The forecast suggested that today would be the first dry and
calm day this year for us down in darkest north Kent and after the late showing
of the sun yesterday afternoon I had hopes of getting out for a much needed
walk.
It dawned grey once again but it was not raining and the
trees were not thrashing around as in recent days so I got myself sorted and
ventured forth at about 8.30.
Little groups of Redwings were moving around as I got
towards the end of the road but whether these are local birds or newcomers I am
not sure. I cut down through Morrisons car park that was still largely empty
and was followed by a party of Long-tailed Tits who were foraging in the small
trees in the car park while a Carrion Crow was annoying someone sitting in his
car but scrabbling around on the roof with a scrap of something he had picked
up. No amount of banging from the inside
made him move! Pied Wagtails scurried like little fancy mice across the wide
expanses of open tarmac. Perhaps the local shoppers are taking this Lockdown
just a little more seriously once again? There was no queue outside B&Ms or
Poundland. The roads were quiet and
there were very few people around so avoiding them was easy.
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Pied Wagtail
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Carrion Crow
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Under the railway and left onto Canal Road where a pack of
Black-headed and Herring Gulls were descending on whole loaf that had been
tossed out onto the prom. Common Gulls were also present but they prefer to
chase and harry the Black-heads in flight to get them to drop their morsel.
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Herring Gull - 3rd year
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A Great Black-backed joined in and I heard it before it
crashed the loaf party. They are truly a beast of a bird.
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Great Black-backed Gull
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The wasteland that I have checked on and off since April was
covered in water again and the gulls of all species were utilising it for a
freshwater ablution stop. There were no Grey Wagtails but two Pied Wagtails
darted round the edges.
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Pied Wagtail
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| Pied Wagtail |
I now have a name for the long steep slope from here up to
Frindsbury All Saints church. It is
called Donkey Hill as it was the route the donkeys took when hauling commodities
from the bustling riverside docks. I
always try and get to the top without stopping and succeed most times. Today
was once of those and at least there were lots of Redwings to watch when I was
catching my breath although there were very volatile and erupted out of the Ivy
covered trees with no provocation whatsoever.
A Mistle Thrush was defending the huge Holly tree in the oast house
garden before I took the path back down to the main road and crossed towards
the Temple Hill sewage works.
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| Woodpigeon |
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Mistle Thrush
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More Redwings zipped about but not one would pose for more
than a second or two but a female Blackcap showed a little better as I scanned
the streamside bushes. No Cetti’s Warblers here today but 12 Meadow Pipits came
up from the scrubby field.
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| Blackcap |
I stayed on the path past Gundolph Pool where furtive
binocular raising (it’s MoD) revealed 13 Pochard and a Tufted Duck but nothing else
and a Buzzard was up above getting grief from the local Carrion Crows. Blackbirds were feeding on the Ivy but
everything was very skittish and both male and female Blackcaps were also seen and
a Chiffchaff heard as I walked through Lower Upnor.
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Goldfinches on roadside feeders - nice
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| Buzzard |
The path alongside the wall of Upnor Castle House was quiet
although I may have heard a Firecrest and Grey Squirrels were playing chase
through the Sycamore canopy. Down at the Medway the tide was going out which
meant that I could follow the Saxon Shore path but I suspected that it may end
up a little too far out to be profitable once I got past Hoo Marina.
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Oops - I'm sorry - Stigmella aurella on Bramble
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I almost walked past a sign for one of the open units in the
Ordnance Yard when the words Madeiran Patisserie caught my eye. Now I do like a
Portuguese Tart, so I convinced myself that I should be supporting local entrepreneurial
businesses and would force myself to buy a cake to go with my lunch. And so
with my mysterious purchase from Coelho’s I continued on my way...
Another Mistle Thrush was defending an Apple with a huge
clump of Mistletoe as I dropped down onto the very wet foreshore. Normally the
upper reaches of the exposed beach are a little soft but there is so much
gravel and debris that it is normally ok but there was so much water flowing
continually out of the surrounding woodland slope that it was pretty much a
serious squelch the whole way along.
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| Mistletoe |
The odd Redshank was down on the margins and my first Little
Grebe actually on the Medway was feeding actively close in around an area where
fresh water was pouring in. It is
normally very wader poor on this entire stretch up to the Marina but today was
an exception and there were about 400 Dunlin, 13 Black-tailed Godwit and 85
Avocets along with Curlews, Redshanks and Oystercatchers.
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Little Grebe
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| Jellyear |
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| Common Periwinkle - (Littorina littorea ) |
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A bump headed Cormorant
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Sorry about the rubbish but water pouring out of the woods
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Black-tailed Godwits - only the second time a 'walk'
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And likewise with the Avocets
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Shelduck squibbled the surface mud with snaky head weaves
and the Avocets did likewise with delicate little flicks.
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Hoo Fort
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Shelduck trails
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A Great Spotted Woodpecker called from the quiet woods and a
female Sparrowhawk tried to catch a Redwing as I approached the Marina before
briefly perching up.
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| Sparrowhawk |
As usual House Sparrows dominated the entire walk through
the complex of boat yards and chalets and I really should have done a count in
the springtime but who knows, I may get another chance. Blackbirds were
plucking Pyracantha berries from tiny box gardens and Starlings descended to
clear scraps from another in a noisy twenty seconds of mad thrashing and squawking.
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House Sparrows
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Once beyond the marina the river wall became as treacherously
muddy as I expected and although the tide was now miles out at least the light
was fairly flat giving me a shot a quickly adding a plethora of species to my
fledgling year list. A few more waders
quickly fell with Knot, Grey Plover and Ringed Plover and then my first new ‘Lockdown
walking from home and garden list’ bird appeared with a ghostly Barn Owl quartering
the Pampas grass covered Hoo Salt Marsh Island. This was a most welcome addition.
The game crop behind me on the other side of the main ditch
was full of Chaffinches and Goldfinches along with a couple of Greenfinches,
House Sparrows, Reed Buntings and seven plipping Corn Buntings. Skylarks and
Meadow Pipits called from the ploughed field behind and fine cock Pheasant
strode purposefully across it.
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Reed Bunting
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A Snipe got up from the fragments of saltmarsh as I sloshed
along the top of the bank and a Scandinavian Rock Pipit similarly burst from
cover. Only the odd Redshank was close to the bank but I was pleased to find
another two new species with several Bar-tailed Godwits and a calling Spotted Redshank. Way out of the mud the Dark-bellied Brent
Geese were roosting up and preening and although they were a very long way off
I was sure I could see a gleaming white patch on one at the right hand end. I
took some pics of the whole flock with the aim of counting them all later but
could not see my white patch at the time.
Having just counted 423 geese now that I am home I can safely say that
there was indeed a Black Brant in the flock!
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Part of the Brent flock
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and on the right hand end - a big fat Black Brant
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I stopped at the corner Pill Box for my lunch. It was still calm but cold although there was
a suggestion that the breeze was stirring. Sandwich devoured; it was time for the
Portuguese pastry from Coelho’s. Layers of flaky puff pastry with almonds and
apple (I think!) and it was just perfect with my coffee while watching the
Brent flock start to come alive.
In the course of the next 30 minutes the whole flock headed
over my head and north inland over Hoo, presumably to a winter wheat field
somewhere. I did not see my suspected Brant
as they light was terrible as they went over as you can see from my pics!
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Catching up with the parents
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There is something very special about the grumbling of Brent
Geese. Coming from Essex, it truly is a sound of the county winter scene and
just hearing them, whisks me back to early years muddy walks around Old Hall,
Cudmore Grove and Tollesbury with our YOC group almost forty years ago.
The paddocks behind me were largely flooded and instead of
ponies they now had Teal and Redshank and the main pool itself hosted Gadwall,
Shoveler and Mallard along with singles of Grey Heron and Little Egret. A Cetti’s
Warbler called like a mini machine gun from the phragmites and Reed Buntings
flicked white sided tails from the tops.
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| Redshank |
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| Teal |
A male Kestrel got vocal when pursued by some Carrion Crows
but despite scanning around I could not find any Harriers or Short-eared Owls.
Back out in the channels I added an adult Yellow-leggedGull and my first Pintail to the
grand tally as they dozed in pairs on a creek side and Wigeon and more Teal
could be seen further out. I strained my eyes to look for and Mergansers or
Goldeneye but had to be content with several Great Crested Grebes but in doing
so I picked up six Russian White-fronted Geese coming across the river to land out of
sight near the power station. My sixth new ‘walks’ bird so far.
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Sleeping Pintail and the last few Brents
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The temperature was dropping and so I decided not to slosh
on any further towards Kingsnorth and turned down the track between the pools
which was somewhat damp to say the least. The last of the Brents headed over
and on the main fishing lake I found 12 Tufted Duck and three female Pochard
and a paddock full of grazing Coots.
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Lesser Reedmace
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Look at the neck on the Cob!
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Even the horses had rugs on
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A Coot Farm
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The Stand Off
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A Goldcrest moved through the Willows with a Long-tailed Tit
flock but checking the Lesser Reedmace did not reveal any masked vagrants. Just
beyond the last paddock, the winter wheat field had flooded quite badly and was
home to a pair of Egyptian Geese; yet another addition. All I needed now was a Water Pipit walking
around the edge to cap things off nicely... ‘phist phist’ oh there’s one. Quite
ridiculous. I left this odd trio with several Meadow Pipits and Pied Wagtails
and started on the homewards loop back towards Hoo church.
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Egyptian Geese
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I always go through the churchyard and today it was the
mosses on the wall that caught my eye although I tried not to be distracted by
the Lichens too!
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ENNNIIIDDDD!! all for you!
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The long drag back up through the farmland was bird poor as
usual although I was hoping that the sunflower belt alongside the path would
have more than 16 Goldfinch, three Chaffinch and a Reed Bunting in it.
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the view behind me
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| Goldfinches |
Just before I got to Chattenden there were
three old chicken sheds in a field and with the way the day was gong I thought,
if I was a Little Owl I would be sitting round this side out of the breeze in that
watery sunshine that has miraculously appeared. So, I put my bins up and found
two immediately. I see this species so rarely in the UK nowadays that it is
always a pleasant surprise to come across one.
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Little Owls
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The path degenerated once again as I slipped down the alley
between the houses (finding Phyllonorycter leucographella on Pyracantha just
because I had to look!) and redwings were dashing out where ever I went.
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| Phyllonorycter leucographella |
I took the path at the end back into Cockham Woods above
Upnor and slid my way down the path back towards the river. There was so much
surface water with rivulets trickling across every path and actually gushing in
places. You could hear water everywhere and all the hollows which I assume my
sit on a clay bed were full creating a series of micro ponds throughout the
wood despite it all being on a steep incline. I imagined that they were
Woodcock all around me sitting silently in the damp leaf litter. Both Green and
Great Spotted Woodpeckers were vocal and the latter was even drumming and the
hoped for Nuthatch silently snuck through the canopy. Celandines and Lords
& Ladies were already pushing through new spring growth and it will not be
too long till the first flowers.
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| Celandines |
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Lords and Ladies
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Reappearing on the Upnor riverfront meant having to walk
back past Coelho’s again but I resisted the urge to pop back in – but only
just.
Looking back towards Hoo my first local Harbour Seal was fishing mid-channel - another addition to the mammal list.
I climbed back up the steps by the wonky wall and heard the
Firecrest in the Holly immediately although it was a little way back and I
could not see it but then once back in Upper Upnor I walked around to castle
Street to find the little muddy path through the back of the Temple Hill woods
that would being me back out by the sewage works.
There were Redwings all the way through and I spooked them
while they were drinking at a path streamlet but all I got photographically were
they cute little prints in the sand. I
may have accidentally seen the now usual moth and leaf mine suspects as I
ambled along – in fact I had been seeing them all day but decided not to tell
you.
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| Phytomyza ilicis on Holly |
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Redwing tracks
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Euleia heraclei on Alexanders
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Phytomyza chaerophylli on Cow Parsley
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Coptotriche marginea and Stigmella aurella on Bramble
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With the trees denuded for the winter I could at last see
the sewage works but the active tanks are enormously high so you would need to
be in a helicopter to see into them. I had seen nothing when I approached from
the other way earlier but now a cloud of at least 60 Pied Wagtails swept up
from the hidden working and many alighted in the Hawthorns below. I could hear at least two Grey Wagtails and a
Chiffchaff was stridently calling away somewhere while the Redwings were still
exploding from cover.
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Pied Wagtails!
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Buck's Horn Plantain
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Ivy Berries
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Old Man's Beard
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I crossed the main road and then went back up the hill
towards All Saints before looping around the churchyard the other way and
finding some Hart’s Tongue Fern to go with the Wall Rue I found here back in
October.
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Punky Jay in the graveyard
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A singing Redwing enjoying the sunshine but out of view for me...
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Hart’s Tongue Fern, Wall Rue (top right) and friends
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The view back of the golden shining Medway was worthy of a couple of
shots before the amble down the hill back into Strood and home but not before I
had at last got a picture of a Redwing
that was part of a flock feeding in an overloaded back garden Cotoneaster.
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Ivy Leaved Toadflax
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| Redwing |
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