BLUE IS THE COLOUR

mini twitch to day myself rob and adam meeting at swalecliffe hoping for a kent tick on the KP,freezing our nuts of for a few hours with no joy,normal bits and bobs seen,then a message came in in about the BLUE THROAT being seen again at the hoe,a few moments thinking about it and we where off with mr ashton in tow after him seeing on the beach,never got to the hoe so quick,after the last one that me and adam dpped on,but we had are lucky charm rob who never dipped on one,as soon as we got out the car we saw it

the weather was terrible with sleet a few half decent shots taken,happy as larry we all was,but it was bitter and blue really summed it up,after meeting loads of local birders we know we soon departed back to swalecliffe for another go for the KP,after returning we met up with mark and phil,so hunted high and low and with no joy,then i found a roost of ring plovers and in front of them on the ridge was the KP showing very well so called the other over with rob seeing it briefly,then they took flight and adam saw it too,but we never refound it

taken in lesvos last year,the one today was adult bird looking rather stunning

BACK TO THE HARBOUR

after the heavy on saturday and meeting martyn at grove we went down to stodmarsh and sat in the feast hide only bird in view was a great crested grebe

after having a wander about we departed and i headed to dover and stayed on the POW all the time,good number of sandwich feeding in the inner harbour,also a harbour porpoise and a single sand martin and common tern

a couple guillemots, one which was a BRIDLED, which came in very close in summer plumage and it nice white glass

the other guillemots was very close as will,yet no light

but the highlight for me was a rather smart adult shag would liked stunning in the sun light  "i wish"

not the best bunch of photos but if the sun was nowt would be,a couple shots of kittiwakes

A OWL A DAY KEEPS THE DOCTOR AWAY

after a soggy weekend witn nowt to report apart from a wheatear at marsh hide and a few dunlin and couple of godwits the camera stayed firmly in my bag,so zero photos until to day after dragging myself though the mud up to the water meadows for a little erget i was getting very pissed off with the place,so i headed back to the ramp hoping for something to brighten my day no luck,with this i lit a fag and just sat and enjoyed the the evening sun,with this the barn owl shot past any owl brightens your day, quick grab of camera i hid behind the screen and watched this beautiful bird hunting along the reed bed,to my amazement it work it it way right up to the screen saw me and legged it

WALKING ON WATER

for once in a long time, i finished work and it was still day light and the sun was out so headed towards the twin towers of recuvler and i was hoping i was going to see a little gull up close let alone get a photo,i had all ready seen one this year in the harbour so not a year tick,i soon spotted one in with the black heads but it flew off towards the carpark so i walked back and spent the next hours watching it as it tiptoed on the surface of the sea and feeding

MY 201ST VALLEY BIRD

At last i have broken the two hundred mark for stodmarsh and grove,been a very hard slog over many years i remember my very first valley mega a whiskered tern may 2008,see i do keep records

then may 2009 as i was away in bonnie scotland a black wing pratincole turned up since then i don't really miss much,apart from when i have to work on saturdays,MARTYN has the tendancys to find things then like the whitewinged  black terns which i did get,my return to the valley last week was nice with finding a knot on the water meadows

so it good to be back with great company,but today was no different with me marytn and young bernie birding as normal,ramp harrisons and watermeadows and then tower hide where martyn does the duck count,but today bernie picked up a wader flying towards us distance at first then closer flew straight past us my 201st bird for the valley nothing rarer mega or strange but of all things a TURNSTONE a common bird else where but in valley a very rare wader,is this the year when the valley gets a mega it due soon very soon

CAMERA DID MAKE A APPERANCE

being back in the valley is always hard to get a photo, saturday was know difference,it was nice to just bird for once in good company with martyn and alan,always having a joke later on bumping into steve not a lot going on apart from the normal suspects and of course the penduline tit,long staying bird,only real decent add to the list this weekend was the knot a valley scarce bird, seen more purple herons then knots, quick alerts to the locals and a quick ring to martyn,only my second knot in the valley,sunday was the same with a barn owl hunting in the field next to the ramp,rest of the time was trying to get a few shots of the penduline tit

 

 we was quite likely to day as the pen flew behind us in the mace but there was always a reed in the way but glad i at last got a few shots of it close

PENDULINE TIT