Evening at Oare Marshes

A lovely evening at Oare. It was low tide and there were dozens of Redshank, Tringa totanus, on the mud, and one Grey Plover, Pluvialis squatarola. I saw the Pied Wagtails on the stone revetments again, about four. In the distance I could see Shelduck, Curlew, Dunlin, Avocet, and of course Gulls.

On the way along the sea wall, there was a smashing male Stonechat, Saxicola torquata, on a nearby bush, remaining for many minutes, ruffled by the breeze.  The plumage was lovely, including the dark centres along the wing edge. I didn't see a white wingbar though. Sadly I didn't get a picture, having left the camera in the car!

Back at the ramp I looked for Short Eared Owls to the West, but only got a photo of the sunset, beyond the pylons and farmhouses.

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. 

Redshanks on The Swale from Oare Marshes on a chilly late afternoon

Arriving at Oare, I concentrated on the Swale and the foreshore, bypassing the tempting close views of Pintail and Shoveller on the East Flood.

It must have been fairly close to Low Tide (16.25 at Southend), and the closest birds were scattered Common Redshank, Tringa totanus, on the foreshore mud. I saw a small amount of "head-jerking" as seen in the RSPB page video. The RSPB states that many of the wintering birds may be from Iceland, and one bird ringed near Kingsnorth Power station in 2001 was recovered in Iceland in 2013.   

Over-wintering birds number about 130,000, with about 25,000 breeders, mainly in NW England and Scotland.

On the RSPB page, the non-breeding plumage looks a little more scaly-edged on the greater coverts and whiter on the belly, but that scaliness doesn't fit the written descriptions as far as I can see - the winter plumage should be much plainer than the breeding.

According to BWP and general understanding, birds in winter on the foreshore tend to feed singly, and sometimes may hold feeding territories, particularly adults. It is difficult for me to see this, without individual markers! At high tide they may roost in small, occasionally large, groups, as we often see on the Radar Pool at Cliffe Pools. At neap tides may be able to continue feeding on the remaining mud even as the tides peak, but at spring tides long inactive periods in tighter flocks may occur at the roosts - I would say that I have commonly seen this at Cliffe for example. Redshank are active at night feeding by touch if it is dark, as well as during the day, when they feed by both sight and touch, and may often be crepuscular.

Both sexes mature at 1 year old, but may not actually breed until their second year. Birds are fairly monogamous and pairings may last for a typical life span, 5 years say, although one bird may have several successive partners during its life, and divorces and repairing may occur within one season on occasion. Bonds may be maintained over winter, or be reformed upon re-arrival at the breeding grounds. The sexes arrive in the area together or the males first. The males gradually start to spend time at the specific scrapes or nest sites, performing scrape displays, and then scrape ceremonies together with the females, and spend increasing time at their chosen sites. Occasionally a second female may lay in the same nest, possibly suggesting bigamy. The males seem more faithful to their particular nesting areas, while females move around areas more. Where same pairs were re-established the following season, the birds generally nested the second year within 5 m of the previous year's nest.

Pairs on breeding grounds generally night-roost fairly close together, either close to the scrape, or on the feeding areas. When not feeding, non-incubating birds generally roost within 5 m of the incubating bird. Sheltered areas and deeper vegetation often used when weather is poorer.

Ground-chasing commonly seen, males generally pursuing females, but a mutually co-ordinated activity. Frequency of ground-chases decreases as proper courtship commences. Males then perform stylised display flights, gliding down and fluttering up in a switchback sequence over the communal nesting or other areas, continuing for as much as a km, lasting for 4 minutes, perhaps mainly by young unpaired females! A successful display flight may attract a female into the air, and the birds may then land together either by the nest or in the feeding area.  As they alight they change from the display-flight song, to an alighting display, including a wing-lifting display, and a specific alighting song. This alighting display is also used when non-incubating bird lands near to incubating bird. A copulatory rattle is also characteristic.

Generally stay together during nesting, often until just around when the young fledge. Sometimes one adult leaves earlier. Fairly non-territorial and semi-colonial during breeding, groups sharing feeding areas, groundspace and airspace around the nests, possibly helping in defence against predators. Often further assisted by nesting in association with Lapwings. In grazed areas breeding density is partly determined by the distribution of suitable tussocks. On salt marshes nests often sited along the ditch sides where the grass is a bit longer.

There were two Black-bellied Brent Geese by the ferry slip, this one looking as though it was feeding on Ulva, the gelatinous Green Alga.

Lots of Shelduck on Horse Sands, and Teal by the mouth of Oare Creek, with Great Black-backed, Lesser Black-backed, Herring, Common Gull, Larus canus, and Black-headed Gulls across the area. Curlew bubbled (with no sign of Whimbrel), there were about 60 Dunlin bumbling around, Oystercatchers were feeding along the water edges, and I spotted two (I think) Grey Plover doing their frozen still act, and one Godwit on the far side of Oare Creek. There were over a score of Avocets. They sweep their bills from side to side and then having raised their bills above the water, they jerk their heads backwards and forwards as if shuffling the items in their bills. There were two Great Crested Grebe on the water. Over on Sheppey I spotted two female Marsh Harriers in the distance.

One possible Stonechat (just by shape with a hint of a white wing-bar) on a bush towards the lightly frozen back of the East Flood.

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.

RSPB Conwy

Firecrest in reeds. Bullfinch, 4 Greenfinches, Blue Tits, Great Tits, Long-tailed Tits.

Snipe, Oystercatchers, Goldeneye, Mallard, 1 Gadwall, Coot, Tufted Duck, Shelduck, Mute Swan, 1 Great Crested Grebe,

Oystercatchers, Gulls, Mallard, Mute Swans, Red-breasted Merganser.