This morning started off with a pleasant enough stroll
around the trails in the hope of finding something to go with my flyover Tree
Sparrow yesterday. It was warm enough to
be wearing my sandals and it was still and dry.
Cetti’s were as explosive as ever and Goldcrests and Chiffchaffs were
particularly vociferous in the Cordite where a few Redwings and Blackbirds
darted for cover at my approach. Common
Darters and Migrant Hawkers were still on the wing and one Wasp
Spider is hanging on in there!
Common Darter |
Common Darter |
I was musing about
two species as I ambled on. The Reedmace crop is superb this year and it is
about time that we got another flurry of Penduline Tits for a winter or two to
turn these bullet cigar heads into so much candy floss and the other was
Dartford Warbler which we have not had on site for about five years now
following a the two cold snap winters that so damaged the inland strongholds. I
was historically ticking off both species as ‘Seen Pendies there... seen a Dartford
then’ when I heard a scold from the brambles before the Ken Barrett hide but I
only registered it the once and thought...’umm... wishful thinking’ and moved
on. I even had a chat with a chap about feeling like a Dartford day especially
as Paul and Dave had found two at East Tilbury last week.
The Marsh Harriers were having a good fly round and the
Buzzard was on his box but it was pleasant rather than outstanding and I headed
back to base. I was greeted by a carrier bag in which was a fairly recently
deceased Kingfisher. The victim was found beneath our window and must have got
things terminally wrong at some stage early in the morning. The all black bill told
us that it is a male and I think that the general plumage tone and tiny points
on two tail feathers suggest that it is one of this year’s young. Whether or
not it is one of our own birds is unanswerable. It was a real pleasure to be
able to see such a beautiful bird close up and to lose yourself in the electric
blue, teal green and autumn orange with those cute little feet with grippy pads
and the fused two front toes and an incredibly sharp and pointy, fish stabbing bill.
I put him somewhere safe and settled down to cover the shop
for a while which all went well until people started coming in telling me about
the lovely Dartford Warbler around by the Ken Barrett Hide! See I was not going mad... trust your
instincts and I should have not been so hasty to move on.
A quick change of plans (sorry Alex) and I was off out again
in the sunshine for a very brisk scoot around to the spot where Andy was
already waiting with a few others including the Branch family from Carnforth
who we saw back home in the northwest in July. There was no sign but I now had
other quarry with the solitary Pink-footed Goose miraculously reappearing on
the Target Pools so I did not stop and left them looking while I zoomed further
round and quickly picked up the goose as it grazed with the Greylags thanks to
pinching Caroline’s scope (no not the one in the cafe – the ex RSPB Rye Meads
one!). This is still an excellent bird
here and hopefully it may linger with its larger cousins.
Pink-footed Goose - Andy Tweed |
A quick gander and
then back to the Warbler, where, after a short wait and better angle, Andy and
I were able to relocate it, as it was followed around by the ubiquitous pair of
Stonechats. A nice first winter type bird which is quite interesting as it was reported
to me earlier as an adult male so who knows... there could even be two. Five House Martins
hawked above the trees and the Barn Owl was grumpily perched in the front of
its box.
I left Andy and Smiffy in charge of showing it to any new
arrivals and came back to centre to find Alex and Caroline (cafe one this time)
donning cycle helmets to go out looking for the missing keys lost by the family
that hired the bikes earlier so I hopped back onto reception for a while - well
long enough to get a call from Smiffy to say that they had now found a female Goldeneye
in Aveley Bay so I was off again for a short sojourn along the wall in the name
of helping to look for the keys and nabbing my third new bird for the year on
the patch in the bargain. It was a
lovely still calm evening with flat water and a pink sky and a Dark-bellied
Brent Goose bobbing around offshore rounded things off just nicely.
Goldeneye - another quality bird for the reserve - Andy Tweed |
Time to stop I think....