Tomorrow is another day

Today we went over to Walthamstow, to bring Sam over for a couple of days stay. As we left the northern end of Blackwall Tunnel my phone rang and Pam answered it. Jack was calling to tell me they'd just found a Wryneck in the Freedown.

I'd walked round the Freedown every day this week so it was a bit galling to know that on the day I didn't, a Wryneck had put in an appearance.

When we got back it was still not quite dusk and in the hope that the Wryneck had a late ant snack attack I decided to have a quick whizz round.

Needless to say I didn't see it, or for that matter any other bird out feeding. I did hear one of it's relatives, a Green Woodpecker, calling loudly from Farm Wood and a couple of Meadow Pipits flew over calling. A Chiffchaff had a half-hearted attempt at a song and a Robin gave a melancholy greeting as I walked by, but that was it.

As the sun sank lower in the Sky I decided that it wasn't going to happen today, and I hope that it will still be around tomorrow.

I walked past Bockhill Cottage and it was the first time in the ten years that I've been in the village that someone was in residence. I think it's great that an historic building is back in use and hope that it makes a good home for the new owners.

Scraping the barrel

Another very quiet morning at Bockhill. There was a Spotted Flycatcher in the Freedown and the "big field" did hold three Wheatears and a Whinchat, but although I scanned every clod I couldn't find the Dotterel that had been in my minds eye when I started out! It must be because I read about the Dotterel on Pendle Hill on Mike Watson's blog last night. I did bump into Gerald Bovis and his wife, it was good to meet someone who was just a name on a couple of comments on the blog until then.

High tide at Pegwell was around 5 p.m. tonight, and for some reason I though that a visit to Backsands Scrape might be worth while. Today was one of those days when the journey wasn't really worth it. The usual group of Redshanks (20+), Greenshanks (8) and one Spotted Redshank were in the far corner and a Snipe was probing on the edge opposite. One Greenshank dropped in briefly, right in front of the hide, but soon decided to join the others.

On the way back I popped into the Restharrow Scrape hide in the hope that there might be some activity there. A couple of Little Ringed Plovers were running round on one of the small islands and a Common Sandpiper bobbed up and down on the island in front of the hide. One Green Sandpiper made a noisy entrance and continued to announce it's island hopping movements with it's musical calls. Suddenly I was aware of movement at the edge of the reeds and a Water Rail came into view.

The evening light was now putting a warn glow on everything. The Water Rail was pretty much perpetual motion and slipped along between the reeds.

A one point it crossed a small open space but it quickly accelerated across it. The sun caught the front of the bird and reflected in it's eye.

When it got in front of the hide it sprinted along to the thicker reeds, to the left, which by now was directly into the setting sun. One Garganey was feeding with a small group of Teal along the right hand side of the pool. A pleasant end to the day.

Runner Bean Blues

A beautiful day, but with the clear night most of the migrants had cleared out. There were very few warblers around, but the walk to Hope Point was still worth while.

This Common Buzzard flew over me in the Paddock, but it was only when the corvids started their noisy pursuit that I became aware of it. AT this time of year one can hope for a nice Honey Buzzard, but although I tried this one remained a Common one.

I did come across a disappearing Wheatear. Now that the fields are being ploughed Wheatears are hard to see and the large clods make it even harder.

This one became easier to spot when it stretched it wings and showed it's "white-arse", an old country name name for the bird.

It seemed to do a lot of stretching, it might have been using the sunshine to encourage any parasites to the surface before preening.

I really like their rather proud and cocky stance, it has a form of defiance in the attitude.

The Holly Blue in the garden seems to be showing as much liking to our runner beans as I do. There surely is no better vegetable when fresh than a Runner. It's such a pity that the growing season is short and worse when the wind blows half of the flowers off!

Willow Chiff?

Not so many birds around today and I failed to find any Flycatchers. In the Freedown there was a large flock of feeding birds in the hedge, mainly Long-tailed Tits (20+), a few Blue Tits and Great Tits and several Willow Warblers and Chiffchaffs.

If they are not calling or singing these two warblers can be a real problem to sort out. Despite the extremely good field guides I still think that they can be more similar than current literature indicates.

This is either a Willow Warbler or a Chiffchaff, it was easier for me as I could see the whole bird and it was calling.

Although it may not look like it this is a different bird and a different species.

If you get a good look at the feet and legs these are a really good clue to the identity.

These legs and feet belong to the other bird. I think that the bright light is shining on the left leg making it look paler than it did in the field.

This Willow Warbler has the yellow feet that are characteristic, and in the top picture it seems to have a slightly longer and paler bill. It gave the two syllable hu-weet call. It looks like an adult to me, as it is nowhere near as yell as many of the juveniles around.

Dark legs and no yellow on the feet of this Chiffchaff. It also constantly wagged its tail, the way Chiffchaffs do. The call is, to my ear, more strident and and only one syllable. The bill looks slightly smaller and darker than the Willow Warbler's in the second picture.

The majority of birds in the flock were Long-tailed Tits, this one seems to be having the equivalent of a bad hair day.

Hiding from the Wind

The wind really made flogging round Bockhill an uncomfortable experience today. It was OK in some sheltered areas but in any open site the 30 mph wind made it difficult to find anything. We did hear at least one Treecreeper in Farm Wood, 16 days after I seen two with Brendan and Steve. I suspect that they have stayed around undiscovered until today. In the Paddock there were still two Whinchats and a couple of Spotted Flycatchers but far fewer warblers were evident.

In the end I decided to do a bit of birding in the shelter of the Restharrow Scrape Hide. There wasn't a great deal to see this afternoon. A couple of Dunlins, refugees from the high tide were feeding on one small island, but the light was poor in that direction.

Right in front of the hide a young or female Garganey drifted by. They are not as conspicuous as the beautiful spring drakes but they do have a distinctive face pattern.

I was rewarded with a close visit from the juvenile Little Ringed Plover that been around for a while.

The yellow eye-ring is already quite noticeable but it is not as bright as the the adults'. The pale fringes on all the mantle feathers were apparent from close range.

The success of Little Ringed Plovers as breeding birds in the UK is very much due to the building industry. In the 19th century it was a very rare bird with only eight recorded example and until they bred at Tring in 1938 there were only another seven records. Two pairs bred at Tring in 1944 and then the colonisation of Britain began, with the huge expansion of gravel pits and workings. By 1972 there were around 400 pairs and by 1984 the estimate was between 825 and 1070 pairs, with breeding confirmed in both Scotland and Ireland. It will be interesting to see what changes thee have been when the new atlas is published. It is one of the few species that has both directly benefited from man's activities and is not accused of being a public nuisance.

Up in the Canopy, something moves

Although there may have been marginally fewer birds around than yesterday there was still lots to see, but it appeared that most were the same birds as yesterday with few new arrivals.

There were two Pied Flycatchers at the farm and although Spotted Flycatchers often sit out and pose for the camera Pied Flycatchers are a wholly different ball game. They like to stay high up in the canopy of the big trees and, although they are often visible either chasing each other or doing their job and catching insects, they seldom sit still in the open. When they do it is usually the white belly, high in the tree that is visible.

Occasionally I could see the pattern on the wing. Here you can see the small amount of white on the primaries, confirming that, nice as it is, it isn't something to get the pulse racing.

We are at the end of August and the delicate flowers of Autumn Ladies Tresses are now in bloom. There are a few around the Monument and in the paddock, but the vast majority are growing in the lawns of private gardens. This is a mixed blessing as although they are not being trampled on they are at the mercy of the dreaded lawn mower. I have never really appreciated the value of a beautiful, but sterile piece of manufacture grass carpet as opposed to a wonderful mixture of grass and flowers. That way I have a great excuse for allowing the clover, daises and various other plants, regarded as weeds by the manic gardener to grow unhindered in my patch of grass.

Along the cliff top there was a good movement of Swallows and Martins with just a couple of Swifts making a late exit from our less than summery weather. Most Swifts seem to arrive on or about May 3rd and leave around August 6th. A few continue to be seen for a few weeks, but the later it gets the more they need to be scrutinised.

Looking over the cliff House Martins could be seen above the waves on their way to their wintering grounds. Many House Martins remain into October, and have second broods, but some leave after earlier, the main passage being in September.

New arrivals

After wasting time looking through the collection of common moths that arrived in my traps overnight I hurried off to Bockhill, hoping that the overnight conditions might have brought some migrants in.

I walked down to Hope Point, which was alive with birds, mainly Willow Warblers, Whitethroats and Lesser Whitethroats, with Chiffchaffs, Reed Warblers, Blackcaps and Garden Warblers adding the the warbler list. A group of four Whinchats were moving through, flying from bush to bush.

As soon as I had taken a distant record shot and started to try and get closer to the bird it move off and disappeared towards the golf course. Ahead of me four of the Bockhill group were birding along the Lees. When I caught up with them, it appeared that the Whinchats hadn't been there when they "did" Hope Point a few minutes earlier, showing that birds were still arriving.

Nigel pointed out this Ruddy Darter, resting on a bramble. Common Darters are far more frequent here, but since we don't have any Dragonfly breeding habitat around it is good to see so many around.

The Freedown was very birdy when we got there, and three Whichats on the tops were probably part of the group I'd seen earlier. A male Redstart jumped in and out of the hedge, but did a disappearing act when I tried to get closer.

There were several Spotted Flycatchers in the area, and they proved a bit more co-operative, although they seldom remained in one place for long.

I returned to the Freedown later this afternoon, hoping to re-find the Restart, but failed. Willow Warblers were still prominent, several chasing each other along the hedge.

The Spotted flycatchers were still around. They seemed to be using the large hedge to stay out of the wind, and were often perched on the fence.

Every now and again they would dive off of their perch and catch an insect, the click of their beaks being clearly audible.

When I got bact to the farm a Little Owl was sitting out on it'd favourite perch, but as usual as soon as the camera was pointing his way he was off.

He was quite content to sit in the tree while I took his picture, I suppose that he feels more secure in the denser cover.