The Medway: Hartlake Bridge to East Lock

Took Nain for an afternoon walk along the Medway from Hartlake Bridge. It was cool to start with and got colder and breezier as the afternoon went on, but wasn't any more than slightly uncomfortable. We looked at the plaques memorialising the Hoppers Tragedy, and commented on the substantial flow of the Medway which is also quite wide at several points below the bridge. I also noted the irrigation abstraction pipe, and mobile pumping station, presumably being used in the strawberry poly tunnels just to the South of the river

There was at least one Whitethroat in the hedge below Hartlake Farmhouse, possibly two. They have probably only arrived from Africa in the last week or so, and are already established in suitable habitat for them. Interesting on the most suitable size of hedges for Whitethroats! We heard at least one more on the Southern side of the river by East Lock, and it would be interesting to know how many territories there are here. Several Mallard were on the river which we unfortunately disturbed , a possible Blackcap in the woods on the Southern side. Several Magpie were galumphing about, Wood-pigeons and rooks/crows flew over, and one kestrel made a failed hunting attempt along the earthed-up banks.

Nice to hear the Skylarks on the large field between Hartlake and East Lock. There were several, chortling away throughout the walk. I saw two fluttering against the wind, quite low.

We had a bit of a look at the pair of pillboxes by the East Lock, and Nain had a good sit down on the fallen tree before we started back. We didn't get as far as examining the lock in any detail, but I described the canoe portage platforms, the fish climb, and the canoe slide. Sadly no Wagtails were seen, but perhaps its still too early.

Other birds along the way included a couple of Blackbirds and Robins and at least one Chaffinch singing, I thought I heard a Chiff-chaff but it could have been a Great Tit. A pheasant and a Green Woodpecker called.  Several Black-headed Gulls flew over. We also saw about a dozen Mute Swans on the field on the Southern side of the river just upstream of Hartlake where I parked the car.

Plants seen included Cuckoo Flower, Tansy, Medick and Meadowsweet in leaf, the Cow Parsley just coming into flower, Red Dead Nettle, White Dead Nettle, Tufted Vetch and Crosswort in full flower. Plenty of flies, Bumble Bees and other insects on the wing

Garganey !

Blackcaps, Cetti's? Warblers and Reed Warblers,

Quite a good variety of duck to be seen: Wigeon, Shoveller, Teal, Mallard, Gadwall, and the two diving ducks, Pochard and Tufted Duck. Oddly enough I don't tend to see the Pochard diving all that much on a typical day.

A great drake Garganey seen at last!

Anas querquedula. This is the only member of the genus that is fully migratory, visiting the UK in very small numbers to breed each summer, with about 14 - 92 pairs known to breed per year. Numbers fluctuate noticeably at the edges of the range. Weather conditions may be the cause of sporadic movements up into new territory.

It seems to like well-compartmented, shallow and sheltered fresh waters - rather like BB2 in fact!

The drake is very striking with its white head stripe very clearly visible at first sight. It does seem to hide itself very well. I spent over a hour looking for it, so was a bit put out when another birdwatcher turned up and spotted it almost immediately coming out from behind a bank on the left.

Birds from the European/West African population winter almost exclusively between 10 and 20 N, pretty close to the Equator, while they breed mainly in Russia, Ukraine and Belarus. They migrate through countries like France and Spain. Some research has been done by Guillemain et al on the Garganey's optimal refuelling strategy while staging in the Camargue. As little bodyweight was found to be added in the 329 birds examined, it was surmised that the prime importance of the staging area could be as a resting area, as opposed to a refuelling area. Alternatively it could simply be a refuge while the wait for conditions on the breeding grounds to improve. In either case the authors suggest that t is important to realise that management providing quietness and safety at stop-overs may be at least as important for this species as feeding opportunities. In my view these factors may be more inter-related than the authors suggest.

The

This male may already have been paired up as pair-bonds are very strong in this species, rape attempts are very rare and most (i.e. 97%) females are already paired at the end of winter (Cramp and Simmons 1977, and references therein). However I did not see the female! 

Crowds at Leybourne Lakes

Crowds of people, but also Blackcaps, a Willow Warbler, and at least FOUR nightingales singing away. Also 2 Green Woodpeckers, many Blackbirds, 1 Songthrush, say 8 Tufted Duck, 2 Great Crested Grebe, 7 Coot, 25 Greylags, 2 Canada Geese, 20+ Black-Headed Gulls, 10+ Herring Gulls, 1 Great Black-backed Gull, 15 Herons, 6+ Mallard, 1 Reed Bunting, 4+ Chaffinches.

There were a few Black-headed Gulls by the main bird-feeding area. This is a First Summer bird having a go at a dark hood and a dark red bill! It looks moderate!

This one appears less advanced, with not much of a hood at all, and with a light orange bill and legs.

Bewl Water

6 Great Crested Grbe, 3 Farmyard Ducks, I GreyLag Goose, 14+ Mallard, 2 Coots, all from Safety Boat.

Traeth Lavan

A female Pied Wagtail Motacilla alba  (ssp yarellii) in breeding plumage was by a watery flush in a pasture just inland of the path. A grey mantle, with a dark grey as opposed to shiny black cap, black not connected between nape and throat makes it a female;.a blotchy dark (rather than uniform medium) grey on the back, significant areas of mid-grey - very stylish - (rather than light grey) on the flanks, makes it a female ssp yarellii rather than a female ssp alba. The brown flight feathers suggest this is a first summer bird, retaining the juvenile primaries from last year. The greater coverts have greyish fringes but quite broad white tips, which apparently also fits yarellii. There is little blending of the grey back into the grey-black of the nape as you might expect in a female alba.

More of a hint of a darkish rump in the picture below:

This looks more clearly like a blackish rump. The pictures of this one bird do vary a bit with the light (compare the first picture here) but this looks quite diagnostic.

Cliffe Pools with Med Gulls at last!

10 Mediterranean Gulls, 400 Black-headed Gulls, 100+ Black Tailed Godwits, 50+ Redshank, 30+ Dunlin, 200+ Avocets, 40+ Shelduck, 20 Shoveller, 10 Coot, 8 Great Crested Grebe, 2 drake Pochard, 20 Tufted Duck, 5 Mallard, 6 Herring Gulls. 10 Goldfinch, 4 Robin, 4 Blackbirds, 4 Magpies, 6 Jackdaws.

The Two Song Thrushes were singing at either end of the track between Conoco and Elf Pools. The dark arrowheads on the breast are truly marvellous.

I could hear several Blackcaps, but didn't see more than a glimpse of them.

The Great Tits were singing and I also managed to catch this Blue Tit feeding nearly hidden in the upper branches of the hawthorn scrub.

The Tufted Duck appear to be in pairs or small groups scattered across the pools as a whole:

Two Black-headed Gulls on the iron structure by the Radar-Flamingo path.

Black-necked Grebe eludes me

The Track,

Dozens of Peacock butterflies and Bumblebee Queens, backed by the singing of Blackcaps, Dunnocks, Robins, Great Tits and Blue Tits.

Radar,

On Radar there looked to be the hundreds of Black-headed Gulls, Avocets and Black-tailed Godwits that I had looked at on Saturday, but I didn't have time to stop at the viewpoint today, as I was on the "hunt" for a summer-plumaged Black-necked Grebe.

On BB1, 

there was perhaps a greater variety of birds to be seen on BB1. There were several pairs of Teal, 3-4 Pochards, scores of Shovellers, mainly male, a pair of Gadwall, maybe 7 - 10 pairs of Tufted Duck, and about the same number of Coot, with 1 - 2 Moorhen.

There were also several Avocets, 2 pairs of Little Grebe, but no Black-necked Grebe in breeding plumage.

Pity I didn't take any photos as the light to the left was brilliant.

Cetti;s warblers and chaffinches were singing by the track behind me.