Little Tern Wardening

 17th May

Second Monday morning at Castle Coote but this time I decided to walk there as the previous rain must have made the track a bit slippery. Its about three quarters of an hour to get there, about two miles and the weather was dark and gloomy with rain threatening which somehow didn't happen.  I wondered why I went today in such weather as the tide was out as well so there wouldn't be much to see..........and there wasn't.

However, I saw 3-4 corn buntings, 2 wheatears, 5 yellow wagtails, lots of skylarks, reed buntings and sedges, 1 kestrel, 2 lesser blk backed gulls, 2 redshanks, 4 oystercatchers and a couple of ringed plovers. On the walk back I saw a painted lady and my first small heath.

PM., visit to see some terns but were distant however, 4 gannets were a better as a new year tick

                                                       The eider making itself comfy

                                                                           Corn Bunting

                                     Linnet nesting on seaward side of the wall in bramble

Spent time photographing this spider as it spun its web, the silk coming from this gland underneath it.

Whitethroat Breeding

 16th May

Didn't go out yesterday because of the rain squalls but better today. Hoped to see the strange wagtail again but didn't but Mark had seen it being fed behind the huts by two adult greys.

The new hedge planted a couple of years ago by the Sportsman PH has developed really well and is full of birds mainly sparrows but I have noticed a whitethroat nesting in there and maybe why we are seeing a few lesser whitethroats this year...goldcrests and chiffs earlier.

Along the wall the usual reed buntings, yellow wagtails, mipits with food and I managed to photograph a common lizard which came out onto a lump of wood also took a photo of a St Marks fly.

I returned pm to get fleeting glimpses of little and Sandwich terns.

So Cold

 14th May

Only 9-10 degs this morning and cold wind again so just a quick walk seeing a couple of swallows and a Med gull of note, soon went back home.

Returned pm seeing a Med gull again plus a small copper near the huts.

Cuckoos

 13th May

It was raining most of the day so no birding until the evening when it turned sunny.  I went to Mt. Pleasant corner and heard a nightingale there and a great spot drumming. Later moved down to the Sportsman meeting Andy Bowers where two cuckoos were chasing one another around. 

I walked down towards the huts seeing a strange wagtail which I managed a quick shot. Looked to be a very young grey wagtail or what was suggested by Norman McCanch a white morph yellow wagtail. A lot of comments on FB but wasn't resolved but the next day MC photographed it and said it was a grey and the next day it was being fed by adults. I also saw a grey wagtail flying away calling so.........was it the same bird??

Mistle Thrush and Fox

 12th May

A quiet morning at SS, a couple of whimbrel by the pumping station  a couple of gadwall was about it. Met and had a long chat with Richard Smith who was here for the eider. Finished after an hour.

PM., I went to Wraik hill stopping to photograph a mistle thrush alongside the road and found a nice fox to photograph later at the hill.

Large Red-Damselfly and Green-winged Orchids at Wraik Hill

 11th May

Not much going on today at SS, a wheatear by the huts, a couple of swallows so I left and took a look at Wraik Hill.  A couple of nomads bees and my first large red damselfly but not much else. I than went over to the back field where I counted 33 green-winged orchids and another nightingale was singing in the scrub to the east of the 'Oaks'.

Tern Wardening and Common Piper at Castle Coote

 10th April

Overnight rain made the track a bit slippery in places but no problem, the weather still a bit ifffy.  I saw 37 species whilst on duty this side of the Swale inc. 6 gadwall which seem to be more regular than mallard, 2 swifts, 1 whitethroat in the bush on the seawall, 2 whimbrel , only 1 corn bunting, 11 shelduck, a group of 93 dunlin which landed very close, the eider looking a bit sorry for itself but has no problem feeding, 1 common tern, and just 2 LITTLE TERNS which sat on the site twice but then disappeared, a group of 49 ringed plovers dropped in for a while as the tide was coming up, 1 cetti's, and 1 house martin.

A walk a little way along the path I found 2 common sandpipers on the rocky apron and another whimbrel. There were still 6 wheatears along the wall and lots of yellow wagtails.