grey back and the

 black of the breast not joining the black of the head making it a possible White Wagtail ?

Under logs around a pond , several Smooth Newts were found . On the way home , a look around the

Common found the start of a Long-tail Tit nest , with the pair working hard . Fingers crossed !!
 Last Friday , a trip to Elmley Reserve in sunny but cool conditions , primarily to look for Brown Hare ,

started well with several Marsh Harriers being seen . A female was found on the ground , whilst a male was

searching for a meal along one of the many ditches . It proved a good day for raptors , with several Common

Buzzard , at least 2 Kestrel and a Sparrowhawk , that managed to put everything to flight when it passed

overhead . Eventually I got a few Hare sightings , but they were all distant , amongst long grass , and they

soon headed back into cover . A couple of moves of position , and I came across an individual lying out in

 the open and taking no notice of the camera . Another move and a wait , and another hopped it's way

towards the track , then stopped for a look around and a bit of a wash and brush up . Things then went very quiet , but little did I know what was to happen later . I went back to birding and passed another birder who told me that he had seen a Jack Snipe along the track the other day and that a Bittern was seen recently too . He showed me the exact area where the Jack had been seen , but there was no sign . I also searched even more carefully for the Bittern , but that wasn't found either . Other expected species were found , displaying

Lapwing , good numbers of Redshank , many being chased around by their partner and one pair was seen

 

 

mating . The sky was full of Skylark song , and they too were fully into the chasing game . For the

Oystercatchers , it wasn't so much chasing as marching side-by-side , whilst calling loudly , known as 'piping'

  , and not forgetting the Little Grebe , now resplendent in their breeding plumage . The 'moment' of the visit came as I made one last drive to the car park . As I approached the two right-angle bends before the hill to the car park , I spotted two Hares squaring up to each other on the other side of the ditch , still some distance away . They separated almost immediately , but one chased the other which then turned back . I was now some 20 meters from the pair and quickly reached for the camera . As I did so the two began 'boxing' and without checking settings , I just pointed and hit the shutter button . Fortunately , the camera was set on 'continuous shooting' , and in the next 3 seconds , which was as long as the contest lasted , I

managed 21 shots , before the pair spit up and disappeared into the vegetation . Result or what , I thought to myself . No sign of the Little Owl on my way out , but I didn't mind .
This morning , with the sun shining , but again cool , I made a visit to the Greensand Ridge to look for Adders , having made a couple recently without success . Today I was lucky , finding four freshly emerged

from hibernation males , two of which pictured . As can be seen , both had flattened their bodies to absorb as much warmth as possible from the sun . The new season is started , what will it bring ?

Monday 22nd. February 2016

' Slim pickings ' remain the order of the day as the worst , for me , month of the winter draws to an end . I have been going out , but it's taken this long since the last posting to cobble together some sightings for this one .
The garden has produced a few visitors ;

This fox spent a morning wandering around ours and other back gardens ,

Blackcap visits to the Callicarpa bushes have been fewer this winter , but Carol has had up to three on the odd occasion , needless to say whilst I was out .

more encouraging are the House Sparrows , with up to six , three pairs , on the feeders and the odd time looking around the communal nest boxes , maybe this year ?

And finally , Carol was well pleased with the third Pheasant to visit the garden since we moved in .

A visit to Larkfield Lakes at New Hythe found the heronry very busy , with nesting materials being brought in and the usual noisy arguments amongst the residents . No sign of Phil's Bittern unfortunately , but several Bullfinch heard , but as usual , not seen .

A couple of visits to Sevenoaks Reserve , the first producing no more than a Mute Swan which came down the East Lake like an Exocet missile towards Tyler Hide before veering off ,

and some Common Snipe on the nearest island , enjoying the morning sunshine .

The second visit produced a bit more , with both male and female Reed Bunting showing well outside

Slingsby Hide , but I still haven't seen or heard Water Rail there this winter .

A drake Shelduck was the only out of the ordinary sighting .

On the way back to the car , Scarlet Elf Cup / Sarcoscypha coccinea , growing on buried branches ,

brightened things up , as did the ' Pussy Willow ' catkins , just opening on the Goat Willow .

A couple of visits to Sth.Norwood Country Park , found 8/10 Goldcrests working their way along the

Scots Pines , and in one of the ditches , Marsh Marigold /Caltha palustris , already in full flower . The overwintering Bearded Tit was seen on both visits , but the Cetti's Warbler was only heard on the first . The second visit also caught a female Rose Ringed Parakeet busily preparing her chosen nest site ,

much to the annoyance of the local Corvids , who were being kept at bay by the male . As can be seen , the weather was not photo - friendly that day .

Similar grim weather prevailed when I had a trip to West Malling for the Winter Thrushes . Mainly Fieldfares , and with not a lot of apples lying on the ground to attract them , it proved difficult to get

close to the wary birds , but the top one did pose ,, whereas this one kept a steely eye on me whilst feeding on a fallen apple . No sign of the hoped for Bramblings .
The Down House bird survey produced a dismal 14 species , without a single winter visitor , but it

did produce my first female Hazel flowers of the year , looking very insignificant to the left of the

male catkins in the first shot .
An early morning visit to Bough Beech Reservoir near Ide Hill produced nothing more exciting than

a male Pochard on the half-frozen North Lake , and he didn't want to be photographed , so I moved on to the feeders in the woods . Although the feeders were almost empty , a procession of birds

visited them and the surrounding area , including both male and female Siskin . The Tit family were well represented , with Blue most numerous , followed by Great and several Coal . One Long-tailed

was unusually obliging and the odd Marsh Tit made ' smash and grab ' raids . On my way back home , I had to pass BB Reservoir again and stopped to see if things had changed . Indeed , out on the main

reservoir , two pairs of Goosander had arrived , or emerged from the trees now half submerged by the water . But on a sad note , just below the causeway , an immature gull was standing motionless on the waters edge , just 10/15 mtrs away , and it didn't look well . It could be subsequently seen that it had fishing line wrapped around its body and might even ingested some of it .The consensus of opinion

was that it was a Yellow-legged Gull , but as stated here before , I find gull ID difficult , and this species is particularly difficult . The local birders were trying to get some help for the bird , I hope they were successful and that the bird survived .