Cliffe Pools

A rather grey late afternoon at Cliffe,  properly with most birds too far away to photograph. I had a good look at the Great Black-backed Gulls for colour-rings, but had no luck reading the rings of the two (probably) Scandinavian birds - with orange rings on the left tibia - that were there.

Looking at the bills of the GBB Gulls, few seemed entirely adult, and although this one was close, the dark marking on the bill might indicate either a 4th winter or young adult bird.  A Juvenile GBB and juvenile Herring Gull behind and to the right.

This is probably a first winter bird, with a completely black bill, and now a paler head than a juvenile:

This is quite a nice view of what is probably a third winter bird with the tip of the bill turning yellow but the rest remaining black, and what looks like a mix of grey and black on the back:

This group below I think  indicates the variation in apparent size of the Great Black-backed Gull, with the younger male on the right (bill completely black, grey markings on the back) being substantially bigger than what are probably first a 4th winter female (slight black markings on the bill) and then an adult female on the left - and then I wasn't not sure of the rearmost bird.

This youngster is showing the classic angled forehead, flat crown and rather mean eye, together with the parallel-sided large bill with a bulbous tip.

Cliffe Pools

About 30 Redshank, half a dozen Ringed Plover, two or three Black-Tailed Godwits starting to show brick-red chests, a dozen Golden Plover developing summer plumage, being beaten up by some of the dozen or so Lapwing, one female Goldeneye, three or so Shelduck, a few Mallard, a few Shoveller, 50 or more Coot, half a dozen Teal, several hundred Black-headed Gulls, three or more Mediterranean Gulls, two plus Common Gulls, Larus canus, possibly a few Herring Gulls, a couple of Cormorants.

Cliffe Pools on a lovely autumn afternoon

Very much enjoyed the Black Tern in winter plumage flying and then settled by BB1/BB2.

Another cracking day at Cliffe Pools

A standard long walk around - in warm sunshine! On Crytal/Elf/Conoco pools there were many Black-headed Gulls and a pair of Mediterranean Gulls, together with quite a few Greylag Geese. Pochard, Mallard and Tufted Duck. There were two Oystercatchers and one Snipe at the waters edge at the front of one of the islands. There were a few Little and Great Crested Grebes, together with Coot and one Moorhen over the water.

There was a Robin and Chaffinch singing on the other side of the path to the Pinnacle lookout mound. The viewing mound over Radar was dominated by the Black-headed Gulls, displaying, attempting to mate and always excitedly calling. There were also at least two pairs of Mediterranean Gulls, together with two pairs of Oystercatchers. Always wandering in among the gulls are Jackdaws, who seem to be moderately tolerated, and a few duck settled down comfortably such as Pochard.

Waders resting up on the islands at the high tide peak included a couple of dozen Common Redshanks, about five hundred Black-tailed Godwits and and over a hundred Avocets, although I didn't see any Dunlin on Radar Pool today.

On the water there were Tufted Duck, Pochard, a few Pintail and Shoveller and a large raft of Wigeon. Coots, Little Grebes and Great Crested Grebes. There were Greylag Geese and Shelduck at the back by Hidden Pool.

Walking on to Black Barn Pools to eat my sandwiches in the sunshine, I passed several Cetti's Warblers hiding in the ditches who briefly sang at me. On the pools there were Pochard, Shoveller, Mallard, Tufted Duck, Coot, Little Grebe, Great Crested Grebe, a few Black-headed Gulls and two Little Egrets.

On Flamingo Pool, there were about a dozen Ringed Plovers, at least two Dunlin, Lapwing, many dozen Common Redshank, Avocets (largely moved from Radar?), and at least two Curlew.  Pochard, Tufted Duck, Mallard, at least one remaining pair of Goldeneye, the male being a first winter bird, with head colours morphing into the blackish of the adult with the white patch, but still with the odd headshape, brownish eye, and darkish flanks of the young bird, a few Shoveller, Shelduck, more Coot, Great Crested (a pair displaying in the distance, probably on Hidden Pool) and Little Grebes. Black-headed Gulls, and then a Barn Owl hunting over the marsh at the back.

The male first winter bird, with head colours morphing into the blackish of the adult with the white patch, but still with the odd headshape, brownish eye, and darkish flanks of the young bird. A few months ago it would have been nearly indistinguishable from a female, but would have lacked the yellow bill tip. It is sitting quite low in the water.

There was a Little Egret quite close before I left.

There were Blackbirds, Robins, Chaffinches and a Great Tit singing along the track back to the car.

Lovely but slightly chilly day at Cliffe

When looking at the few Oystercatchers on the islands there was clearly one with a white neck-ring. This could have been an adult that had not yet moulted with a duller bill tip, or perhaps more likely an immature bird that retains its white neck-ring throughout at least the first breeding season (second year). If it was an immature I should also have noticed a duller eye, greyer legs perhaps, a less intense black on the back, and an overall duller and perhaps more pointed bill - but I didn't look. The pointed bill indicates feeding on mudflats and pastures, as the strongest adults strongly defend the best bits of the oysterbeds, the oysters and mussels of which they attack and lever op with a broader blade-shaped bill.

The pale delicate whitish-grey small bird with the Redshanks, with a stiletto bill and orange-yellow legs. Could it have been a Wilson's Phalarope? If not, what are the alternative IDs?

A composed Cliffe

A slow walk around the long path around Cliffe.

Three or four Little Egrets, hundreds of Lapwings, a hundred Black-tailed Godwit, forty plus Redshank, one Greenshank, three or four Dunlin, four Oystercatcher.

Forty plus Teal, Twenty plus Mallard, over a hundred Wigeon, twenty plus Shoveller, fifteen or so Pintail, more than fifty Tufted Duck, ditto Pochard, Twenty or more Greylags, half a dozen Canada Geese.

Hundreds of Black-headed Gulls, one Common Gull (1cy), Larus canus, several Herring Gulls overflying.

Forty plus Little Grebe, four or five Great Crested Grebe.

A dozen Magpie, at least six Carrion Crow, Rooks on the field, six Dunnock, five (heard) Cetti's Warbler, at least three Robins, same for Blackbirds, one Great Tit, 

Early spring at Cliffe

The Black-headed Gulls are displaying noisily all over the islands, arguing with each other and the jackdaws.

There are still some numbers of wintering ducks, particularly Wigeon, of which there are still hundreds. I wonder where they all go in the summer. There were about a dozen Pintail who were spending much of their time upending, and a few Teal and Mallard in the distance. There were dozens of Pochard, mainly male of course, females having travelled further South. Tufted Duck were widely distributed across all of the pools.

The Goldeneye are the most interesting duck to me, because of their relative rarity and delicate beauty. The males and females seem to be more closely associated with each other now, either in pairs or triads. The first pair I saw were apparently together. The female was almost apparently comatose, with its neck and head extended out forwards to sit flat on the water. This is called the prone-posture, and is sometimes referred to as a form of inciting. It is understood as a prelude to mating, and is generally seen from February onwards on the wintering grounds, both when the birds are first in groups and then as the birds pair up, and then later when the birds are fully and "permanently" paired up on the breeding grounds. This stillness was very striking and long-lasting lasting several minutes (the record is about 30 minutes I believe), and is referred to in BWP in the section on copulation behaviour, although the male in this case was not apparently adding the full range of other typical behaviours, and the sequence of events finished with another female joining the pair, and then the individuals diving individually. The male was moving around in front or almost circling the female, quite close, perhaps within the 60 cm mentioned in BWP, displaying by vigorously throwing its head backwards, although too far away to hear if it was calling as well. NOTE - the male also sometimes goes briefly prone, perhaps as a prelude to attack in antagonistic displays.

The females were too far away to be seen clearly and were recognised  by overall shape, grey-brownish tinge, and occasionally the wing-bar. As always the bill is tipped yellow. The Eastman book from North America says that this yellow tip disappears after the breeding season, and re-appears over winter in preparation for the next one.

A couple of dozen Little Grebe, but no Black-necked Grebes as far as I could see. Basically, when I scan the water, if it is at all brownish, then I am eliminating the other Grebes, and this does seem to work.

A still Cliffe

One Greenshank at the back of Ski Pool and another or the same seen later at the seaward end of Flamingo. One Barn Owl hunting over by Black Barn. A male Marsh Harrier on the far side of Hidden Pool and Flamingo. Both birds of prey also reported by Russel Brockett.

Between one and two thousand Black-tailed Godwits, about 500 Dunlin and 350 Grey Plover. Must have been a hundred plus Lapwings. A few Oystercatcher split between Radar and Flamingo and two plus Curlew, both on Flamingo. Three Ringed Plover on Flamingo. A couple of dozen Redshank feeding on Flamingo.

Thousands of Wigeon spread across Radar to Flamingo Pools. A hundred or so Tufted Duck. A handful of Teal and up to a score of Pintail, Thirty or so Mallard, maybe a few more Pochard. Shovellers at the back, mainly on the Black Barn Pools. About eight Goldeneye, maybe the same number of Shelduck. A dozen Greylag on the Radar islands, half a dozen Canada Geese on the Conoco Pool.

Only about seventy Coot, mainly on Flamingo. About 50 Little Grebe, but only a few Little Grebes

Black-headed Gulls still taking up their territories on all the islands.

Great views of a Kingfisher by the path along the side of Radar. A few Magpies and Crows on the margins, and a small flock of Starlings.

A wonderful if slightly chilly afternoon with lots of waders at high tide!

Cliffe gets amorous!

A male and female marsh harrier, two barn owls, a kestrel, four greenshank.

A quiet sunny spell at Cliffe

A lovely afternoon.

Declining numbers of Coot, Teal and Pochard, but plenty of Wigeon still. A Greenshank busy on the spit on Flamingo.

Bewicks at Cliffe

A bit cold but at least sunny this afternoon, and Cliffe was looking good. Plenty of Wigeon, Tufted Duck and Lapwing on Radar, relatively few Pochard and Teal.

A great male Marsh Harrier flew along the back of Radar.

There were at least three Greenshank flicking back and forward at the far side of Radar and Ski Pool. Beautiful grey delicate birds as usual.

11 Bewick's Swans were feeding on Flamingo pool, where there were at least three drake Goldeneye and four females. A couple of Pintail in amongst the Teal and Mallard. A few Shoveller, and a few flying as normal.

Greenshank at Cliffe

Lovely day at Cliffe, with the scope working well to check out the distant waterfowl!

A male and female Goldeneye on Radar, loads of Wigeon, Tufted Duck, Pochard, Coot and Little Grebe. Also Shoveller, Pintail, Mallard, Greylag, Great Crested Grebe, Little Egret, Lapwing.

A Greenshank, nice to see one over-wintering as they sometimes do, on Ski Pool, together with a female Marsh Harrier and more ducks and grebes.

On Flamingo there were Grey Plover in among the Redshank and Lapwing, and a large group of Shoveller at the far end. About half a dozen Goldeneye in total. 

Egyptian Geese and a still sunset over the Thames

On the pastures towards the Alpha pool there were Greylags, Canada Geese and three Egyptian Geese.

Over the Thames the sun set in a blaze of colour, first garish oranges and then delicate pastels, as the initial intensity faded.

Bewick swans at Cliffe

I was so lucky to catch a couple of Bewick's Swans at Cliffe Pools. I saw them on the far side of Ski Pool when I arrived at the Radar Pool main viewpoint at about 3.45, but they had vanished by about 4 p.m. Using the highest magnification of the telescope I saw the yellow on the bill, but I thought clearly not enough yellow to be Whooper Swans - and the birds did look a little small!

A Barn Owl was hunting, and went down by one of the hedges, again at about 4.

There were also large numbers of Great Crested and Little Grebes, as well as Wigeon, Teal, Tufted Duck, Pochard and Mallard on Radar, with a few Gadwall, and then more Shoveller on Flamingo.

Bewick's Swan (named after the engraver Thomas Bewick) is still thought to be a subspecies, currently known as Cygnus columbianus bewickii of the Tundra Swan, Cygnus columbianus. There apears to be a typical cline within this species, largely of size and bill colouring - the type tends to be larger, with nearly entirely blackish bills, broken partly across the Bering Straits, separating the two subspecies. However some people have separated Bewick's off into a new species, Cygnus bewickii. The North American type, Cygnus columbianus columbianus, also used to be known as the whistling swan, of which there may be a little over 200,000 birds in total, and there have been a couple of suspected vagrants of this type subspecies recorded for the UK.

Bewick's Swan nests on the High Arctic tundra of Russia, from the Kanin peninsula all the way across to Kolyuchinskaya Bay, and winters in two main groups, the smaller one of about 20,000 birds in North-Western Europe (amber listed at European level) including 7,000 or so in the UK (decreasing slowly, and again amber listed), and the other larger group of about 100,000 birds in the Far East, mainly in China.

These eastern birds are larger than the European Bewick's and with less yellow on the bills but smaller than the American type birds and more yellow on the bills than them. There is a third very much smaller migration group that winters "in the middle" around the Black, Caspian and Aral Seas, but of only about 1,000 birds. Bewicks generally arrive on the breeding grounds in about May, laying eggs between mid-May and early July. Occurs in lone territorial pairs, nesting on mounds in wet areas.  Human activity and interference is apparently anathema on the breeding grounds.

Both parents remain with the cygnets, beginning their wing moult shortly after their chicks hatch. There are also gatherings of non-breeders (estimated at roughly 2/3 of the European population) at larger water-bodies. Post breeding migration starts soon after the young fledge, but with long stop-overs, with a few arriving in Kent as early as November. At times they are thought to migrate at altitudes of up to five mile up!

Often occurs in large flocks, as at Slimbridge where admittedly they are regularly fed and there is quite a lot of human interference, and in Kent there is often a "Thames flock" and a "Walland Marsh" flock. They may also be seen at Stodmarsh and Sandwich. The birds feed by night as well as day according to BWP, both on water and by grazing. And yet local opinion has it that they come to Cliffe pools to roost, e.g. from St Mary's Bay. Of course feeding and roosting are not entirely incompatible. They walk easily, and fly powerfully, with a little faster wing-beat than other swans.

Young first year birds tend to be a uniform grey, with ivory or whitish bills, like Whooper Swans, so young birds are usually identified by their "acccompanying" parents. The bills have less black and larger pale patches than the adults, and the black portion gradually extends until adulthood - and then presumably stabilise, for individual recognition.

Wintering patterns at detailed (country-sized) have altered over the years! They used to winter on Hebridean Islands, but were very scarce by the 1930s when they were first recorded wintering in England. English numbers had significantly increased in the last half of the 20th Century. Numbers have decreased in Ireland, possibly partly due to short-stopping in England! Winter much less nowadays in Germany, possibly because of drainage operations.

Average life expectancy of a little over 6 years.

Better weather at Cliffe

There were one or two opportunities to see male and female Goldeneyes not too far away.

Cliffe

About 2,000 Dunlin, 1,500 Lapwing, say 1,000 Golden Plover, 10 Grey Plover, 8 Redshank, 1 Heron, 2 male and 2 female Goldeneye, several dozen Mallard, only 4 Pintail seen, 1,000 plus Pochard, 200 Tufted Duck, Shoveller, Wigeon, only a couple of Teal at most, Great Crested Grebe, Little Grebe, Coot, Wren, 3 Magpies, 1 female Marsh Harrier. Inland, a dozen Fieldfares, and a Songthrush and Robin in song.

The tide was too high for any birds on the river, but the hopper dredger Charlemagne, of Luxembourg registration, was emptying gravel into the bulk hopper at the start of the dragline taking the gravel and then dumping it onto a pile inland, and then Ocean Promise, London, took the first of the ebb tide downstream.

A gorgeous quiet day, with hazel catkins all along the A228.

Cliffe initially sunny

Not good photography today, although the sun was good initially. A lovely peaceful and beautiful day. Good views of at least one male and probably two female Marsh Harriers.

Good numbers of Coot, both Grebes, Tufted Duck, Pochard, Wigeon, Teal, Shoveller, Mallard, together with some Moorhen, Pintail and two male and three female Goldeneye. Huge flocks of Lapwings, one Grey Heron, two little Egrets, half a dozen Redshank, one or two Greenshank. Black-headed and Herring Gulls. One bird appeared in distant photographs that must have been an owl,

Teal and a score of Redshank in the mouth of the river channel.

Cliffe in mild weather

160 Golden Plover, over a thousand Lapwing, several Redshank, Great Black-backed Gulls, one Lesser Black-backed Gull, Herring Gulls, Black-headed Gulls, Coot, Shoveller, Teal, Mallard, Wigeon, Pochard, Tufted Duck, Great Crested Grebe, Little Grebe, one Cormorant, two Grey Heron, four Marsh Harrier, two or three Fieldfares, two Black-tailed Godwits, two Curlew, one Little Egret, one Cetti's Warbler heard.

The weather held throughout the visit, from 12:30 until about 4 pm, although we lost the sun about 2 pm.

It was lovely to see the Golden Plover, Pluvialis apricaria (Linnaeus, 1758), in good numbers at Cliffe. The last time I saw them in numbers was on Horse Sands in the Swale on the "predators day" with Tony Swandale. 

Cliffe Pools before the rain

Just made it to the first viewpoint before it started raining.

On Conoco, there were lots of Coots, Redshank, Little Grebe, Great Crested Grebe, one Moorhen, five little Egret, and just one Tufted Duck. Met a nice chap called Marcus.

From the first viewpoint and the spot on the West side of Radar pool, there were some lots of Coots, Little Grebe, Great Crested Grebe, with some Black-tailed Godwits and Avocets, Redshanks, two probable Greenshank, some Little Egrets, a few Tufted Ducks, Black-headed Gulls, one Grey Heron and also a Wren chitting off to the right. A group of Greylags flighted over, but the rain soon set in and I bailed out!

Cliffe Pools

Walked up to Flamingo Pool where there were dozens of Great Black-backed and Black-headed Gulls roosting, together with a possible Whimbrel (very short bill, something of a central forehead stripe), Oystercatchers, Little Egrets, Coot and Great Crested Grebes.

At the start of the path there were perhaps a hundred Goldfinches on the bushes by the side of the track. I could hear Little Grebes calling across the central pool, where there were Redshanks and Lapwings roosting on the islands, and some Coot in the water.

Along the path I think I identified Bastard Cabbage, Rapistrum rugosum, with its clusters of small pale yellow flowers leaving behind long strings along the stems of double-chambered fruit, with the top segments abruptly narrowed into (0.8) 1 - 3.5 (5) mm styles, reminiscent of Chianti bottles. Rose has an amazing clear description - "Fruit with two joints. The upper globular, 3 mm wide, with a long beak like an old Chianti bottle, lower joint like a stout stalk".

Stace has it as subspecies linneanum with long thin appressed pedicels (1.5 - 5 x 0.3 - 0.7 mm) and seedless lower fruit segments. He also states that the fruits are also very variable in hairiness and degree of sculpturing, and these were not noticeably hairy.

It is an erect but well-branched annual, to 1 m., said to be hispid at least below. The leaves are dentate and a little fleshy, and in these plants today quite grey, possibly due to mildew. It flowers May to September.

The plant is introduced/naturalised from S. Europe, casual in waste and arable land, on tips, waysides and open grassland, frequent and increasing in C. and S. Britain. It has been introduced to N. America and it is classed as a noxious weed in Texas at least. It seems to smother other seedlings with its basal rosettes in the early phases but these do die off, as they have in these plants at this stage.

Lots of Bristly Oxtongue and other late summer flowers out.