Friday 20 October 2017

Garden Song Thrush

Dungeness - mild, cloudy, sw 5 - En-route to the seawatch pitch a late Wheatear was a surprise flitting about amongst the sea containers while several charms of Goldfinches coasted overhead into the brisk south-westerly breeze. An hour at the fishing boats produced plenty of Gannets fishing offshore, a trickle of Sandwich Terns, an Arctic Tern, a Wigeon, two Red-breasted Mergansers, Kittiwake, two Arctic Skuas, several Dunlin, a Sanderling, 10 Swallows and two House Martins. A Black-throated Diver and an Eider had been seen earlier.
  It was pretty quiet around the bird reserve this morning with passerines at a premium due to the strong wind. However, there was eight Great White Egrets from Dennis`s hide on Burrowes and the juvenile Little Stint was still present. The Cattle Egret has also been reported on the fields at Boulderwall.
Lade  - Working in the garden this afternoon singles of Coal Tit (probably a Continental bird), Goldcrest and Chiffchaff moved through the fir trees. Oddest of all though was a migrant Song Thrush that dropped in from on high (presumably having just crossed the Channel) and landed under the firs. It then briefly hunkered down behind a tree mallow, looking exhausted, after which it moved into deeper cover to recover from its exertions. A typical late autumn record of Song Thrush in the garden.
  A trip down the beach late afternoon delivered similar wader numbers to the other day, plus at least 50 Sandwich Terns on the sands.

2 comments:

  1. What sort of wader species are about currently at Lade bay ?

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  2. There are 10 species currently. Curlew, Oystercatcher and Dunlin number in the hundreds with lesser numbers of Barwit, Knot, Ringed Plover, Sanderling, Turnstone and only a few Redshank and Grey Plover. They`re best viewed on a falling tide in the afternoon. Good luck.

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