First Weekend of the Month

1st August

Back to birding and a race around the levels and seafront starting along Seasalter Lane with a hobby being the first bird of the day. Not a great deal out over the levels but in the roadside bushes a blackcap, greenfinch plus plenty of goldfinches and reed warblers.  Fly-overs were stock doves, green woodpecker and a couple of skylarks out in the fields, no harriers though.

A view back to Whitstable, the beach has a new shingle 'Street', a good place to fish to not to roost!

Down to the seafront where the tide was coming in I counted 22 egrets, 16 common terns resting on various rocks, curlews, a few redshanks, 8 super looking grey plovers, 1 barwit plus c.150 blackwits, six gulls species were present including Med gull (opp the Sportsman). Inland, my first winter robin was tacking away, they come back to the garden early August as well. 

 Large White

Gatekeeper

A walk around the plots was quiet, a few whitethroats but no stonechats, reed buntings or harriers but a brown hawker was good to see!  Plenty of gatekeepers, whites, skippers, 1 painted lady, 2 peacocks but no blues today! 

Several lone whimbrels

Back to the seafront, the tide was nearly up to the beach where I saw 2 Sandwich terns, several whimbrel singletons, 2 common sandpipers and 3 ringed plovers. Finally I returned to SS Lane only finding a buzzard plus later good numbers of swifts going west plus 2 sand martins.

2nd

A short visit to the plots trying to mop up a few I missed yesterday finding; 1 chaffinch, 2 wrens, dunnock, pheasant and 1 reed bunting (they seem to have all but gone) and still no stonechat.  I ventured up to the YC hoping to find a golden plover without success but perhaps better was a bright willow warbler in a bush next to the pond. Also the now lone rook put in an appearance next to the toilet block.  I had one of my biggest counts of 44 egrets strung out along the shore.

A count of 44 egrets today. One of the new big turbines in the distance plus the mast of a barge!

I left early and went up to Tankerton Slopes where there was a car show of 500 vehicles parked from Whit.Castle along to the other end of the slopes plus several groups playing all day. 

'The Electric Beatles', the lead singer had a voice just like John Lennon. I thought they were good!