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Sightings From Outdoor Trips Sunday 30 April 2006 Ashdown Forest, East Sussex
Woodlarks, tree pipits, redstarts and a
Dartford warbler, all in song, plus flocks of linnets, redpolls and
goldfinches. Also seen were crossbill, hobby, cuckoo and siskin.
Many thanks to Glen Peacock for organising the
visit and to Mike Scott-Ham and his team for their expertise in finding
the birds for us!
Sunday 14th May 2006 Stodmarsh/Grove Ferry
11 members present and 65 species seen. These
included good views of singing garden warblers, Cetti's warblers, reed and
sedge warblers, cuckoo, common sandpiper, male garganey, spoonbill, little
ringed plover, hobbies, bearded tit, sparrowhawk, marsh harriers, yellow
wagtails, whitethroat, pochard, gadwall and numerous swifts, swallows and
martins, both sand and house.
We even managed to spot two swifts mating on the
wing!
We also heard, but did not see, nightingale,
turtle dove, green woodpecker and chiffchaff.
Sunday 20th. August 2006 Elmley RSPB Reserve
Of the 18 participants 8 were new faces, which was nice to see. Also had some good birds and a hare! The star bird was a Montagu's Harrier! Others included Marsh harrier, Peregrine, Merlin, Ringed plover with young, Avocet with young, Green Sandpipers, Common Sand pipers, Dunlin, Kestrels, Lapwings, Little Owl, Yellow Wagtails, Pied Wagtails, Little Egrets and Swallows.
Sunday 17th. September 2006 St. Margaret's Bay / Bockhill
Pleasantly warm for the time of year and the 10
participants spent 4 hours walking approx 4 miles but to no avail! Peak
migration time but where were the birds?!
We did see signs of hirundines moving out over the
cliffs but the only other birds of note were sparrowhawk, several wheatears, a
single whinchat, a couple of jays and one un-identified warbler, which led us
a merry dance.
We also found a large and very hairy caterpillar
which looked like a woolly bear.
Recommend the old coastguards lookout tearoom at
Bockhill for excellent coffee and cakes!
Sunday 7th. January 2007 Elmley RSPB Reserve
18 people, including several new faces, turned up on Sunday. Weather murky but mild with a stiff breeze. We had great views of peregrine, merlin and marsh harrier plus good numbers of ducks mainly wigeon, teal, shoveler, shelduck, mallard and pintail.
Sunday 18th. February 2007 Sandwich Bay and Pegwell Bay
13 participants. Weather dull and overcast with
poor light. Felt cold near the coast.
Birds of note :- Red throated diver, sparrowhawk, great spotted woodpecker, stonechats,brent geese, wigeon, bar-tailed godwits, great-crested grebes, lapwing, grey and golden plovers, loads of chaffinches plus wren and great tit in the hand.
Sunday 22nd. April 2007 Boughton Park / Wierton Hill Farm Great day, thanks to the weather and Don Taylor's expertise!. 14 members present and we saw 48 species in all, plus early purple orchid, wild garlic and a mass of bluebells. Also a tiny ginger bee-fly with a long proboscis which hovered like a humming bird hawk moth.
Birds of note were singing lesser whitethroat,
willow warbler and chiffchaffs. We had good views of a stunning pair of
bullfinches, swallows, nuthatch, 6 yellowhammers and a pair of sparrowhawks
displaying.
Sunday 29th. April 2007 Samphire Hoe
Sunday was good despite the earthquake and the
wet start!
We saw 26 species and had 15 participants.
Weather turned dry and sunny later on. Highlights were a peregrine carrying
a pigeon right over our heads, fledged stone chats being fed by mum and dad,
lesser and common whitethroats, fulmars, wheatear, rock pipit, kestrel,
sparrowhawk, linnets building a nest, house martins and one swift.
Loads of early bee orchids and many butterflies inc wall brown, green
hairstreak, holly and common blues and small heath.
Sunday 12th August 2007 Oare Marshes
15 members present, including 3 new ones.
Weather warm, dry and sunny although rain was forecast. Somewhat chaotic
conditions prevailed due to a certain sharp-tailed sandpiper from Siberia
which had been seen on the east flood on the previous two days. Cars were
everywhere and birders had come from all over the country to see it.
Needless to say the little perisher had decided to take off overnight so we
dipped on that one!!
Main contenders were 3 common buzzards (2 adults
& 1 juvenile), 2 garganey, 2 green sandpipers, 4 calling greenshank,
marsh harrier, kestrel, peregrine and a superb female sparrowhawk which kept
spooking the waders and actually came eyeball to eyeball with a couple of
people! We also saw common seals, common sandpiper, 1 curlew sandpiper, 3
little stints, golden plover, the usual godwit flock, bearded tits and
a painted lady butterfly.
A great day all round, with a total of 56 bird
species seen.
Sunday 10th. February 2008 Elmley RSPB Reserve and Capel Fleet
Sunday's trip was brilliant - lovely sunny day
(almost too hot at times) with 24 participants and 56 species seen, plus
several hares and an inquisitive stoat!
Highlights at Elmley were 3 short-eared owls, 2
of which appeared to be displaying. Very close views and we also heard them
calling. Merlin with a kill (quite distant) Bar-tailed and Black-tailed
godwits, skylarks, reed buntings, little owl, Spotted Redshank, turnstones,
wigeon, pintail.
Highlights at Raptor Viewpoint at Capel Fleet
were Rough-legged Buzzard in flight, huge female peregrine on post, loads of
marsh harriers and two ringtails hen harriers.
Saturday 8th. March 2008 Rainham Marshes RSPB Reserve 58 species seen or heard Little grebe, Great crested grebe, Cormorant, Little egret, Grey heron, Mute swan, Greylag goose, Shelduck, Wigeon, Gadwall, Teal, Mallard, Pintail, Shoveler, Pochard, Tufted duck, Kestrel, Moorhen, Coot, Lapwing, Snipe, Black-tailed godwit, Redshank, Black-headed gull, Common gull, Lesser black-backed gull, Herring gull, Great black-backed gull, Woodpigeon, Collared dove, Ring-necked parakeet, Great spotted woodpecker, Skylark, Meadow pipit, Water pipit, Pied wagtail, Wren, Dunnock, Robin, Stonechat, Song thrush, Redwing, Mistle thrush, Cetti’s warbler, Bearded tit, Long-tailed tit, Coal tit, Blue tit, Great tit, Magpie, Jackdaw, Carrion crow, Starling, Chaffinch, Greenfinch, Goldfinch, Linnet, Reed bunting Sunday 6th. April 2008 Sevenoaks Wildfowl Reserve (KWT)
15 participants, although 2 went home because of the weather and driving. A winter wonderland - lots of snow. Very scenic, but few birds visible. The highlights were chiffchaffs, 2 grey wagtails and a pair of great crested grebes with young! In all over 30 species were seen.
Pictures copyright of Peter Saville
Thursday 10th. April 2008 Chatham Dockyard
One of our members - Brian Franklin - rang this afternoon to say he had seen a Black Redstart in Chatham Dockyard, by the Sea Wall, near the toilets.
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