Sunday 8th January 2023 RSPB Shellness on the Isle of Sheppey in Kent

 

Sunday 8^th January 2023

Isle of Sheppey

East Grinstead RSPB Local Group

(12 members present)

 

Trip Report

Despite the adverse weather, we decided to go ahead with this trip, albeit a day later than planned to take advantage of the better forecast.  Thankfully the rain held off but the very strong winds proved challenging at times. 

Expectations are always high on Sheppey.  We had a wish list that included hen harrier, short-eared owl, corn bunting and white-fronted goose as well as a selection of shorebirds.  Thankfully, we managed to see most, but not all, of these species, producing a species count of over 50 for the day.

The trip divided naturally into 3 parts.   The morning was spent at Shellness NNR, walking along the old sea wall to the hide.  After returning to the car park at lunchtime we headed out to the banks of the Swale to catch up with the shorebirds driven in by the incoming tide.  The last port of call was to the raptor viewing point at Capel Fleet.

 

 

Walking along the old sea wall to the hide

Apart from a reed bunting and a very vocal skylark, the early session was dominated by the large birds – raptors and geese.

·         Pick of the raptors was the peregrine, perched on a post in the adjacent field.  There were also kestrels, buzzards, marsh harriers and a raven around.

                                                                                   Kestrel - courtesy of Patrick Sullivan

 

·         The white-fronted geese were a delight to see, with well over 100 of these lovely winter visitors. 

Courtesy of Alison Playle

 

·         Brent geese were everywhere, filling the skies beautifully – there must have been over 1000 present. 

Courtesy of Alison Playle

 

 

·         Star billing however went to the 100+ barnacle geese that we saw on the ground as we approached the hide at the end of our long outward journey.  

Courtesy of Martin Jeffree

 

 

On the banks of the Swale by the WWII concrete observation post.

The Surbiton & District Bird Watching Society were also visiting Sheppey today.   After lunch we joined them at the observation point by the River Swale to look for shorebirds.  We had to do battle against a gale force wind but we succeeded.   Most species were present but bird counts were well down on last year, reduced to about a quarter of the 2022 figures.

·         Oystercatchers were the largest group present.  There were also good numbers of grey plover, ringed plover and turnstone.

Turnstone – courtesy of Alison Playle

 

Ringed plover- courtesy of Patrick Sullivan

 

Grey plover - courtesy of Alison Playle

 

 

·         There were small groups of dunlin but we had to work hard to pick them out from the assembled masses.

The problem was that most of the waders were facing away from us and huddled together for protection against the wind, making it very difficult for us to ID them.

·         Knot was perhaps the hardest species to pick out but again we stuck at it until we made the ID. 

Courtesy of Martin Jeffree

·         A lone sanderling was surprisingly easy to locate.  It was moving around in its characteristic busy style and was by far the smallest wader there as well as the most mobile .

 

 

RSPB Capel Fleet

It was quite a relief to relocate inland, away from the strong coastal winds.

Courtesy of Patrick Sullivan

 

·         Just before we arrived at the viewing mound, we saw a group of 30+ corn buntings in the bushes in a field off to our left.  Unfortunately we were not able to stop and take pictures.

Courtesy of Martin Jeffree

 

Courtesy of Patrick Sullivan

·         Whilst the photographers, now armed with their cameras, left to look for the corn buntings the rest of us assembled on the viewing mound and soon enjoyed our first sight of a cracking barn owl in a field north of us.

·         Afterwards we were further rewarded with good views of a ringtail hen harrier as it flew past us, high in the sky.

·         Thankfully, the barn owl put in another lengthy appearance, much to the delight of the photographers who had now returned.

·         Marsh harriers, kestrels and buzzards were frequently seen but there was no sign of any short-eared owls.

·         By now people were beginning to drift away for home.  John and Joy, the last to leave, were witness to an altercation between a peregrine and a ringtail hen harrier a well- deserved reward for your patience and persistence.

 

 

Species List:  Isle of Sheppey

 

Name:	Count:		Name:	Count:
Barn Owl	1		Knot	27
Barnacle Goose	2		Lapwing	28
Black-headed Gull	3		Linnet	29
Blackbird	4		Little Egret	30
Brent Goose	5		Magpie	31
Buzzard	6		Mallard	32
Carrion Crow	7		Marsh Harrier	33
Cetti's Warbler	8		Mute Swan	34
Chaffinch	9		Oystercatcher	35
Collared Dove	10		Peregrine	36
Coot	11		Pheasant	37
Cormorant	12		Raven	38
Corn Bunting	13		Red-legged Partridge	39
Curlew	14		Redshank	40
Dunlin	15		Reed Bunting	41
Dunnock	16		Robin	42
Goldfinch	17		Rock Dove / Feral Pigeon	43
Great Black-backed Gull	18		Rook	44
Grey Heron	19		Sanderling	45
Grey Plover	20		Shelduck	46
Greylag Goose	21		Shoveler	47
Hen Harrier	22		Skylark	48
Herring Gull	23		Starling	49
House Sparrow	24		Stonechat	50
Jackdaw	25		Turnstone	51
Kestrel	26		White-fronted Goose	52
			Woodpigeon	53
species count = 53

 

Thanks to our members for their wonderful support today. 

Special thanks to all three of our photographers for the lovely images.

 

Our most challenging trip for some time!

 

Bob Hastings

2023 species count = 84

Friday 6th January 2023 RSPB Pagham Harbour a.m. The Burgh p.m.

Friday 6th January 2023

with Martin, Mark and Elizabeth

What a contrast - bright sunny conditions in the morning at Pagham Harbour followed by a wet and windy situation on the slopes of The Burgh.

Pagham Harbour   

We met up at the visitor centre at 09.30 and made our way along the western path towards Church Norton, calling in at the Ferry Hide on the way.  It was almost high tide.  The lighting conditions were excellent for our photographers.  Conditions underfoot were somewhat soggy after the heavy rainfall of recent weeks. 

Over 40 species were seen - nothing rare but all very welcome.  18 additions were made to the year list:

Avocet

Black-tailed Godwit

Brent Goose

Buzzard

Chaffinch

Curlew

Goldeneye

Great Spotted Woodpecker

Lapwing

Little Grebe 

Marsh Harrier

Meadow Pipit

Redshank

Shelduck

Snipe

Stonechat

Teal

Tufted Duck

• The Godwits, Avocets and the Brent Geese provided the main excitement and it was nice to see a distant Goldeneye near the mouth of the harbour.  

After an early lunch back at the visitor centre we relocated to the Burgh, near Arundel.

The Burgh

While we were enjoying lunch, the weather deteriorated and by the time we parked at The Burgh it was raining and the visibility was poor.  

• Nevertheless we plodded on and added a further 5 species to our year list, including a stunning Barn Owl.  

Barn Owl

Grey Partridge

Linnet

Red Kite

Skylark

• The Red Kites stole the show though - despite the poor conditions they were quite ubiquitous.

It was great to be out with friends again.

2023 species count = 69

Thursday 5 January Newhaven Tide Mills for Purple Sandpiper

 Newhaven Tidemills is my most trusted place to see purple sandpipers in winter and it didn't let me down today.  

• All in all I made 8 observations as the tide receded just after noon. 

• Also seen were at least 8 turnstones.

• An obliging rock pipit was a very welcome visitor to the scene.
• 2 greenfinches showed on the fence by the pier.
•  a single oystercatcher was showing well on the beach.
• Unusually, there was a common scoter in the harbour.

Good old Newhaven Tidemills - you delivered again!

species count = 46

Wednesday 4 January 2023 With the SOS at Arlington Reservoir

 I joined up with Mark Wright and 5 members of the Sussex Ornithological Society ( the SOS) for the scheduled meeting at Arlington Reservoir.  Again the weather dominated the situation and we decided to settle for a perimeter plod, sticking to the tarmac paths and not follow the usual route over the fields at the dam end.

The highlights included a goldcrest and a drake pintail ( minus its tail!)

24 species were seen and I was able to grow my year list by 15

Black-headed gull   26

Canada goose   27

Coot   28

Cormorant   29

Goldcrest   30

Great black-backed gull   31

Great crested grebe   32

Grey heron   33

Lesser black-backed gull  34

Moorhen   35

Pheasant   36

Pintail   37

Rook   38

Shoveler  39

Wigeon   40

Good to get out with Mark Wright again !

species count = 40

Tuesday 3 January 2023 - Swans in Kent

 I just needed to see the visiting swans today so, despite the awful conditions I drove down to Walland Marsh in Kent to twitch the Whoopers and the Bewicks.

• The usual road via the Woolpack Inn was closed due to flooding so I took the route via Old Romney to Hawthorn Corner where I found the Bewick swans feeding in a field about 100 metres away.  There were at least 35, all showing well.  
• A little further along the road I came to the 2 Whooper swans and a single mute swan in the field just behind Midley Cottages and again quite distant so scope views were essential to confirm the ID.

Bewick swan   23

Whooper swan   24

Mute swan   25

I didn't hang around too long - it was wet and windy with more rain forecast soon.   

species count = 25

Monday 2 January 2023 Quiet day 2

Monday 2 January 2023

Walking the dog a.m.

Goldfinch 21

                    Mallard   22

 

The weather won today - only 2 additions to my year list

 species count = 22

Sunday 1 January 2023 Happy New Year - slow start to my 2023 birding.

 1 January 2023

Walking the dog a.m.

The ground was saturated for today's walk so the birding was not good.  The highlights were my first green woodpecker of 2023 and the sight of a small flock of long-tailed tits as they flew low past me.

Blackbird   1

Blue Tit   2

Carrion Crow   3

Collared Dove   4

Dunnock    5

Great Tit   6

Green Woodpecker   7

Herring Gull   8

House Sparrow   9

Jackdaw    10

Long-tailed Tit   11

Magpie   12

Robin   13

Feral Pigeon   14

Song Thrush   15

Starling   16

Woodpigeon   17

Wren   18

At Heathfield p.m.

This time last year I was looking at Hawfinches field outside Heathfield.  No such luck this year.  By way of consolation I saw a redwing and a sparrowhawk.

Redwing   19

Sparrowhawk   20

A planned, slow start!

species count = 20