June 2015 archive

Jun 30 2015

Summary : June 2015

Summary : June 2015

New Species added to 2015 Year List in June= 17

Running Total for the 2015 UK So Far = 146

New UK Life List Birds In June = 2

Our Garden

The garden continues to be full of ravenous young Starlings. A Robin visits now and again but the neighbours House Sparrows seem to have decided that the gras is greener over our side. A pair of Dunnocks is seen and a few Blue Tits. A Great Tit and a Coal Tit have been seen. Woodpigeons, Collared Doves and Stock Doves can’t be kept away and the evenings are full of Blackbird song. It seems like there are many more than usual this year. We have seen a couple of juvenile Goldfinches as well as a few adults; this may be the first ones in two years and hopefully we will more soon. Swifts are occasionally seen overhead but nowhere as many as there were a few years ago; it is quite a worry. Locally the House Martins seem less common as well.

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Jun 29 2015

RSPB Otmoor : 29th June 2015

RSPB Otmoor : 29th June 2015

As we left the Fat Fox in Watlington to return to Manchester we stopped off at RSPB Otmoor with the hope that we might be able to see the Turtle Doves that breed there – one of the few places where you are in with a good chance of seeing this increasingly rare bird. As it happens, we did not manage to see them or even hear them as most other people we ran into that morning had but that didn’t stop us having a fantastic sighting and another sighting that was a life tick.

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Jun 26 2015

Rye Harbour Nature Reserve : 26th June 2015

Rye Harbour Nature Reserve : 26th June 2015

Having spent the morning ot RSPB Dungeness we spent some time walking around Rye Town and we found ourselves with a little time at the end of the day so we made a return visit to Rye Harbour Nature Reserve. This time we took another path to reach the “Steve Denny Hide” where we hoped to try again for Little Terns. This involved entering the Leisure Park (actually a static mobile home park) and walked through the middle of it, turning slightly left near the far end and walking over a bridge over a small stream. Following this round took us to a more inland part of the reserve than we had been to before.

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Jun 26 2015

RSPB Dungeness : 26th June 2015

RSPB Dungeness : 26th June 2015

On the morning of the 26th we stopped at Dereck Jarman’s garden first before heading off for RSPB Dungeness which I had never been to before but was curious to see. We started by dropping into the visitor centre where we immediately got a good year tick when one of the staff pointed out a Common Gull sitting on a nest on a raft just in front of the reception ; there was also a pair of nesting Oystercatchers on the same raft. In fact Common Gulls at this site were extremely common and were one of the many goodsightings we had.

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Jun 25 2015

The New Inn at Wincheslea 25th June 2015

The New Inn at Wincheslea 25th June 2015

After we left Rye Harbour we went to our hotel for the next couple of days, the New Inn at Winchelsea where we had a nice room overlooking the graveyard in which Spike Milligan is buried and the church of which has magnificent Arts and Crafts stained glass windows. The room we had was the one right behind the pub sign and gave us lovely views of Swifts in the evening. On our first post-dinner walk we took a stroll round the graveyard and church and noted that the ruined part of the building (presumably a monastery before the Reformation) held Swifts nests which was the first time I have ever seen Swifts nesting in stone niches. There were plenty of them and they obviously had young they were feeding as they kept returning to feed their young before sallying forth again for more food.

Jun 25 2015

Rye Harbour Nature Reserve : 25th June 2015

Rye Harbour Nature Reserve : 25th June 2015

After our visit to the Stodmarsh NNR, Sandwich and Deal we finished up at Rye Harbour Nature Reserve. The whole reserve is quite big so we concentrated more on the part that borders the sea and takes in the Ternary Pool which was our principle interest with Little Terns ours target species. Unfortunately we did not manage to see these birds which do breed here but we still had plenty of good birds so we were happy enough.

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Jun 25 2015

Stodmarsh NNR : 25th June 2015

Stodmarsh NNR : 25th June 2015

On the morning of the 25th June we set out from Canterbury to Winchelsea with a planned stop off en route atthe Natural England Stodmarsh Nature Reserve. This was another well reviewed birding site and we were not to be disappointed with a good range of birds and some special little ones.

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Jun 24 2015

Sandwich Bay Bird Observatory : 24th June 2015

Sandwich Bay Bird Observatory : 24th June 2015

From Blean Woods we drove towards Winchesea stopping to do some tourist things at Whitstable (Oysters for lunch) and Herne Bay (Ice Cream on the prom), the latter of which did not seem to think that summer had started and was something of a ghost prom/pier. Of much more interest was our next port of call which was Sandwich Bay. Sandwich Bay and Pegwell are well-known reserves bu they were new to us. We weren’t sure where was best to go so we asked at a local toilets cum information office and we were directed to the Sandwich Bay Bird Observatory and Field Centre which we found by following the signs to the golf courses and then on to Sandwich Bay Estate (Sandown Road then Guilford Road) to the toll both. This toll booth charges a lot of money; it is a private road to a private estate. As it happened it was unmanned when we were there but, apparently, if you say you are only visiting the Bird Observatory the charge is just a pound. At the observatory they are happy for you to park there and go on foot to discover the rest of the area thus avoiding the steep toll. We found the observatory a quarter of a mile on the left from the tollbooth at 51.268281, 1.372647 and even though they were nearly done for the day they could not have made us feel more welcome.

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Jun 24 2015

RSPB Blean Woods : 24th June 2015

RSPB Blean Woods : 24th June 2015

After our party we had three days in Canterbury We did the usual tourist things but also went to RSPB Blean Woods. which had been recommended to us for good birding. We parked at 51.294456, 1.042020 and took one of the longer circular routes around the woods. Although we didn’t see anything spectacular it was a lovely walk and you can easily imagine in spring that the place is alive with birds. It is a particular hot spot for Nightingales so we must really try to go back there again some time.

Jun 20 2015

Studley Green Red Kites : 20th June 2015

Studley Green Red Kites : 20th June 2015

We started our holiday in the south of England with a visit to friend’s wedding anniversary party in Maidenhead. As we drove down the M40 near to Maidenhead the usual Buzzards gave way to the local specialty – Red Kites. Not only are they the dominant large bird in the sky in that area (Aston Rowant Nature Reserve was one of the release locations for the original re-introduction of these birds to mainland Britain) but they are also mind-bogglingly numerous. Knowing this did not stop our amazement at what we were shortly going to see.

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